Emily Herrmann

March 19, 2018

EDU 320
Dr. Reister
The Very First Americans

1. Ashrose, C., & Waldman, B. (2009). The very first Americans. New York: Grosset &
Dunlap.

2. Age: 4-8 years

Grade: Preschool-3rd
Genre: Picture Book
Content Area: History/Social Studies

3. I would present this book to a class before instruction on this particular time period. This
book gives a very nice overview of what life was like as one of the first Americans.
However, this book does not go into enough detail to use it in place of a textbook or other
source. I think using it before would help the students understand the basic overview of
what they are going to learn as well as get them engaged through the fun pictures that are
throughout the book.

4. This book goes through some of the Indian tribes that lived across North America and
discusses what kind of food they hunted, what they were good at, and what they believed.
It talks about where each tribe lived and relates that to why they hunted particular
animals for food. The book concludes by briefly talking about what happened with the
pilgrims arrived in America.

5. For the students, after reading this book I would give them the classifying/categorizing
graphic organizer to fill out on the different places the different tribes lived. After that, I
would put them into groups and give them an Indian tribe to research together. I would
then have each group make a poster of their tribe full of definitions, pictures, and facts
and have them explain it to the entire class.
 Categories
Southwest Northwest Plains Woodlands
-Hot, dry desert -Near the water -grassland -surrounded by
-Not very much rain -very good whale hunter-hunted buffalo trees
A -Dance holding snakes -fish for salmon -lived in tipis -very good hunters
T In their mouths -wood workers -honored the best hunters -lived in longhouses
To pray for rain with eagle feathers
T
R
I
B
U
T
E
S
 The Oxford Encyclopedia

1. Harris, W. (2003). The Oxford encyclopaedia, or, Dictionary of arts, sciences and
general literature. Bristol: Thoemmes.

2. Age: 8 – 12 years
Grade: 3rd-5th grade
Genres: Encyclopedia
Content: History

3. I would introduce this book by asking the students questions about what they think an
encyclopedia is exactly. I would do this to gage how in-depth this particular lesson needs
to be. We would do a book walk together and figure out the aspects of the book that
makes it different from other books like a dictionary.

4. This book provides thousands of summaries or articles of various topics. It gives reliable
information on a number of topics.

5. For an activity, after the book walk, I would let students look into topics in the
encyclopedia that are related to thanksgiving that interest them. They would use the
encyclopedia and eventually, after they show me they have all the information they can
find on the topic, they will use the internet or textbooks to write a short paper on that
topic explaining some basic facts they enjoyed and also giving a summary of why they
chose the topic. Then, the students will briefly present their paper to the entire class.
 Junie B. Jones #28: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff)

1. Park, B., & Brunkus, D. (2012). Junie B., first grader: Turkeys we have loved and
eaten (and other thankful stuff) (Vol. 28). New York: Random House.

2. Age: 6-10 years

Grade: 1-4
Genres: Fiction/Chapter book/Series
Content Area: Language Arts

3. I would present this book around Thanksgiving time as a fun Thanksgiving lesson. I
think I would start the lesson by discussing what the class is thankful for and why,
and then we would read the book and compare what happened in the book to what our
class came up with to be thankful for.

4. This book is about a girl, Junie. In Junie’s room one classroom, they are to make a
thankful list for a contest. The next day they get to have a show and tell of what they
are thankful for. Throughout these days, Junie and another classmate May argue
constantly. Room one’s teacher does not believe that the students are taking the
activities seriously and continues to get frustrated at them. On the third day, the
principal makes an appearance to present the class with a first place ribbon from the
thankful list contest. They won, even though their teacher believed they were taking it
as a joke. By the end of the third day, Junie and May learn that they can be thankful
for each other even though they are not friends.

5. We would start by reading the book together. After, I think it would be fun if the
class did the same thing the book did. We would start with creating a thankful list
together, then we would have a show and tell of what we are thankful for and why,
and then we would have a Thanksgiving party where the students get to dress up as
pilgrims or Indians. Throughout the entire thing, we would continue to talk about
what it means to be thankful and why we have a holiday to remember what we are
thankful for.
 Story Pyramid

1. Junie
2. Energetic Honest
3. Room One Classroom
4. Win Thankful List Contest
5. Room One Makes Thankful List
6. Two Girls Same Animal Show Tell

7. May Dressed Chief Junie Dressed Pilgrim Girl

8. Room One Wins Contest Junie Learns Be Thankful
 Thanksgiving Poems

1. Livingston, M. C., & Gammell, S. (1985). Thanksgiving poems. New York, NY:
Holiday House.

2. Age: 8-10 years

Grade: 3rd-4th grade
Genres: Poetry
Content Area: Language Arts

3. I would use this book all throughout my lesson. I would start introducing poetry to the
students by reading a few different kinds of poems from the book to the students. We
would then use it during the lesson to examine and compare the different kind of poems.
After, we would use it as a guide as they do their follow up activities.

4. This book is full of different kinds of poems related to Thanksgiving. There are Native
American poems, psalms, poems about pilgrims, and even silly poems.

5. At the end of this lesson, I would have each student choose a kind of poem they liked the
most and create their own. I would have their poem be somehow related to thanksgiving
but give them the chance to be creative and take it their own way. This activity would
help them grow as writers and help them understand different styles of writing while also
giving them a chance to get creative and have fun.
 The Pioneer Women Cooks

1. Drummond, R. (2013). The Pioneer Woman cooks: A year of holidays: 140 step-by-step
recipes for simple, scrumptious celebrations. New York: HarperCollins (p 241-
299).

2. Ages: 6 – 10 years
Grades: 1st-4th grade
Genres: Cookbook
Content: Math/Social Studies

3. I would introduce this book by starting a discussion on what the students eat during
Thanksgiving, hoping that the students are able to discuss food traditions they have and
that they are able to see how their tradition may differ from others.

4. This book walks step by step through multiple classic thanksgiving recipes. It provides
practical tips for thanksgiving dinner like how to carve a turkey. This book in particular
provides step by step pictures for what the dish should look like after each step.

5. After learning about the different thanksgiving recipes that people make, the class would
have a class party and each student would bring in their favorite thanksgiving dish. Along
with the dish, they will bring back a sheet that has some questions to ask their parents.
The questions would include ‘where did this recipe come from?’ ‘why do we continue to
make it every day?’ and a reflection the student would fill out about what it was like
making the recipe with their parents.
 The Story behind Your Thanksgiving Bird

1. Butler, S. (2013). Turkey talk: The story behind your Thanksgiving bird. Retrieved
March 17, 2018, from http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/turkey-talk-
the-story-behind-your-thanksgiving-bird.

2. Ages: 6-10 years

Grades: 1st-4th grade
Genres: Article/History
Content Area: History/Science

3. I would introduce this by starting with why the students believe we eat turkey on
Thanksgiving. I would have certain prompts that lead to deeper thinking, challenging
them to think back to what they know about history to have them generate questions they
have about the bird that is the staple of thanksgiving.

4. This article explains briefly different facts about turkeys. It explains who the first person
was to introduce turkeys to America. It talks about when the supply and demand for
turkeys was starting and how to get turkey to taste like it did back in the day when it was
first introduced to America.

5. For this lesson, I would incorporate a KWL chart for each student. The students will
really be able to critically think about how much they actually know about turkeys. I
would provide different prompts to assure they are thinking of the history of the animal
instead of generic facts, thus ensuring they are learning the most out of this lesson that
they can.
 The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1. Webster, N. (1977). The Merriam-Webster dictionary. New York: Pocket Books.

2. Age: 7 and up
Grade: 2nd and up
Genres: Dictionary
Content Area: Language Arts

3. I would present the dictionary at the start of a lesson. First, I would do a book walk and
let them get familiar with the book. Then, I would ask the class to give me a few words
and I would show them how to look them up themselves.

4. A dictionary is a book full of words and their meaning. It also provides the words part of
speech and the word broken into syllables.

5. I would use this book as the primary part of a lesson to teach students how to use a
dictionary. After introducing the book and becoming familiar with it, I would have them
fill out a Vocabulary Word Cluster. By filling out this graphic organizer, the students will
be able to understand how a dictionary works and how to interpret what it is saying into a
picture, their own sentence, and synonyms that make sense to them individually.
 Vocabulary Word Cluster

Word: Turkey Illustration:

Part of Speech: Noun

Synonym: Goose, Bird

Sentence: We cooked a huge turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

Word: Thankful Illustration:

Part of Speech: Adjective

Synonym: Delighted, Grateful, Glad

Sentence: At Thanksgiving dinner, we go around and talk about what we are thankful for.

Word: Pilgrim Illustration:

Part of Speech: Noun

Synonym: Worshipper

Sentence: Pilgrims are people who journey to a holy place.