Don't tell anyone it's fun: Georgia children discover the joy of reading and building thinking skills.While volunteering in her child's classroom, Sukari Harris noticed that many of the students lacked confidence in their reading. After speaking with the children, she learned that few of them read simply for pleasure outside the classroom. An avid reader since childhood, Harris holds fond memories of herself as a young girl reading just for the thrill of it. "I've been reading since I was ten years old and Ludell and White was one of the first books I read," Harris says. "I just love books." Her own children, however, weren't really readers," confesses Harris. To stimulate interest and enhance the reading skills of their own children, as well as their friends and classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Harris and Handy reasoned that books with multicultural themes would foster an appreciation for diversity, as well as for African American culture African American culture or Black culture, in the United States, includes the various cultural traditions of African American communities. It is both part of, and distinct from American culture. The U.S. . Harris scouts for books that send positive messages about African Americans and that deal with important life issues. Harris put together journals with worksheets to help students retain information from the books. Second and third graders use worksheets that deal primarily with the settings and characters, while fourth and fifth graders use task-oriented worksheets. A Job for Everybody "The students are broken up into three groups of eight, and each student is numbered according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. which of the eight tasks they must perform," explains Harris. The "discussion director" composes questions about the book, facilitates the meeting and makes sure everyone is heard. The "illustrator" draws a picture of something in the book and discusses how it relates to what they've read. The "travel tracer" researches the time in which a book is set. If there is a particularly funny sentence or a part of the book that is interesting or important, the "literary luminary" brings it to the attention of the book club. To connect adoption issues that appeared in Heaven with real life events, the "connector" presented the club with an article on adoption from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The "summarizer" sums up sections of the book as they are discussed. And the "vocabulary enricher" writes down the definition of unknown words, and the "investigator" digs up information about geographical locations in the book. The members embark on field trips that tie in with their book selections. After reading about panning for gold in Chang's Paper Pony by Eleanor Coerr, second and third graders visited the Consolidated Gold Mine in Dahlonega, Georgia Dahlonega is a town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, USA, and is its county seatGR6. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 3,638. , site of America's first gold rush, and panned for gold. Fourth and fifth graders learned about the discrimination suffered by Chinese railroad workers in the book Coolies by Yin. They then visited WSB-TV station in Atlanta to discuss the role of the media in the 1800s. To underscore the importance of literacy, the club teamed with Borders Books & Music and the William C. Brown William C. Brown (May 22, 1916 - February 3, 1999) was an American electrical engineer who helped to invent the crossed-field amplifier in the 1950s and also pioneered microwave power transmission in the 1960s. Library to sponsor an annual read-in at the Mall at Stonecrest The Mall at Stonecrest is a shopping mall in Lithonia, Georgia east of Atlanta along Interstate 20. The Mall at Stonecrest opened in 2001 as part of a Master Planned Community on the growing I-20 corridor. in Lithonia and an Evening of Enlightenment for members and their parents. At both events, guest readers explained how reading has played a vital role in their lives and occupations. "We hope that twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. from now these kids will be whatever they desire, and they will have gotten to that point because of Pass the Book," says Harris. GROUP PROFILE THE CLUB: Pass the Book LOCATION: Murphy Candler Elementary School Lithonia, Georgia BOOK PREFERENCES: Multicultural fiction NUMBER OF MEMBERS: 132 HOW OFTEN THEY MEET: 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month LAST BOOKS READ: Heaven by Angela Johnson (read by 4th and 5th Graders) Simon Pulse, August 2000 $4.99, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-689-82289-1 Zinzi: A Child's Journey to Self-Fulfillment, Giving and Caring by Lynnette C. Velasco (read by 2nd and 3rd Graders) Worldwide Publications, Inc. February 1998, $8.95 ISBN 0-966-18231-6 GROUP'S REACTION: Favorable NEXT BOOKS: Five Brave Explorers by Wade Hudson (2nd and 3rd Graders), Scholastic, January 1995, $3.99. ISBN 0-590-48032-4 Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange (4th and 5th Graders/ Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. , January 2004 $15.95. ISBN 0-689-82884-5 HOW THEY CHOOSE BOOKS: The founder chooses all books. Pat Houser is a contributing editor at BIBR BIBR Bay Islands Beach Resort (Roatan, Honduras) BIBR Backward Indicator Bit Received . E-mail her at pathouser@aol.com, or log on to www.bibookreview.com and tell us about your group. |
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