3/25/2014 FREE Digital Download: Harriet Tubman

Have you talked about Harriet Tubman with your class for Women’s History Month?  You can learn more about this inspirational African-American woman while you assess the quality of my work on Teachers Pay Teachers with the FREE digital download of my original reader Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

Your class will learn a number of interesting facts about Harriet Tubman, an African-American woman who helped slaves to freedom during the Civil War. This book is a third-grade level P reader and includes two accompanying worksheets.

Specific concepts, skills, and vocabulary targeted in this book are listed on the first page of the story. And the two worksheets which are included help to reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing.

3/24/2014 Margaret Farrar, Amelia Earhart and Women's History Month

I hope that you have been enjoying sharing the stories of some fascinating women in your classroom for Women's History Month.

Yesterday, March 23rd, was the birthday of one intriguing American woman, journalist and crossword puzzle editor Margaret Farrar. Farrar was the first crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.  In 1924, she was one of the three authors of the first book of crossword puzzles ever published.  You can find crossword puzzles included alongside other activities in some of my books, including “Do Your Part to Save the Earth.” This third-grade level N reader combines reading activities and science concepts. It is accompanied by six pages of worksheets which reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing as well as science concepts.

To learn more about another important American woman the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum has some wonderful resources, including this list of fun facts about Amelia Earhart.  For example, did you know that she was the first female, and one of only a few to date, to receive the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross?

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchinson, Kansas house in July 24, 1897 in the home of her grandparents, Judge Alfred Otis and Amelia Harres Otis. The house was designated a National Historic Site in 1971, and in 1984 it was acquired by The Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots (Amelia Earhart was the first president of the organization) to be made into a museum.  

Your class can also learn more about this ground-breaking female pilot in my reader “Amelia Earhart - Soaring High.”

3/24/2014 Happy Birthday Dorothy Height!

Today’s google doodle honors the great activist, social worker, and educator Dorothy Irene Height.  Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia on March 24th, 1912.  She joined the National Council of Negro Women at age 25, and later served as the organization’s president for forty years.  Among her many other achievements, Height helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, marched for Civil Rights alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., oversaw the national desegregation of the YWCA, and advised American presidents on Civil Rights issues.

According to a 2010 article in the New York Times:

“If Ms. Height was less well known than her contemporaries in either the civil rights or women’s movement, it was perhaps because she was doubly marginalized, pushed offstage by women’s groups because of her race and by black groups because of her sex. Throughout her career, she responded quietly but firmly, working with a characteristic mix of limitless energy and steely gentility to ally the two movements in the fight for social justice.  As a result, Ms. Height is widely credited as the first person in the modern civil rights era to treat the problems of equality for women and equality for African-Americans as a seamless whole, merging concerns that had been largely historically separate.”

Dorothy Height is a great example of an inspirational woman to study this last week of Women’s History Month.  You can find more remarkable women to study with your class in my leveled book set Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4. This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.  Each book highlights specific grade-level concepts and vocabulary. An accompanying set of worksheets reviews the targeted literary skills.

3/22/2014 Happy Belated World Poetry Day!

March 21st was United Nation’s World Poetry Day.  The goal of this day is promote reading and writing poetry, and poetry in education.

According to the official World Poetry Day website “Poetry is a song of freedom, enabling us to affirm our identity through creation. Poetry is also the song of our deepest feelings...Through its words and its rhythm, poetry gives shape to our dreams of peace, justice and dignity, and gives us the strength and desire to mobilize to make them real.”  

Poetry is a wonderful way to build your students' reading skills. In my collection four first-grade leveled books Literature Topics - Leveled Books: First Grade Levels F - I your students will have the opportunity to explore different literature topics including a poem, two fables, and a folktale.

3/18/2014 Brown vs Board of Education, and Brave Ruby Bridges

I hope that you had a fun St Patrick’s Day celebration in your classroom!  

Two months from St. Patrick’s Day, May 17th, is an important date of a very different kind.  On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously voted that segregated schools were unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education.  That same year, Ruby Bridges was born in Mississippi.  In 1960, because of Brown vs. Board of Education schools in the city of New Orleans were beginning to integrate. Ruby Bridges was one of six black kindergarten students in New Orleans to pass a test to see who would go to what had been all-white school.   Bridges was the only black student assigned to go to William Frantz Elementary School.   

The court-ordered first day of integrated schools in New Orleans, November 14, 1960, is commemorated by the iconic 1964 painting The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell.  

You and your class can learn more about this brave girl and her inspirational story in my reader “Actions of a Brave Six-Year Old, Ruby Bridges" This is a third-grade Level P reader, an accompanying set of worksheets reviews the targeted literary skills. Her story can be added to your classroom as part of Women's History Month, studying Civil Rights, American History, or as part of any Social Studies or Reading lesson.

3/15/2014 Happy Birthday Ruth Bader Ginsburg and James Madison!

This weekend is the birthday of two notable Americans, one a Founding Father and one a current Supreme Court Justice.

James Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virigina.   He served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809-1817.  Madison was known as the “Father of the Constitution” because he composed a first drafts of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Bill of Rights.  My series of books “Social Studies Topics- Leveled Books: First Grade Levels F/G” includes 10 first-grade level F/G books on Social Studies Topics including Constitution Day.

Today, March 15 is the 81st birthday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933.  Ginsburg is the is the second woman to be a Supreme Court Justice, after Sandra Day O'Connor.  March is Women’s History Month, now is a great time to learn about other notable American Women in your classroom.  

My set of leveled books “Famous Women in History” features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.  

3.14 Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day!

Today, March 14, or 3.14, is celebrated as Pi Day by math lovers across the country.  March 14 is also the birthday of inventor Albert Einstein.  The first known major Pi Day celebration was held at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1988.  

Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The diameter of a circle is the distance from edge to edge, measuring straight through the center.  For all circles of any size, Pi will always be the same. Pi is used to calculate the area of a circle, the volume of a sphere, and in many other basic math and scientific formulas.  Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number, which means that Pi will continue without repetition or pattern infinitely.  

The Exploratorium and  piday.org have some great educational activity suggestions for teachers, including incorporating games, crafts and baking activities into a pi-themed lesson plan.  My Math Topics readers are a fun way to work on vocabulary and reading with your students while bringing more math activities into your classroom.  Enjoy some delicious learning!

Ready for St. Patrick's Day?

Are you ready to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your class on Monday, March 17th?

My original reader Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day is a fun, informative book for St. Patrick's Day or a social studies unit on Ireland or holidays.

3/8/2014 Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women’s Day!

Perhaps you have seen the video on Google’s homepage, which includes women from all around the world including activist Malala Yousafzai and Dalia Grybauskaitė the President of Lithuania.  International Women’s Day was first celebrated on March 19, 1911 by people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.  In some parts of the world today International Women’s Day is celebrated in a similar way to our Mother’s Day celebrations in America.  

According to the United Nations “International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.  This year’s theme, “Equality for women is progress for all”  emphasizes how gender equality, empowerment of women, women’s full enjoyment of human rights and the eradication of poverty are essential to economic and social development. It also stresses the vital role of women as agents of development.”  In the United States, International Women’s Day falls during our celebration of Women’s History Month.  

March is the perfect time to share my collection of leveled readers Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4 with your class.  This series includes books on eight notable American women, including Clara Barton and Helen Keller.   My Teachers Pay Teachers site also includes individual readers on other remarkable women such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Sojourner Truth, among others.  

3/6/2014 Soar High With Amelia Earhart and Women's History Month!

Perhaps you have already seen this story about a sexist airplane passenger leaving a note to his plane’s female pilot.  The author of the note (illegibly) claims that “the cockpit of an airline is no place for a woman.”  Clearly that is ridiculous, hopefully during Women’s History Month this individual may have the chance to learn more about Amelia Earhart! Your class can also learn more about her in my reader “Amelia Earhart - Soaring High.”  In this story students will learn facts about one of the most famous women in American history who was a pioneer in the field of aviation.

This book is part of a collection of leveled readers “Famous Women in History” for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history:

Amelia Earhart -- Airplane Pilot (level L)

Abigail Adams -- First Lady & Crusader for People’s Rights (level L)

Clara Barton -- Founder of the American Red Cross (level N)

Maria Mitchell -- Astronomer (level N)

Helen Keller -- Inspirational Speaker (level O)

Ellen Ochoa -- Astronaut (level P)

Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Pioneer and Author (level P)

Millie Hughes-Fulford -- Scientist in Space (level R)

Each book highlights specific grade-level concepts and vocabulary. An accompanying set of worksheets reviews the targeted literary skills.