3/24/2016: Women's History Month

As we enter into the end of March, I hope that you are enjoying studying some fascinating women with your class during Women’s History Month.  

My collection of leveled readers, "Famous Women in History" is an excellent way to build literacy skills while learning more about Women’s History.  This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.  This series includes books on eight notable American women, including Clara Barton, Helen Keller,Eleanor Roosevelt and Sojourner Truth, among others.

Explore all of them on my Teachers Pay Teachers site:

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)

2/25/2016: Ready for Women's History Month?

We still have  the rest of February left to continue to celebrate Black History Month, but soon March, and Women's History Month will be upon us!  The official website http://womenshistorymonth.gov/ is full of engaging resources.   

My collection of leveled readers, "Famous Women in History" is an excellent way to build literacy skills while learning more about Women’s History.  This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.  This series includes books on eight notable American women, including Clara Barton, Helen Keller,Eleanor Roosevelt and Sojourner Truth, among others.

Explore all of them on my Teachers Pay Teachers site:

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)

3/16/2015: Amelia Earhart and Women's History Month

March is well under way, and I hope that you have been enjoying some interesting Women’s History Month lessons with your class. The official website http://womenshistorymonth.gov/ is full of engaging resources.  For example, your students can use the Smithsonian X 3D Explorer to take a virtual look at Amelia Earhart’s Flight Suit

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

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 Amelia Earhart, 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.

3/8/2015: Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women’s Day!

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.  

In the United States, International Women’s Day falls during our celebration of Women’s History Month.  

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, “Empowering Women - Empowering Humanity: Picture It!”  envisions a world where all women and girls can picture making their own choices to shape their lives.

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.  

10/12/2014: Happy Belated Birthday, Eleanor Roosevelt!

Happy belated birthday, Eleanor Roosevelt!  This dynamic First Lady would have turned 130 on October 11. She was born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in New York City in 1884.  Among her many accomplishments, Roosevelt was a UN delegate, a longtime newspaper columnist, and once went flying with Amelia Earhart!  

With my reader Eleanor Roosevelt your class will learn a number of interesting facts about Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt and a fighter for women's rights and the rights of African-Americans and children. This book is a first-grade level E reader and includes two accompanying worksheets.

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3/31/14 The last day of Women's History Month, Abigail Adams and "Remember the Ladies"

Today, March 31st, marks the last day of Women’s History Month. I hope that you have enjoyed learning more about some amazing women and the vital roles they have played in history.  On March 31st, 1776 Abigail Adams famously wrote to her husband (future U.S. President John Adams) to “Remember the Ladies” In an excerpt of this letter, she tells him:

“I long to hear that you have declared an independancy-and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

You can read the full text of the letter here.  The White House’s official website is a great resource for short biographies of Abigail and all other American First Ladies

Women’s History Month may be ending, but you can continue to study more remarkable women with your class at any time of year with 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.

3/25/2014 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.