3rd Trimester
After intense double reading skill building lessons with Mrs. McClellan's and Mrs. French's reading groups in preparation for ISAT tests, Mrs. Nicholson's reading class was 'good and read' to move forward in novel study units.
Current Theme Novel Study: The Great Depression Of the United States
Nonfiction: Video Clips thru Discovery Education- of actual footage of people and places on how life existed during the Great Depression
Fiction Novels: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis-a light-hearted story about an orphaned Africa-American boy surviving the streets in Flint, Michigan. The novel also incorporates a story line of how the impact of jazz was important to this era. The story line is loosely based on the author's family intertwining the epics of famous persons in history.
Another novel- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a more sober story written in free verse poetry about a young girl who faces many tragedies in rural Oklahoma in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression Era. (this novel correlates with the study of poetry-popular genre during the months of April May)
We study novels that incorporates US history to prepare students for a much broader view of study of the Great Depression in grade eight and in high school.
Why is it important to study U.S. HISTORY?
We study the PAST in order to understand the PRESENT so that we may foresee what the future of our country will bring. Learning history through novel reading helps us relate to real persons and places in time.
