By David A. Kelly
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-0-375-86704-0
FROM THE FLAP: What’s the most famous ballpark in America? Yankee Stadium! And Mike and Kate are going there for three whole days. But even before the first pitch, the cousins hear a strange rumor—Babe Ruth’s ghost is haunting the new stadium. Chilly air comes blasting down a service hallway before every home game. The gusts are followed by a series of thumps and bumps. Is it the Babe searching for his missing locker?
Catch all the Ballpark Mysteries!
KATE’S TAKE: The Yankees and ghosts! This autumn dynamic duo is a must have for the primary classroom.
GHOST STORIES Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
During writer’s workshop, ask students to craft their own ghost story. When they’re finished ask them to make an illustration for their story.
HOMER HITTERS Logical/Mathematical and Visual Spatial
Ask students to make a graph of how many home runs five of the Yankee’s starters hit in 2010. Then find the maximum, minimum, range, mean, median, and mode.
Robinson Cano 29
Curtis Granderson 24
Alex Rodriguez 30
Nick Swisher 29
Mark Teixeira 33
PINSTRIPE MAKE-A-WORD Verbal/Linguistic
At one of your reading stations, give students the letters that make the word, “pinstripe.” Challenge them to make as many words as possible by mixing up the letters. Then ask them to sort the words into two groups, those with the short i sound, and those with the long i sound.
PINSTRIPE PATTERNS Visual/Spatial and Logical/Mathematical
Ask each student to draw a picture of him or herself wearing a pinstripe shirt. Challenge them to use complex patterns such as ABBA, ABBB, or ABBC.
VENDOR MATH Logical/Mathematical and Interpersonal
For one of your reading stations, have students pretend to be running a hot dog stand. They’ll need to decide what items are for sale and how much they cost. In order to keep the activity accessible for all students, set a price limit such as $5. Then, give each student money and have them buy items from the stand. Give them challenges such as buy as many items as possible, spend exactly $4.50, save a dollar and so on.
BOOK BUDDIES
-The Astro Outlaw by David A. Kelly
-Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman
-Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse by David A. Kelly
-The L.A. Dodger by David A. Kelly
-The Fenway Foul-Up by David A. Kelly
