MAX'S WORDS

By Kate Banks
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
ISBN: 0-374-39949-2

FROM THE FLAP: Benjamin collects stamps. Karl collects coins. When their younger brother Max decides to collect words, one word leads to another until Max has a story worth telling. Now all he needs is pictures.

Enter Boris Kulikov in a brilliant collaboration with Kate Banks that attests to the wonder of words.

KATE'S TAKE: A fantastical tribute to imagination, collections, and a can-do attitude.

COIN COLLECTIONS: Logical/Mathematical and Visual/Spatial
Max’s brother collects coins. Give each student a dollar’s worth of cut-out paper coins. Label each coin with a Q for quarter, D for dime, N for nickel, and P for penny. Then ask them to draw a picture of their favorite pet and label it with a price under a dollar. Hang the pets up at the front of the classroom and ask students to come shopping at the pet store. In order to take their pet home with them, the students must give the proper amount of change to the cashier to pay for the pet. Many thanks to Andy Hacket for this activity. Check out his blog here http://www.mrhacket.blogspot.com


COLLAGE TALES: Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Word process words in different colors and cut out for kids. Ask students to choose ten cut-out words and create a sentence. Then, have them glue their sentence to the long side of a piece of 11x18 piece of construction paper. Last, ask them to illustrate their story.

COLLECTION BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Visual/Spatial
Give students an 8x11 sheet of paper that has space for writing a sentence at the bottom of the sheet. Ask them to finish the following sentence: If I could collect anything in the world, I would collect_____________________ because____________________________________________.
Have them illustrate their sentence and bind the papers in a book to send home with students.

CROCODILE AND ALLIGATOR SEE-SAW BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic, Naturalist, and Visual/Spatial
Collate an eight-page book for each students, and ask them to fill in the blanks.
Page 1: Crocodiles and alligators hatch from __________________(eggs) but,
Page 2: crocodiles have a _______________(v-shaped) snout, and
Page 3: alligators have a _________________ (u-shaped) snout.
Page 4: A crocodile’s fourth tooth_____________( sticks out) when its mouth is closed, but
Page 5: an alligator’s fourth tooth is ___________ (hidden) when its mouth is closed.
Page 6: Most crocodiles live in ________________ (salt) water, but
Page 7: most alligators live in __________________ (fresh) water.
Page 8: Crocodiles and alligators are _________________(reptiles).
After they have filled in the blanks, ask students to illustrate the books.

FAMILY LETTERS: Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal
Ask students to write a letter to a family member or a friend who lives far away. Ask parents to send in an addressed envelope and give students a stamp to affix to their letter. Relatives are always thrilled to receive the kids’ letters.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Alligator Tails and Crocodile Cakes by Nicola Moon
-Max’s Dragon by Kate Banks
-Snap! A Book About Alligators and Crocodiles by Melvin Berger
-The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Williams
-Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell

CLAUDETTE COLVIN TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE

By Phillip Hoose
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
ISBN-13: 978-0-374-31322-7

FROM THE FLAP: “When it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You just have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right.’”- Claudette Colvin

On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Shouting “It’s my constitutional right!” as police dragged her off to jail. Claudette Colvin decided she’d had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered her and puzzled her since she was a young child.

But instead of being celebrated, as Rosa Parks would be when she took the same stand nine months later, Claudette found herself shunned by many of her classmates and dismissed as an unfit role model by the black leaders of Montgomery. Undaunted, she put her life in danger a year later when she dared to challenge segregation yet again, as one of four plaintiffs in the landmark busing case Browder vs. Gayle.

Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first in-depth account of a major, yet little-known, civil rights figure whose story provides a fresh perspective on the Montgomery bus protest of 1955-56. Historic figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks play important roles, but center stage belongs to the brave girl whose two acts of courage were to affect the course of American history.

BALANCED BUDGET (Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal)

Claudette Colvin stood up for a cause. Research your state’s financial budget. Write a letter to your state governor expressing your support for a line item or criticizing an area that lacks funding.

BUS BOYCOTT MATH

The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. If you had to walk to and from school for 381 days, how many miles would you walk? How about if you only had to walk to school for an academic year, 180 days, how many miles would you walk?

CHARITY WALK (Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

As a class research three charities. Interview someone from each charity and vote on which one the class would like to support. Organize a school walk to support that charity.

FAMILY MEMBER TIMELINE (Visual/Spatial, Interpersonal, Verbal/Linguistic)

Interview a family member about his or her life. Make a timeline of his or her life that includes at least eight facts. Use photographs to highlight the events of his or her life.

TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE DIORAMAS (Visual/Spatial)

Create a diorama of one of the historical scenes in the book. Write a short summary of the scene to top off your diorama.

BOOK BUDDIES

-Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge
-Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
-The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon
-The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
-We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History by Phillip Hoose