The Book Pass as a Reading Tool

The Book Pass is a structured way to look at a collection of books in a limited amount of time as a way to evaluate literature. Set up stations with four seats each. At each station, place one set of books related to a book group theme. Hand out the Book Pass Review sheet. Have everyone sit down and grab a book. Browse the book for 2 minutes. Then in the next 30 seconds fill out the review sheet so you remember which book(s) you liked and why. Then pass your book to the left and repeat. This can be used as a pre-reading activity to help students choose a book for literature circle or reading.

Adapted from: Harvey Daniels & Nancy Steineke, ed., Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles (2004)

Exploration & Discovery
Jean Fritz, The Lost Colony of Roanoke (2004)
Melody Herr, Exploring the New World: An Interactive History Adventure (2008)
Karen Lange, 1607: A New Look at Jamestown (2007)
Betsy and Giulio Maestro, Exploration and Conquest: The Americas after Columbus (1994)
Scott O’Dell, The King’s Fifth (1966)
Jane Yolen, Encounter (1992)
Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple, Roanoke: The Lost Colony (2003)

Changes in the Land
Virginia Lee Burton, The Little House (1942)
Lynne Cherry, A River Ran Wild
David Foster, New England Forests Through Time (2000)
Richard Michelson, Tuttle’s Red Barn: The Story of America’s Oldest Family Farm (2007)

Slavery in the North
Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (2008)
Kathryn Lasky, A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet
Ann Rinaldi, Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons, 1996
Patricia Wall, Child Out of Place: A Story of New England (2004)

Lewis & Clark
Joseph Bruchac, Sacajawea (2000)
Alvin Josephy, Jr., ed., Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes (2006)
Rosalyn Schanzer, How we Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis & Clark (1997)
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark

Book Pass Review Sheet

Title:

Author:

Relates to: __Exploration ­__Changes in the Land __Slavery in the North __ Lewis and Clark __ General Historical Thinking

Genre _____ Fiction _____Non Fiction ____Biography

_____ Picture Book _____ Chapter Book with Pictures _____Unillustrated Chapter Book

Reading Level ____Above Grade Level ____At Grade Level ____Below Grade Level ____Good Read Aloud

Illustrations ____None ____Historically Accurate _____ Good for Visual Thinking Strategies

Historical Accuracy _____ Endnotes and Bibliography Provided ______Stereotypes Avoided

Comments:

Alternative Perspectives

In our Voyage Long and Strange discussion, we asked ourselves how we can best prepare young children for their future studies which (hopefully) will complicate their knowledge of history? How can we prepare students so they won't be angry when they get to high school or college and learn that "everything they had been told was wrong?"

One way is by continually offering a variety of perspectives while teaching about the past. Encounter is one such book which introduces a different point of view about Columbus's voyage.

Try also comparing Sarah Morton's Day with Tapenum's Day when discussing the Pilgrims.

Mapping the New World

The Stanford History Education Group has published a new United States history curriculum, Reading Like a Historian. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features sets of primary documents modified for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities.

The Colonial Unit connects to many of the themes we are discussing this fall. Check out the "Mapping the New World" lesson plan which asks students to think about why maps change over time by comparing a 1636 Powhatan map with this 1651 Virginia map.

Europe, Africa, and the Americas

History Now, a quarterly online journal for history teachers and students, is now available at www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow.

Teachers responsible for a class in early American history often find themselves asking: When does American history begin? What does "America" include? The current issue of History Now takes the broadest approach to such questions, examining what historians call "The Atlantic World," four continents linked by the Atlantic Ocean. Scholars look at conditions in England and the Americas before English colonization; they create a context for understanding Indian and African enslavement; and they examine the perils of traveling the waters that connect peoples of each continent to one another.

This newsletter is of particular interest for teachers involved in book group this fall. Check out the interactive maps, "Perils of the Ocean in the Early Modern Era", and related lesson plans.

A Voyage Long and Strange

A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World is our first reading for the 2010 - 2011 school year.


Check out the author's website for a slide show of related primary sources and an interactive map which traces the routes of North American explorers.