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November Book of the Month

You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?
by Jean Fritz

Summary

Fritz maintains her reputation for fresh and lively historical writing with this biography of the 19th-century American feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), imparting to her readers not just a sense of Stanton's accomplishments but a picture of the greater society Stanton strove to change. Stanton is first introduced in girlhood, mastering task after task in a futile effort to prove to her father that she was "just as good as any boy." Brightly told anecdotes tell of the adult Stanton's excitement in rousing audiences to concern for women's rights; Fritz sets the background by outlining the prevailing social sanctions against women speaking in public. She explores Stanton's responsibilities in raising seven children; her unconventional marriage; her long collaboration with Susan B. Anthony; her attempts to cope with dissension within the women's rights movement. Highly entertaining and enlightening.

Character Trait for November – Patriotism : Devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.

Children demonstrate patriotism by:

1. Being knowledgeable about our country’s history and government.
This includes understanding the reasons behind national holidays and celebrations.

2. Being involved in their communities; being part of the process, beginning with their family, their neighborhood, and their school.


Discussion Questions:

1.In what ways were women treated differently than men?

2.Why was it so difficult for Elizabeth Stanton to truly be patriotic?

3.What did Elizabeth mean when she wrote, “The government couldn’t dole out equality in bits and pieces. ‘Equality’ meant ‘equality for all.’ ”

4.Discuss how the people in Elizabeth’s life helped her make a difference with Women’s Rights.

5.Who or what was Elizabeth’s greatest challenge in her quest for equality? Explain using support from the text.

6.Discuss the similarities and differences between the society Elizabeth knew and the one we live in today.


Check out these or other websites and discover even more…

➢ Honoring American Troops- http://www.honoringamericantroops.com/HonoringAmericanTroopsLinks.html
➢ Fun Facts about Government- http://www.govspot.com/features/kids.htm
➢ Cool website that shows students the behind the scenes look into Congress-http://www.congressforkids.net/Elections_politicalparties.htm
➢ A website that demonstrates the similarities and differences between political parties- http://www.ehow.com/facts_6962135_compare-political-parties-kids.html

I found this great document for Marzano's High-Yield Instructional Strategies. These are research based strategies. Please note the percentile gain yield for each strategy. Try one out. I would love to hear feedback if the strategy was successful!

MarzanoHighYieldStategies

All of the Above - Trailer

All of the Above Lesson Plan

All of the Above Guide

Below is the template for the Tetrahedron

Tetrahedron

October's Book of the Month

How a Math Project Became a Life Lesson

A review by Jenny Sawyer

My seventh-grade math class needed a Mr. Collins.

Well, maybe not the Mr. Collins we meet at the beginning of Shelley Pearsall's All of the Above. In fact, some of the book's opening scenes could easily have come straight from seventh-grade math at Carver Middle School, where boredom and malaise hung as thickly in the air as did the Florida humidity.

Like Mr. Collins -- who seems, at the outset, as exasperated with himself as he does with his students -- I'm sure my teacher would have done just about anything to motivate us. And that is where plans to build a Stage 7 tetrahedron could have come in quite handy. (If only she'd known.)

The tetrahedron team Mr. Collins assembles to break the world record -- or rather, the team that assembles itself to get into Guinness -- is a motley crew of inner-city Cleveland kids, as different from one another as Caucasian Mr. Collins seems to be from them.

There's troublemaker James Harris III; outgoing Marcel; shy, motivated Rhondell; and bubbly Sharice. The story progresses as the students take turns telling their version of the events, while Mr. Collins interjects occasionally with questions and facts related to the tetrahedron's construction.

I'm rarely won over by multiple-narrator novels. Too frequently, one character dominates. Or, like the scenery in a school play, no character develops beyond two dimensions. But in Pearsall's hands, this approach is actually successful.

Every voice in All of the Above sounds authentic. And, like each of the 16,384 smaller tetrahedrons required to break the world record, each one is integral to the building process.

This book is all about building. In Mr. Collins's case, that means starting with what you have and building from there. For the students, it's about building trust, partnerships, self-esteem, even faith. But fundamentally, All of the Above is about building community: The characters, initially isolated individuals each with his or her own secrets, come together first as a team, and eventually, even as a family.

"An important fact to remember about tetrahedrons," says Mr. Collins about three-quarters of the way through the novel, is that "the tetrahedron structure grows larger and larger, the empty spaces within the tetrahedron grow larger and larger, too."

In inner-city Cleveland where it's easier to watch things crumble than to help to build, even the characters' growing connections can't always withstand the emptiness -- read: poverty, crime, and tough times -- that lies in their midst. But although All of the Above does deal with the grim realities of life in the ghetto, it is, ultimately, a hopeful book.

When vandals destroy the original, nearly complete tetrahedron, the students -- and Mr. Collins -- rally. So do Marcel's father and his customers. And Rhondell's Aunt Asia, who, along with her team of hair stylists and nail technicians, adds rhinestone-bedecked tetrahedrons to the structure.

Slowly but surely, a second Stage 7 tetrahedron rises out of the rubble. And Mr. Collins's final fact: "Because of its repeating pattern, the tetrahedron structure can expand to infinity. So, in theory, you can keep on adding more and more tetrahedrons forever...." offers hope not only that the students will keep aiming higher, but also that the community that rallied to support their efforts will continue to expand.

Pearsall deftly suggests the connections between math and real life -- connections which add poignancy and depth to her tale. But at least one equation in All of the Above, is quite simple: Seven characters + lots of heart = one really good novel.

Jenny Sawyer reviews children's books for the Monitor.

Taken directly from: http://www.powells.com/review/2006_11_27.html