Our school did it for the first time this year (we're PreK-5), and we chose Trumpet of the Swan. Everyone LOVED it! We had a reading "schedule", usually one chapter per night/weekend, a trivia question on the announcements every morning, and a fundraiser. A local businessman and th PTSO gave enough money to buy every family a book, along with all the classroom teachers, with a some of the specialty teachers getting a copy, too. The PTSO and 5th graders made swan magnets (felt) and sold them for $1. The money was sent to a foundation that helps protect trumpeter swans.
We culminated by having a Trumpet of the Swan night--crafts (origami swans), computer activities (we had a list of relevant websites available), played Duck, Duck, Swan, and another station that I don't remember. It was VERY well attended. Thanks to everyone for book ideas. I'm forwarding them on to our committee. Melissa/VA/2nd On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 3:56 PM, Domina.Natasha < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My K-5 school just did a One School, One Book program this year for the > first time. We ended up using the book A Cricket in Times Square by > George Seldon and loved it. (We decided to go with a classic because we > wanted to be really sure no parents would complain about the subject > matter the first year.--We figure once the program is more established > we can move into books with touchier topics if we want. We figured if > anyone complained we could just say, "It's a classic." I also had > received the advice to do a story about animals because parents will > tolerate a lot more problems in animals' lives than they might in > reading about children's lives.) > > The kindergarten teachers found it worked well for their students, but > it also was complex enough for the 5th graders. It also was great > because our music teacher got really excited about how central music is > in the story and ended up doing a lot of activities that related to the > book. > > The one less than perfect piece about the book was that there is a > Chinese character in the book whose words are written in dialect. He's > a positive character, and is portrayed as having a lot of knowledge, so > different people could have different opinions about whether the image > of this character is stereotypical. I had a great discussion with my > 4th and 5th graders about whether they would consider it a stereotype, > and appreciated the opportunity to have that kind of discussion. > > I wrote up suggestions of discussion questions and activities for > families to talk about/do together. If anyone is interested in seeing > them feel free to e-mail me directly > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). > > We also considered using The Trumpet of the Swan. > > Natasha > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
