Concept Confession - Marian Anderson

Have you heard of Marian Anderson?

I didn't know much about her, but I had noticed the book, When Marian Sang, in our school book room. I saw an award on the cover . . . and that always draws me in. It's black history month and I wanted to expose my students to more biographies, soooooo here we are :)

This is Marian Anderson. She overcame many obstacles to follow her dream of becoming an opera singer. The video shows Marian singing at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to perform at Constitution Hall by DAR (Daughter's of the American  Revolution) because of the color of her skin. She was supported by many, including, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Her story is one that has and will continue to inspire and encourage.

I created this packet to use for guided reading and it lends itself to a great close reading activity.

Teacher instructions are included, but the pages are pretty easy to understand. I wanted to start with some basic level comprehension - for the first reading. 

 

After some discussion of the book and further discussion of the time period -students can dig a little deeper and establish another purpose for reading.

For a third reading, I threw in some review skills - you can never review figurative language enough. It can always be tricky to understand and interpret. I also wanted my students to extend this book beyond Marian's story and connect it to themselves. 

This book was written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick. It's a great read and a wonderful way to connect history, character building and language arts into one lesson. 

Back to Blogging . . .

Well, I took a break from the blog . . . but I am ready to get back in the swing of everything school. I am a seller on TpT - www.teacherspayteachers.com and I have been TRYING to get some things posted on there for the back to school boom. I am also getting ready to head back to the classroom on a regular basis to set-up, decorate and prep. The summer time goes by so fast :)

For my first post after the break, I will post a limited-time FREEBIE (This is no longer free, but available in my TpT store)!!
I was working on a guided reading packet for a picture biography on Jesse Owens, and I thought to myself - why not make this more general so that I can use it with any biography. That's what I'm posting!

This packet was created for students who have limited - no knowledge of biographies. So, there is an info page on the genre and then a layout of what will most likely be in a biography.

This is the genre page I was talking about. It gives a quick review of what a biography is and gets some prior knowledge going.

Then it goes into the basics - the personal information!

And of course, a timeline for the students to fill out with important dates and events. There are more pages not pictured. I plan to adjust the packet depending on the biography we are reading - so I won't always use every page. Also - a great independent project once the kids know how to roll with it. I frequently use guided reading packets at the table with a group and then give a similar one down the road for independent work. I even gave some for summer work :) 

I'm glad to be back and I appreciate you hanging in there with me!