Oak Hollow Elementary

Recommended Read-a-louds

            Home Run the story of Babe Ruth by Burleigh –This book offers a look at this famous athlete from the perspective of a boy as well as his fans.  There are vintage baseball cards on every page that give many details about Babe Ruth's many accomplishments.  If reads almost like a poem so I read it slowly and the classes loved each page. This one is also beautifully illustrated with oil paintings by Mike Wimmer that I point this out before I get into the story. 

            Henry's Freedom Box by Levine -  this story is based on a true story of how a Virginia slave escaped to freedom by shipping himself to Philadelphia in  a wooden crate in 1849.

Pair & Share Topic: Historical Fiction

We have many wonderful historical fiction picture books in our collection.  Students are required to do reports on historical fiction chapter books and they don't always get to appreciate the picture books that are just as educational.  We show several and tell a bit about each.  We chose some to read the following week.  There is a page in each book with background for the story and I discussed this before reading the book to the class. This turned out to be a great way to share the books over a 2 week period. we have books about:

·         the war of 1812 – Sisters of Scitiate Light by Krensky

·         Brooker T. Washington – More than anything Else by Bradby

·         The Oregon Trail – Wagons West! By Roy

·         Plains Indian culture/Chief Crazy Horse – Crazy Horse's Vision by Bruchac

·         The Revolutionary War – John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith

·         Blizzard of 1888 – Terrible Storm by Carol Otis Hurst

·         The Civil War – Pink and Say by Polacco

·         WWII – The Unbreakable Code by Hunter and also The Butterfly by Polacco

·         Post WWII period – Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming (very uplifting !) 
Way to prove that Everybody books are REALLY for EVERYBODY!