Showing posts with label Element 1: Self-love and Knowledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Element 1: Self-love and Knowledge. Show all posts
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key- Sara Assia, Jane Lee, and Maria Petruzzelli
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 12:30 PM
Title: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Author: Jack Gantos
Illustrator: N/A
Year: 1998
Recommended For: Grade 5 & Up.
1. SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCE : This blog contains teaching suggestions a teacher can use when teaching ADHD and the book with students.
2. SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCE : These Essays motivate students to critically think in Joey's perspective to help them understand the difficulties that come with disabilities.
1. ARTS RESOURCE : This website lists some art activities related to the book. By scrolling down to "Classroom Connections" you will find art activities, as well as activities for language arts, science, safety, and history.
2. ARTS RESOURCE : This website suggests different types of self-portraits that students can draw to express their self-awareness. (Discuss their differences and values)
Important Characters:
1. JOEY PIGZA- This is the main character in the story. He is a fifth grader who suffers from undiagnosed ADHD, which causes him to uncontrollably act out in class. Joey is not a bad kid. However, he makes bad decisions and cannot control his actions and behaviors, making him a harm to himself and others. Joey is often described as a character with a heart of gold and a head full of bees throughout the Joey Pigza Series written by Jack Gantos.
2. MS. FRAN PIGZA- This character is Joey's mother. When Joey was in kindergarten she left Joey with her abusive mother in order to look for Joey's father, who had run away from the family. Years later she comes back to care for Joey by herself, while working full time. Ms. Pigza works in a hair salon, trying to make ends meet for son and herself. Joeys mom also has to take "medicine," which consists of a bottle of amaretto and mountain dew.
3. MS.MAXY- This character is Joey's fifth grade teacher. She tries many times to give Joey fair chances and treatment in class. However, Joey's decisions and actions make him a harm to himself and others. Therefore Ms. Maxy must report him and send him to the principal many times.
3. MS.MAXY- This character is Joey's fifth grade teacher. She tries many times to give Joey fair chances and treatment in class. However, Joey's decisions and actions make him a harm to himself and others. Therefore Ms. Maxy must report him and send him to the principal many times.
Summary of Historical Content:
(FICTIONAL-NARRATIVE BOOK)Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is a realistic fiction book about an elementary school boy, Joey Pigza. This chapter book is the first of four books in the Joey Pigza series written by Jack Gantos. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a national book award finalist, is 15 chapters long, approximately 154 pages, and is grade level appropriate for fifth graders. This book is a told in first person by the main character Joey Pigza. Joey discusses his struggle with sitting still and being good in school due to his “dud meds” he takes since he suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Joey cannot control his actions, even when he knows they are wrong. Along with Joey’s struggles with his medication, which only seems to last during the morning, Joey has family problems at home. At a young age Joey’s father abandoned him and his mother. His mother, Fran, who is an alcoholic, followed after his father, leaving Joey in the care of his grandmother who treated him badly. Eventually his mother straightened up and returned to take care of him, however, she still struggled with alcohol and providing for the two of them.
ADHD, also known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, was given this current name in 1987. However, the common affects of the disorder,such as inattentiveness and fidgeting, have been notice and documented for centuries, dating back to 1798 when Sir Alexander Crichton, a Scottish doctor studied students with "mental restlessness."
Jack Gantos first got his ideas about Joey Pigza when he visited a school in Pennsylvania talking about writing. Jack observed a child in the front of the room that was spinning around the seat of his chair. At that time, many teachers put their overactive students in the front of the class. When Gantos began telling jokes, this child would answer the punch line before anyone else. He was having fun until all of a sudden he became worried he did not take his medicine and ran to the nurse's office. This child made Gantos look back at his childhood. Growing up Jack Gantos had moved 40 times and met many children like the one from Pennsylvania. After his visit to the school in Pennsylvania, Gantos wrote a description about the active child who sat in the front row in his journal. The next day, Gantos reread the journal entry and decided to write more. Having liked the what he wrote, Joey Pigza was born.
Element of Social Justice:
1. SELF-LOVE & KNOWLEDGE
This particular element of social justice focuses on the importance of different aspects of their identity: a sense of pride in their culture, heritage, ethnicity/race, religion, skin tone, gender, and much more. In the book, "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key", such an element applies as an example of understanding differences.
In this book, Joey learns about "self." Joey knows that he is a problem child but that he cannot help it. Throughout his story, Joey struggles to love himself. He tries very hard to be like the rest of the students, as well as help as much as possible. However, when he tries to help, Joey makes bad decisions, which only end with someone getting hurt. Towards the end of the book Joey is finally able to love himself and the fact that he has a disability when he is sent to a special education center. It is here that Joey also learns it is okay to have differences and disabilities.
NJ Core Curriculum Standards:
SOCIAL STUDIES
6.3.4.A.3: Select a local issue and develop a group action plan to inform school and/or community members about the issue.
ART
1.4.P.A.3: Describe feelings and reactions and respond in an increasingly informed manner to stories and dramatic performances.
1.4.5.A.3: Demonstrate how art communicates ideas about personal and social values and is inspired by an individual’s imagination and frame of reference (e.g., personal, social, political, historical context).
ACTIVITY
The teacher will suggest the students to look at some of the portraits of different people (if not, the students can draw their own portraits, expressing their self-awareness and feelings). With the portraits, the students will express what "emotions" and "expressions" they see when they look at the portrait. What else can they see in the portraits? Is there any message being sent out? While discussing about these different portraits, they can see the differences between all people, but be able to understand that everyone is connected to one another. Meaning, if a person in the portrait seems sad, and scared, the students can connect to that particular portrait by saying, "Oh, I once was sad when my dog died. I think my expression was probably similar to that person". Sharing difficulties of others will also encourage the students to create interpersonal and intrapersonal connections.
Letter To Joey:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LETTER! :)
Critique :
GRIS GROUP
Gabrielle Tino
Heather Vorona
Juliana Zimmerman
Title: When Jessie Came Across the Sea
Author: Amy Hest
Illustrator: P.J. Lynch
Recommended
Grade Level:
Reading: Ages 4-8
Interest
Level: Grades 3-5
Genre: Historical Fiction
Teacher Resources:
Lesson on what it means to be an
immigrant.
*Discuss with the class how Jessie brought her form of art to America when she immigrated here. Discuss how this is a part of her culture. Ask: What country do you think Jessie is from? How do you think she feels sewing lace in America? Why is sewing lace important to Jessie?
*Discuss with the class how Jessie brought her form of art to America when she immigrated here. Discuss how this is a part of her culture. Ask: What country do you think Jessie is from? How do you think she feels sewing lace in America? Why is sewing lace important to Jessie?
Interactive descriptions on the way
immigrants journey to America.
* Discuss with the class how this is how our country became a “melting pot” of different cultures and that each person brought their individual talents and beliefs from different countries. That is how America is made up of so many different cultures today.
* Discuss with the class how this is how our country became a “melting pot” of different cultures and that each person brought their individual talents and beliefs from different countries. That is how America is made up of so many different cultures today.
Varying ways to use writing, dance, music and
art to portray lessons of history and culture.
*Ask the class to either bring in, demonstrate, or illustrate a piece of artwork or form of art from the country of their heritage. Ask them to prepare and bring to class. They can either make a poster showing it or bring in a piece of artwork either they made or someone else made.
*Ask the class to either bring in, demonstrate, or illustrate a piece of artwork or form of art from the country of their heritage. Ask them to prepare and bring to class. They can either make a poster showing it or bring in a piece of artwork either they made or someone else made.
Creative ways to use drama and writing in the classroom.
*Have a mock ellis island and have children go around in a circle and describe what country they are coming from and the art they are contributing to “America”. Have the children describe how it's made, why it's important to their culture, and how they are going to practice this art in America today.
*Have a mock ellis island and have children go around in a circle and describe what country they are coming from and the art they are contributing to “America”. Have the children describe how it's made, why it's important to their culture, and how they are going to practice this art in America today.
Descriptions of important characters in
the text:
Jessie
Jessie,
the main character in the book, is a young girl who lives with her grandmother
in a poor European village.
Growing up, Jessie’s grandmother taught her the fine art of sewing
intricate lace. Jessie did not
understand why it was so important to her grandmother that she learn but she
would soon understand the valuable lessons her grandmother passed on to her
once she traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to America. The town’s Rabbi had a ticket to come
to America but he was unable to go.
Jesse was the one he chose to give his ticket to. At first, she was hesitant to go but
her grandmother convinced her it was the right thing to do.
Grandmother
Jessie’s
grandmother took care of Jesse after her parents passed away when she was
little. The grandmother passed
down the family tradition of lace sewing.
She encouraged Jesse to take the ticket and go to America to live a
better life.
Cousin Kay
Kay
is the cousin of the Rabbi’s brother’s widow who took Jesse in when she came to
America. Jesse lived with
Kay and worked as a seamstress.
Kay had a shop in New York City.
Summary of the historical context:
The
historical context of When Jesssie Came Across the Sea is about immigration and
the journey of one young girl from Eastern Europe to America. Jessie was given a gift to begin a new
life in the Promised Land. Part of
her journey was the difficult trip across the Atlantic Ocean and the lack of amenities
that the immigrants faced. Once on
Ellis Island they are asked many questions before they are released. There are many papers and forms to fill
out and inspections to go through.
It is a lengthy process that immigrants need to adhere to. There will be new challenges with
culture and language and social ideologies.
Element of Social Justice:
Element
of Social Justice # 1 - Self Love and Knowledge
Learn who you are and be aware of and proud of
your heritage, culture, ethnicity/race, religion, skin tone and gender. Historical background linked to their
identity.
This element of social justice links perfectly
with When Jessie Came Across the Sea.
The young girl finally realizes the importance of life lessons and her
heritage taught to her from her grandmother when she others take notice of her
pride in her work of sewing intricate lace.
NJCCCS:
· 6.1 U.S. History: America in the World - All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think
analytically about how past and present interactions of people, cultures, and
the environment shape the American heritage. Such knowledge and skills enable
students to make informed decisions that reflect fundamental rights and core
democratic values as productive citizens in local, national, and global
communities.
· 6.3 Active Citizenship in the 21st Century All students will acquire the skills needed to be active,
informed citizens who value diversity and promote cultural understanding by
working collaboratively to address the challenges that are inherent in living
in an interconnected world.
· 1.2 History of the Arts and Culture. All
students will understand the role, development, and influence of the arts
throughout history and across cultures.
As in the Jesse’s story, her gift of learning the art of sewing passed
on through generations is a learned cultural pastime.
Dear Jessie,
I am sitting
watching your grandmother sew some lace and I am thinking about you and how you
are doing in America. I cannot
imagine what it is like being a teenager living so far away from your
grandmother. She keeps herself
busy and sews her beautiful lace to sell at Temple on Saturdays. She thinks about you everyday and hopes
that you are happy living in America and enjoying your new life.
What is it like
living in New York? How is it
working with your cousin Kay? I
have heard that she has a very nice shop in New York City in the Lower East
Side. She must be so proud that
you have the skills like your grandmother to sew beautiful lace. I also heard that many women are so
eager to buy your new wedding dresses.
How talented are you! Maybe
one day I will see you again and you will make my wedding dress.
Have you met any
friends? Are you learning
English? That must be so
hard. Have you seen that boy you
met on the boat to America? Wasn’t
his name Lou? Maybe someday you’ll
meet again.
Please write
back to me soon. I cannot wait to
hear from you and all that is going on in your life in America.
Love your
friend,
Rosie
Critique or endorsement of the historical
event:
Children
will be introduced to the term immigration in reading " When Jessie Came
to Sea". This book will allow children to read about a situation that has
happened and continues to happen today. They are able to facilitate what they
know already about immigration, read new material and than compare it to the
new material they have read about. The children will be able to see
some of the ways immigration entered the United States of America. They can
also examine what area Jessie came from. This discussion and critical analysis
can lead into different examples of exploration in the United States.
Citations:
The
Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey. (n.d.). The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey. Retrieved
November 10, 2012, from http://www.state.nj.us
Dogtag Summer - Rosado Group - Jessica Gonzalez, Gianna Stefanelli & Vanessa Nascimento
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 4:39 PM
Author: Elizabeth Partridge
Illustrator: N/A
Year: 2011
Recommended for: Young adults, grades 6 - 8
Purchase Book Here!
Social Studies Resource 1
When you click on this website, go to the bottom and click on "Why did American get involved in Vietnam" on the left hand side. This will then download and allow you to open in Microsoft Word. When teaching the Vietnam War, teachers can provide their children with this worksheet. It talks about the background of the Vietnam War which is essential for students to understand. This includes a paragraph students can read and then questions to answer afterwards. This type of worksheet can allow students to use their comprehension skills, apply what they read, and use their critical thinking skills.
Social Studies Resource 2
When you click on this website, you can scroll down to the third page and find this interview that student can conduct. They can use this interview to find out how people during this time felt about the war and how it affected them.
Arts Resource 1
This is a great resource teachers can use when teaching the Vietnam war. A teacher can integrate art into this by introducing an artifact. This website provides a lot of great pictures of artifacts from the Vietnam War. If you click on an artifact, it then leads you to the description of it. Instead of showing this exact website to students, teachers can choose the specific artifacts they want to show to their class and paste their specific description underneath. Teachers can put this on a Microsoft Word document, Power Point slides or print them out and put them on bulletin boards. Artifacts from the Vietnam War contain a lot of information and will allow students to come into visual contact with history. It will also be a great way for students to understand and remember the sacrifices of those who were involved.
Arts Resource 2
This website can be utilized to introduce artists who drew paintings symbolizing the Vietnam War. Next to each painting there is a description that explains what the painting represents. By viewing these, children will have a better understanding of the war and the effects it had on the specific artists.
Here you will find The National Vietnam War Museum which is located in Texas. Showing this website to students allows them to understand just how important this war was and that there is a museum specifically dedicated to the war itself. Teachers can explore this website with their students but primarily focus on the "museum exhibits" section. The teacher can click on each section of the museum (which is numbered) and show the students that each gallery in the museum represents something different. For example, if you click on "1" you will see that this gallery focuses on the cultural and social aspects of the Vietnam era. The picture on the right hand side, which can be enlarged, gives a rough sketch of what the actual gallery in the museum looks like.
Important Characters
Tracy, Stargazer, Tracy's parents - Bob and Donna
Tracy, Stargazer, Tracy's parents - Bob and Donna
Tracy
Tracy is the protagonist in “Dogtag Summer.” She is an adolescent who is just finishing up her last day of school. Tracy is transitioning from elementary school into middle school, and the summer of 1980 has proven to be one of the biggest moments in her life! Tracy has always struggled with her identity as she never felt whole or complete as a person. She is unsure of herself and feels displaced as a result of being from a multi-cultural background. Despite her feelings of emptiness, Tracy is an obedient, respectful and extremely strong individual. Her upbringing in Vietnam has shaped Tracy to be quite independent; however, it is also the place which has formed a “hollowed-out place” in her belly. Feelings of loneliness and abandonment have also contributed to Tracy’s introversion. At times Tracy longs for a big family, she does not have any siblings, and only has one best friend. She spends a lot of time alone allowing her to miss her “Má” and her grandmother back in Vietnam. Tracy’s driving force in life is to begin to mend the hole she bears in her stomach from a life she used to have in Vietnam and her current life in America. She is desperate to find a bridge between these two worlds of hers that will bring her feelings of happiness, fulfillment and an overall sense of wholeness.
Stargazer
Stargazer is Tracy’s best friend. In contrast to Tracy’s small family, Stargazer comes from a big family. He lives with his mom, Ruthie; his father, Beldon; his little sister, Summer; and his two dogs, Jip and Pixie. He is a happy-go-lucky twelve year old who enjoys swimming in the river with his best friend, Tracy. Stargazer also enjoys ideas about war, heroes, and guns, and he spends his summer with Tracy building a funeral Viking ship. Stargazer’s confidence comes from a loving and carefree environment at home despite living in a cramped trailer. His parents are “hippies,” a sure sign of the times during the 1960’s and 70’s. Growing up in a free-spirited world, Stargazer was immune to what other kids thought. He is a “normal” boy who is enjoying his summer break with his best friend.
Stargazer is Tracy’s best friend. In contrast to Tracy’s small family, Stargazer comes from a big family. He lives with his mom, Ruthie; his father, Beldon; his little sister, Summer; and his two dogs, Jip and Pixie. He is a happy-go-lucky twelve year old who enjoys swimming in the river with his best friend, Tracy. Stargazer also enjoys ideas about war, heroes, and guns, and he spends his summer with Tracy building a funeral Viking ship. Stargazer’s confidence comes from a loving and carefree environment at home despite living in a cramped trailer. His parents are “hippies,” a sure sign of the times during the 1960’s and 70’s. Growing up in a free-spirited world, Stargazer was immune to what other kids thought. He is a “normal” boy who is enjoying his summer break with his best friend.
Tracy's parents, Bob and Donna
Bob and Donna are good-hearted parents, mild-tempered, and easygoing people. They lead a simple life in their house in Santa Rosa, California. Bob and Donna met when they were young and wed right before Bob left to serve the United States in the Vietnam War. As a couple, prior to the war, they were very happy with each other. After Bob came back from the war, however, he became different and was extremely distant. Bob suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and as a result it has caused a big strain in the marriage. Bob works in a hardware store/lumbar jack yard called Jones Brothers and Donna works as a cashier in a local supermarket called Redwood Cove Market. They are a hardworking, middle-class family whose daily routines and family secrets have made them to appear and feel tired. As a family, they do not spend a lot of time together except for their quiet and somber dinners. Bob and Donna adopted Tracy at the age of six and are trying their best to raise her as normal as possible given her difficult upbringing in Vietnam. Bob and Donna are full of love. Unfortunately, they just become lost as individuals and as a family as their past continued to haunt them.
Summary of Historical Content
The Vietnam War occurred in Vietnam, Southeast Asia from November 1955-April 1975. It was a long, bloody and costly armed conflict. It followed the first Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam (supported by communist allies) and the government of South Vietnam (supported by U.S. and other ant-communicated countries).Vietnam was split into two parts. North Vietnam was communist-ruled and South Vietnam was not ruled by communist. This was a prolonged struggle between nationalist forces who wanted to unify the country under a communist government and the United States, with the aid of the South Vietnamese, attempting to prevent the spread of communism. North Vietnam wanted to end U.S. support of South Vietnam and unite the north and south into a single nation. The United States and the South Vietnamese army tried to stop them. From 1957 to 1965, the war was primarily a struggle between the South Vietnamese army and Communist-trained South Vietnamese known as the Viet Cong. Viet Cong was a political organization and an army in South Vietnam. The first U.S. troops entered Vietnam in March 1965. Until 1969, North Vietnam and the United States did most of the fighting. Military groups rose from 16,000 to 21,000. By 1969, the Vietnam War seemed endless, and the United States slowly began to withdraw troops. In January 1973, a cease fire was arranged. The last U.S. ground troops left Vietnam two months later. Despite the treaty, fighting between North and South Vietnam continued soon afterward, but U.S. troops did not return. In 1975, the war came to an end after North Vietnam captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The lives taken by this war is believed to be as high as four million. Today, April 30th is a public holiday in Vietnam known as Reunification Day.
"Dogtag Summer" is a novel in which the main character’s most prevalent conflict is remembering where she came from. Throughout the whole book Tracy has flashbacks of the time she lived in Vietnam and the hardships of her childhood there. She learns about her difficult childhood in Vietnam through her adoptive parents. With each new detail she was given, she remembered something new that occurred in her childhood. By the end of the book, after pushing her adoptive father to tell her everything he knew, she found out who her biological parents were. After finding out about her childhood she was finally able to accept herself for who she is, even is she is different than everyone else.
NJ Core Curriculum Standards and Activity
Social Studies
6.1.P.D.3 Express individuality and cultural diversity.
6.1.P.D.4 Learn about and respect other cultures within the classroom and community.
Art
1.1.8.D.2 Compare and contrast various masterworks of art from diverse cultures, and identify elements of the works that relate to specific cultural heritages.
Activity
These three standards can be easily combined into one activity because they are so similar. In this activity, students will have to talk to their family to find out about their culture and background. They will bring in a work of art that represents where their family came from. The student will then share the information they learned about their culture and the piece of art that represents it. The students will learn about different cultures and how they compare to their own culture.
This historical fiction novel portrays the Vietnam War in a very realistic fashion. The author did a lot of reading and she also interviewed people in America and Vietnam who had lived through the war in order to depict how the war impacted both American and Vietnamese cultures. This book and its historical event allows adolescents and young readers to understand how ordinary people's lives changed as a direct result of the Vietnam War. The novel illustrates the big division that existed in North and South Vietnam during these times of disorder, and it provides great insight into how the United States felt about the possible spread of communism that threatened to spread across the world. In addition, young people have a wonderful opportunity to learn about others who come from a multi-cultural background, such as Tracy whose blood father was an American GI and whose blood mother worked in a laundry facility within the American base in Vietnam. "Dogtag Summer" and the historical event in it provides a forum wherein a teacher can discuss many of the social issues that impacted war vets as well as their families. For example, one issue that can be explored is how Americans in the Unites States greeted war heroes once they finally came back home. Another topic of discussion may encompass how isolated these soldiers felt and how post-traumatic stress disorder is created through acts of war and how society is affected as a whole. Finally, students can also learn the significance of dogtags and the special meaning represented by them. Young people can learn about the emotions behind keeping such mementos in order to maintain connections and in order to remember, grieve, and above all honor!
History. (1996-2012). http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war
Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (April, 4). Vietnam war. http://www.42explore2.com/vietnam.htm
NJCCS – Social Studies Curriculum Content Standards http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/standards/6/
Rosenburg, J. (2012). Vietnam war. http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm
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