Prepare to Fall in Love

If you aren't already in love with Kevin Henkes, that is. The majority of teachers are probably in love with him.

Well maybe not in love with him, but certainly with his books!

He is the wonderful author of many beloved stories (especially stories with mice as characters...) such as Chrysanthemum, Julius, Lilly, Kitten's First Full Moon, Jessica (one of Jessica's personal favorites!), and this story, Sheila Rae, the Brave. Aside from the perfectly pleasant illustrations, the stories themselves are simply splendid. For now, we will focus on Sheila Rae, the Brave and how it could be used to teach the reading strategy called "making connections". This strategy, as you may have guessed, is where the student relates various aspects of a story to himself; the characters, plot, conflict, or even setting are some examples of things that students could relate to. A popular way to help students organize their thoughts with this strategy is using "When I heard/read the part about...." followed by "It reminded me of....". This formula can either be written on a chart during a lesson where the teacher can write students' answers or on a worksheet like this one at Teacherspayteachers.com (we love this website and have met so many teachers that use its awesome-sauce resources).

This book that we recommend, Sheila Rae, the Brave, is so good for teaching this reading strategy because it oozes with relatability. Everyone has been scared and brave, and judgmental and kind in their lives, even children. In the story, Sheila Rae isn't scared of anything - not even the principle when he walks by, or stepping on the cracks of the sidewalk, or walking backwards - but her little sister Louise is scared of everything. She thinks she isn't as brave as her sister, especially after Sheila Rae tells her straight up that she is a scaredy cat. Sheila Rae exudes pride in her bravery, but takes it a little too far when she decides to walk home a different way. She ends up getting herself lost and she becomes scared, crying because she fears she will never see her family again. But fortunately Louise has been secretly following Sheila Rae and she knows the way home. Her sister's weakness gives her courage and strength, and she gets them safely home. She is brave along the way home, also stepping on cracks and walking backwards. When they arrive home, Sheila Rae is appreciative and tells Louise that she is, indeed, very brave.

It's so cute, right? You can listen to it yourself here.

 So when teaching "making connections" through this book, students can pick out events (or other parts) in the story and tell their connection to it. For example, one student may say "When I heard the part about bravely eating yucky food, it reminded me of when my family was at someone's house and I was afraid to eat the vegetables, but my mom made me." Surely many students will relate to the part where Sheila Rae realizes she is lost. Most people were lost sometime in their childhood and it is terrifying! It would be beneficial to acknowledge the admirable characteristics of the sisters: they don't fight very much, they are forgiving, and they care about each other, as relatives should.
You could also relate this story to different subjects: Sheila Rae isn't afraid of thunder or lightening, so that could relate to something like what makes thunder so loud and lightening so bright, or even safety procedures during a storm and connections that students have with bad weather; for history, Sheila Rae's bravery could be related to historical figures like Abraham Lincoln or Rosa Parks. Obviously there are many directions a teacher could go with this story, so since it is so versatile read it for yourself, recommend it to your friends, and join the Kevin Henkes fan club! (That may not actually exist, but you could be the ambitious one to start it!).

Improve it, please.

In so many cases, including ours, learning about the U.S. government system and elections and politics and campaigns (and yada yada ya) was one of the most boring times in school (besides reading Machiavelli's The Prince...). Not only are all of those topics dry, they are also intricate and confusing. This post is a plea to all teachers and future teachers: improve it, please. Add some spice to these bland topics! Help the children really learn about the government.
Because teaching children about government is very important. It shows them their roles and responsibilities as citizens. Don't we wish that all U.S. citizens took their rights with more gratitude? Well, voting is a great right that we have and what better way to encourage today's children to appreciate the government, its complexity, and citizens' role within it than with books? Literature is a wonderful, effective way to teach about the government since, again, the topic can be difficult and confusing. The book America Votes: How Our President is Elected, by Linda Granfield, covers a wide variety of topics relating to politics, many of which meet the Common Core standards. 
Throughout the book are important lessons for students to learn, such as elections are not actually boring, and voting makes each of us a powerful part of our community. There are also lots of facts - and we mean a lot! Take a look at this comprehensive summary we made for you (who needs Amazon for information on books when you have us?):

- The history of voting

- Voting (what it is and how it works)

- Congress (who is in it and what it does)

- Roles of the President

- Primary Action

- Campaigns 

- Election day

- Political Parties

- Symbols related to voting and campaigning

Also, like we promised, the topics included in the book meet some different Common Core standards. Of course, it depends on what grade you're teaching. Here are a couple examples, one from 5th grade and one from 2nd:

SS5H2 The student will analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.

a. Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

SS2CG2 The student will identify the roles of the following elected officials: 

a. President (leader of our nation) 

b. Governor (leader of our state) 

c. Mayor (leader of a city) 

So it depends on what you're focusing on when you teach and use this book. The first standard we listed is part of Historical Understandings, so maybe you could do a little curriculum integrating (Mrs. Dickens would be so proud!) and mix history and English. The second standard listed is part of Government. There are so many fun activities you could do as a post-read aloud activity. 

Of course, there's always the classroom elections idea, which is a wonderful, interactive way for students to be involved in learning (always a good idea). And look at that kid in the picture. He is very serious about his vote! He looks like a responsible school citizen, doing his civic duty. Don't you want all of your students to take voting that seriously when they're adults? Another fun activity would be to create or use real people running for an office and "campaign" for them. The class could be divided up and create posters, fliers, or even commercials. One last idea: drawing out some political cartoons to relay information about parties. This could be fun during a real election year or after doing a little research on previous runners in an election. 

Don't you wish you could have done cool activities like that to learn more about the government and it's details? We would probably remember a little more than the "I'm Just a Bill" song from Schoolhouse Rock (no offense to S.R. - we learned so much from you're awesome songs!). There are many options available. So again, this plea goes out to all you teachers, present and future: improve it, please.