Altara - December

School: Altara
Month/Year: December 2007

Recommended Read-a-loud or Book-talk books:

Title: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
Author: Dr. Seuss
Topic: Christmas
Grades: 3-6
Comments: We dressed a student up as the Grinch and had them read the part of the grinch. The kids loved it.
Title: “Santa’s First Flight”
Author: Sam Beeson
Illustrator: Tom Tolman who is the father of three of our students at Altara. (Markus, Michael, and Miya Lynn Tolman)
Topic: Christmas
Grades: K-2
Comments: Pictures are amazing and the students enjoyed the story especially knowing that the illustrator lives in our school boundaries.

Pair and Share Topic: Trench Warfare, No Man’s Land
Titles/Authors used: “Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon and “Going to War in World War 1” by Adrian Gilbert

Comments: We used the book “Going to War in World War 1” to teach the students about Trench Warfare and to explain what No Man’s Land is so that when we listened to the book “Christmas in the Trenches” on CD, they would know what these terms meant. We also had 3 students read actual accounts of some soldiers who witnessed what took place that Christmas Eve in the trenches during World War 1. It was very heart warming and a great start to our Christmas Holidays.