The Kids in Ms. Colman's Class: Holiday Time

1. Ann M. Martin
2. The Kids in Ms. Colman's Class: Holiday Time
3. Charles Tang
4. General Fiction
5. None
6. Working together
7. Primary-Sara, secondary- her mother (Mrs. Ford), Audrey, Ms. Colman, Frederick(Sara's dog), Pamela, and other students in Sara's class
8.  Newbery Award for the book series, 1997
9. Scholastic, Inc

10. This book is mostly geared for girls ages 6 to 9. This is one of many of a series of books called The Kids in Ms. Colman's Class. The particular I chose was "Holiday Time." This chapter book was a rather simple straight forward book about Ms. Colman's class working together on holiday projects based on the three important holidays in December which were Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. The students were put into groups to do research looking for the history, traditions, and song of each holiday. Sara and her best friend, Audrey gets into about the new girl in class name, Pamela. Sara likes her but feels no one is giving her a chance. At the end, everyone works together to present really good holiday projects. Everyone was friends and ready for their holiday break. This would be a nice book to read in class during the holiday time to help my students understand the difference between the three holidays and how everyone celebrates differently. It could also teach my students about social skills to help when working well with others.

Ruby Lu, Brave and True

1. Lenore Look
2. Ruby Lu, Brave and True
3. Anne Wilsdorf
4. General Fiction
5. None
6. Friendship
7. Primary-Ruby Lu, secondary-Ruby's parents, her grandparents, her little brother, cousin, friends, and neighbors
8. no awards, 2006
9. Turtleback Books

10. This book is about a very extremely adventurous little eight year old Chinese girl. Ruby Lu's has her way of taking things in her own hands. Since, her friends sibling had started talking it was up to Ruby Lu to teach her little brother, Oscar how to speak Chinese. She also keeps her family and friends entertained by performing her personal magic shows in her backyard. One day Ruby decides to take her parents car for a ride with her little brother as the passenger. She drives to school without license of course and the only thing she felt she did wrong was park in her prinicipal's parking spot. Also, in this book Ruby Lu's cousin from China moves in with Ruby and her family. The theme that was presented in this book is a great topic to teach in the classroom about the Chinese culture and friendships.

Show Way

1. Jacqueline Woodson
2. Show Way
3. Hudson Talbott
4. General Fiction
5. None
6. Geography/ Values
7. Primary-Soonie, secondary-two generations of her grandmothers
8. 2006 Newbery Honor Book, 2005
9. Penquin Group

10. This was a very powerful book geared for children ages 6 to 8. It's about this girl name, Soonie. She introduces us to two generations of her grandmothers, her grandmother and great-grandmother. They were slaves, who made these "show way"quilts which actually represented maps to be freed from slavery. This quilt symbolizes the journey Soonie's grandmothers endured on their ways to freedom. This would be a great book  for teaching values or maybe even a geography lesson with the use of maps.

Dan Gets Set

1. Susan Blackaby
2. Dan Gets Set
3. Ryan Haugen
4. Picture book
5. None
6. Responsibility/ Memory
7. Primary- Dan, secondary- Dan's mom and dad
8. no awards, 2005
9. Coughlan Publishing

10. This was a cute little book for preschoolers and elementary age students. This book is about a little boy name, Dan. He helps his mom and dad in preparing supper. His task is to set the table for the three of them, but Dan forgets one important part of setting the dinner table. He forgets to set dinner items up for himself. This book is a great example of teaching responsibility skills and remembering things.

The Worst Name in Third Grade

1. Debbie Dadey
2. The Worst Name in Third Grade
3. Tamara Petrosino
4. Comedy
5. None
6. Bullying
7. primary character-Bridgett Butt, secondary characters-Tom, Amanda, Carey, Mrs. Holiday, Miss Snotgrass, and Mikey Parsons
8. no awards, 2005
9. Scholastic, Inc.

10. This book is about a third grader named Bridgett Butt, who has gotten made fun of because of her last name. The thing that makes Bridgett so happy is that she loves her dog, Bobo, her best friend, Amanda, and her teacher, Mrs. Holiday. One particular day changed Bridgett's whole world. Mrs. Holiday tells Bridgett and the rest of the class that she and her husband are moving to Texas. Bridgett was devastated about her teacher leaving and now her friendship with Amanda was vanishing. On top of all of that Bobo is very old and getting sick. This book is a good book to teach students about bullying and teaching them how to cope with changes that may occur.

Chicka Chicka abc

1. Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
2. Chicka Chicka abc
3. Lois Ehlert
4. informative
5. none
6. learning alphabet
7. no characters, just the letters of the alphabet
8. no awards, 2009
9. Little Simon
10. I chose this book, because it was one that my children really enjoyed. This book is primarily for ages 0-4. It is a cute little song for your little ones to learn their alphabet. There is another book called Chicka Chicka

Boom Boom. This book could be used in a kindergarten class towards the beginning of the school year to teach or review the alphabet for those who may learned their abc's in preschool.

I Face the Wind

1. Vicki Cobb
2. I Face the Wind
3. Julia Gorton
4. informational/question and answer book
5. none
6. science and scientists
7. primary-the little girl
8. 2004 Robert F. Sibert Book Award, 2003
9. Harper Collins Publishers

10. This was a very informative book for children. In the book many questions are mentioned about the wind and air. These questions are probably things that all small children wonder one time or another. There is an example on how to weigh air. It also explains how air is made of a lot of tiny balls floating in space called molecules. This book would make a great way to explain a science lesson or even an experiment to do in class.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

1. Margaret Chodos- Irvine
2. Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
3. print making techniques on Rives paper
4. fiction
5. none
6. Independence
7. primary-Sarah, secondary-mom,dad, sister,friends
8. 2004 Caldecott Honor book award, 2003
9. Harcourt, Inc.

10. This is a cute little book for ages 2-5. It is about a little girl named Ella Sarah that wants to wear a particular outfit that she puts together herself. Her mom, dad, and sister all give her different outfits of their choices but Ella Sarah says "no" to all three. She has her mind set on the outfit that she chose. So, Ella Sarah puts on her outfit even though it did not go together, she thought it did. She looked in the mirror and thought her outfit was perfect! Her friends came over and they were all dressed similar to Ella Sarah and loved each others outfits. This would be a great book to use when teaching my younger students how to be independent.

Rosa

1. Nikki Giovanni
2. Rosa
3. Bryan Collier
4. biography
5. none
6. informational
7. primary-Rosa Parks, secondary- women of the women's political council, Supreme Court, Martin Luther King Jr.
8. 2006 winner of the Coretta Scott King illustrator award and 2006 Caldecott Award winner, 2005
9. Henry Holt and Company

10. This is about a seamstress named Rosa Parks who made history in 1955. Mrs. Parks was a strong person who stood up for her rights during this segregation time. The book goes into details about how Mrs. Parks refuses to give up her free seat (seats for whites or black) to the white people. She was tired of blacks and whites being segregated at the time. She was a firm believer that she could change the way things were being done. Even though it took a while, Mrs. Parks refusal and arrest helped segregation come to an end in 1956.  This book would be a good choice for an African American history lesson or to celebrate black history month in February.

Henrietta and the Golden Eggs

1. Hanna Johansen
2. Henrietta and the Golden Eggs
3. Kathi Bhend/ translator- John S. Barrett
4. general fiction
5. none
6. Size does not matter
7. Primary- chicken named Henrietta, secondary- big chickens, manager, and workers
8. 2003 Mildred L. Batchelder Honors, 1998
9. David R. Godine Publishers, Inc.

10. This book was designed for children in grades kindergarten through second. It's about a determined little chicken that feels she can do many things that the other chickens said are impossible. The bigger chickens discourages her, but she never gives up hope. She even makes life better for all 3,333 chickens. Since, their living condition was so awful, she convinced the manager and workers to have them in an open field. This helped the chickens not to fight or get sick. I could use this book to teach my students about motivation and determination skills.

The Lucky Baseball Bat

1. Author: Matt Christopher
2. Title: The Lucky Baseball Bat
3. Illustrator: Dee deRosa
4. Genre: general fiction
5. Subgenre: No subgenre
6. Theme: life experiences
7. Primary and seconday characters: Martin is the primary character, secondary characters are Jeannie, Barry Welton, Coach Cassell, Mr. Ginty
8. Awards(s) date of publication: I didn't see any awards, published in 1993
9. Publishing company: Little, Brown and company
10. Brief summary and how you would use the book with students?

This book was chapter book ranging for ages 4 to 8. This book is about a little boy name Martin. He really wants to play baseball and he has no bat or glove. He struggles with a boy named Rick. He meets an older boy named Barry Welton that gave him his old bat and glove. Martin felt the bat was lucky and one day the bat broke and Martin felt he could no longer play baseball, because he was no good. A man named Mr. Ginty made Martin another bat that looked just like his lucky bat. Martin won the baseball game thinking it was his lucky bat when it reality he had it in him all along the bat had nothing to do with it. I could use this book when talking to my students about bullying and going through life experiences and relationships.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

1. Author: Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
2. Title: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
3. Illustrator: There was no illustrator, but the pictures were cut-paper collage
4. Genre: Informational
5. Subgenre: No subgenre
6. Theme: question and answer book
7. Primary and secondary characters: none just facts
8. Awards(s) date of publication: 2004 Caldecott winner, published in 2003
9. Publishing company: Houghton Mifflin Company
10. Brief summary and how you would use the book with students?

This is a great book for children ages 4 to 8. This is an informative book telling children the wonderful things different animals can do with their tails, ears, mouths, eyes, noses, and feet. It is interesting to see how these animals use their different body parts for different things compared to how us humans use ours. I could use this book in my classroom in a science lesson teaching about animals and how they adjust to their habitats.