Monday, April 30, 2012
Final Report
The initial goals of the group included:
- Evaluating NYS Engage Close Reads to determine the rigor of texts that were of "close read quality"
- Extensively research materials in print and online that could be used as close read texts
- Share with our colleagues materials we found to be acceptable for close reads
Clearly, as we forged through the process of evaluating materials, many adjustments were made. Some of the resources we thought would be great turned out not to be of the rigor we felt a close read text should have. Therefore, some of the resources we thought we would spend a lot of time on we abandoned and explored others. We also adjusted our idea of giving the faculty a survey of close reads. We felt this to be too informal and thought that, instead, we attend department meetings to share. This worked extremely well for our group and our research. We were able to share many valuable sources with our colleagues. In addition, they provided us with some resources we were not aware of and were helpful to our collection of close read texts.
For the most part, we were able to follow our initial action plan. We did spend a little more time exploring the selected texts for close reads, as chosen by Engage NY. In doing so, we were able to identify many aspects of a text that would qualify it as exemplary and rigorous. In some of our readings our research was also guided by our collective passion to ensure our students are not only reading a rigorous text, but enjoying and taking away important ideas and concepts. This led us to "Choosing Text for Friendly Brain Based Learning." Although at this meeting we veered away from solely focusing on the aspects of the text to qualify it as a close read, we were able to find quality texts that we feel will truly engage our students. In our research, we were also able to better understand much of the vocabulary of the common core, specifically Academic Vocabulary. We spent quite a bit of time on this topic and feel we gained valuable information and resources in regards to ensuring our students are exposed to vocabulary in selected text that they may not encounter in everyday writing.
The exemplars on Engage NY are full of examples to show that teaching practices have most certainly changed. As we choose texts with our students, we are now faced with a new rubric and set of standards to judge whether or not our students will be challenged. As teachers, we need to dedicate much time to ensuring the texts we choose meet the new standards and contain academic vocabulary. Prior to common core, teachers were cautious and careful in selecting texts, but based on different standards. Now, it's imperative we ensure our students are reading texts that meet the new standards.
In regards to students achievement improving, Karli and Christina can speak to this firsthand, as they both completed lessons using texts we selected and the new standards. Both lessons produced thoughtful, complex discussions based on what the students read as well as thorough written responses that were assessed using the new standards.
The goals of our group and our action plan have been met and our final product can be found on the high school library website at: http://nvhslibrary.weebly.com This is a culmination of the resources we found that meet the criteria of close read texts and are available to all of our colleagues. Our colleagues have been provided with this link to view and use the resources.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Close Reading for English: Additional Resources
We spent some time specifically looking at exemplars for ELA and then researched sources that met the close read criteria and rigor. Based upon what we looked through, these are some of the strongest text we found and will recommend:
Grade 10
Elie Weisel’s Hope, Despair and Memory Nobel Lecture:
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/holocaust/wiesel.htm
Holocaust, genocide, human rights
Elie Weisel’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/wiesel-acceptance.html
Holocaust, genocide, human rights, Darfur, bearing witness, taking an active role in ensuring access to human rights
Garcia-Marquez’s Nobel Lecture: The Solitude of Latin America:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1982/marquez-lecture.html
Marquez discusses the roots and sources of Latin American literature, its ties to magic realism, its uniqueness, etc.
Excerpt from The Communist Manifesto:
http://ohhs.ohsd.net/~jcrouch/Honors/readings/09-4%20Marx.pdf
In conjunction with Animal Farm, Cold War, Totalitarianism, etc.
Reagan’s “Address to Students at Moscow State University”
http://old.nationalreview.com/document/reagan_moscow200406070914.asp
in conjunction with Animal Farm and/or Kite Runner
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf
Kite Runner, Documentary Unit, Animal Farm, War/Night Unit
Basic Prohibitions and Obligations of Islam:
Used in conjunction with the rules of the Taliban in Afghanistan for The Kite Runner unit
George W. Bush’s Address to The Nation: 9/11
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm
Kite Runner
Obama’s Speech: Osama Bin Laden Dead
Kite Runner
I have a Dream Speech
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Civil Rights, freedom/human rights, race issues
11
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Henry
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html
Ain’t I a Woman? Truth
http://www.sojournertruth.org/Library/Speeches/AintIAWoman.htm
The Declaration of Sentiments
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.asp
Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm
Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention Speech
Letter from Alice Walker to President Clinton
http://www.cubasolidarity.net/awalker.html
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Recommended by the Experts
Michelle recently attended a conference in regards to Best Books for Young Adults. The presenter, Kathleen O'dean shared her compilation of books that "meet the CCSS required Lexile levels for nonfiction." As a group, we scoured and researched the list and determined that it is an amazing resource for teachers of all different subject areas. Although we follow the F&P breakdown of reading levels, we found an easy conversion online from Lexile to F&P. This allowed us to better recommend books to certain teachers of specific grade levels. Here are many resources on the list categorized and shared by O'dean:
Archaeology & the Ancient World
Arnold, Caroline. The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. 1992. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge. 2010. Lexile: 1070
Cline, Eric H. Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik. 2011. Lexile: 1080
Deem, James M. Bodies from the Ashes. 2005. Lexile: 1120
Giblin, James. The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt. 1990. Lexile: 1100
Harrison, David L. and Richard Hilliard. Mammoth Bones and Broken Stones: The Mystery of North America's First People. 2010. Lexile: 1040
O'Connor, Jane. The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China. 2002. Lexile: 980
Ray, Deborah Kogan. Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age. 2010. Lexile: 1140
Sloan, Christopher. Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons, & Rituals. 2002. Lexile: 1160
Tanaka, Shelley. Mummies: The Newest, Coolest, and Creepiest. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Walker, Sally. Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. 2009. Lexile: 1140
Aviators & Astronauts
Chaikin, Andrew and Victoria Kohl. Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Collins, Michael. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story. 1994. Lexile: 1170
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane. 1991. Lexile: 1160
Giblin, James. Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero. 1997. Lexile: 1140
O'Grady, Scott and Michael French. Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'grady. 1997. Lexile: 1040
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Taylor, Sarah Stewart, and Ben Towle. Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. 2006. Lexile: 1060
Black History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group. 2010. Lexile: 1180
Beals, Melba. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High. 1995. Lexile: 1000
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Bolden, Tonya. Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementoes of Being Young and Black in America. 2001. Lexile: 1130
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Bolden, Tonya, and Bob Adelman. M.L.K.: Journey of a King. 2006. Lexile: 1140
Bolden, Tonya and Field Museum of Natural History. George Washington Carver. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Bowers, Rick. Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network That Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement. 2010. Lexile: 1290
Brimner, Larry Dane. Birmingham Sunday. 2010. Lexile: 1190
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. 2003. Lexile: 1210
Fradin, Dennis. Fight On! Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration. 2003. Lexile: 1030
Hill, Laban. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. 2004. Lexile: 1270
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Hopkinson, Deborah. Up before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America. 2006. Lexile: 1060
Myers, Walter Dean. The Greatest: Muhummad Ali. 2001. Lexile: 1030
Myers, Walter Dean. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. 2011. Lexile: 1050
Civil War
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. Lexile: 1200
Fleming, Candace. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary. 2008. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Holzer, Harold. Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons. 2011. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Long Road to Gettysburg. 1992. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. A Savage Thunder: Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln's Killer. 2009. Lexile: 980
Swanson, James L. Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis. 2011. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110
Colonial Life & the American Revolution
Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How America Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. 2004. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. 2003. Lexile: 1180
Aronson, Marc. The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence. 2005. Lexile: 1180
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Cooper, Michael L. Jamestown, 1607. 2007. Lexile: 1040
Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac. 2003. Lexile: 1000
Freedman, Russell. Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence. 2000. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Washington at Valley Forge. 2008. Lexile: 1210
Freedman, Russell. Lafayette and the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Fritz, Jean. Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider. 2010. Lexile: 1030
McClafferty, Carla Killough. The Many Faces of George Washington. 2011. Lexile: none
Murphy, Jim. A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy. 1996. Lexile: 1140
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile:
Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold. 2010. Lexile: 990
Disasters & Tragedies
Aronson, Marc. Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Denenberg, Barry. Titanic Sinks! 2011. Lexile: none yet
Giblin, James. When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, Aids. 1995. Lexile: 1190
Guiberson, Brenda Z. Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes through the Centuries. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Landau, Elaine. Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Marrin, Albert. Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy. 2011. Lexile: 1000
McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Iceberg Right Ahead! The Sinking of the Titanic. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire. 1995. Lexile: 1130
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. 2003. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.
Explorers & Adventurers
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. 1998. Lexile: 1090
Aronson, Marc. Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado. 2000. Lexile: 1030
Bausum, Ann. Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: A Photobiography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. The Adventures of Marco Polo. 2006. Lexile: 1270
Freedman, Russell. Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas. 2007. Lexile: 1310
Johnson, Dolores. Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson. 2006. Lexile: 1070
Lawlor, Laurie. Magnificent Voyage: An American Adventurer on Captain James Cook's Final Expedition. 2002. Lexile: 980
Macy, Sue. Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Bulls-Eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley. 2001. Lexile: 1150
Murphy, Jim. Gone a-Whaling: The Lure of the Sea and the Hunt for the Great Whale. 1998. Lexile: 1150
Revkin, Andrew. The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World. 2006. Lexile: 1300
Ross, Stewart. Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air. 2011. Lexile: 1120
The Great Depression
Blumenthal, Karen. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. 2011. Lexile: 1250
Cooper, Michael L. Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's. 2004. Lexile: 1120
Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1990. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Marrin, Albert. Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl. 2009. Lexile: 1040
Nau, Thomas. Walker Evans: Photographer of America. 2007. Lexile: 1020
Partridge, Elizabeth and Dorothea Lange. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange. 1998. Lexile: 970
Stanley, Jerry. Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. 1992. Lexile: 1120
Inventions & Inventors
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Inventing the Future: A Photobiography of Thomas Edison. 2002. Lexile: 1140
Fradin, Dennis B. With a Little Luck: Surprising Stories of Amazing Discoveries. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Freedman, Russell and Kate Kiesler. Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille. 1997. Lexile: 1000
Mitchell, Don. Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford. 2010. Lexile: 1210
Thimmesh, Catherine. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960
Tomecek, Stephen M. What a Great Idea! Inventions That Changed the World. 2003 o.p. Lexile: 1250
Wulffson, Don L. The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions. 1997. Lexile: 1080
Kids in History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Freedman, Russell. Immigrant Kids. 1980. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor. 1994. Lexile: 1140
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Partridge, Elizabeth. Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary. 2009. Lexile: 960
Reef, Catherine. Alone in the World: Orphans and Orphanages in America. 2005. Lexile: 1160
Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story. 1996. Lexile: 960
Warren, Andrea. Pioneer Girl: Growing up on the Prairie. 1998. Lexile: 1020
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110
Native Americans
Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers. 1992. Lexile: 1170
Ferris, Jeri. Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan Laflesche Picotte. 1991. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell and Amos Bad Heart Bull. The Life and Death of Crazy Horse. 1996. Lexile: 1100
Freedman, Russell and Karl Bodmer. An Indian Winter. 1992. Lexile: 1150
Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. 1986. Lexile: 1130
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. The Buffalo and the Indians: A Shared Destiny. 2006. Lexile: 1120
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile: 1170
Sullivan, George. Geronimo: Apache Renegade. 2010. Lexile: 980
Walker, Paul Robert. Remember Little Bighorn: Indians, Soldiers, and Scouts Tell Their Stories. 2006. Lexile: 1170
Science & Scientists
Burns, Loree. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. 2007. Lexile: 1200
Burns, Loree. The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. 2010. Lexile: 1120
Carson, Mary Kay. The Bat Scientists. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. 2005. Lexile: 1030
Dendy, Leslie A. Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold "Test Pilots" Of Science & Medicine. 2005. Lexile: 1100
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: How Microbes Shape Our Lives. 2005. Lexile: 1270
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Diseases. 2005 revised. Lexile: 1200
Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Gore, Albert, & Jane O'Connor. An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming. 2007. Lexile: 1070
Heiligman, Deborah. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith. 2008. Lexile: 1020
Hoose, Phillip M. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. 2004. Lexile: 1160
Jackson, Donna M. The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes against Nature. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Jackson, Donna M. The Bug Scientists. 2002. Lexile: 1200
Jackson, Donna M. Er Vets. 2005. Lexile: 1190
Jackson, Donna M. Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places. 2009. Lexile: 1130
Jackson, Ellen. Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Krull, Kathleen. Isaac Newton. 2006. Lexile: 1000
Krull, Kathleen. Giants of Science: Charles Darwin. 2010. Lexile: 1110
Levine, Ellen. Rachel Carson: A Twentieth-Century Life. 2007. Lexile: 1060
Lourie, Peter. The Polar Bear Scientists. Lexile:
Lourie, Peter. Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Lourie, Peter. The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species. 2011. Lexile: 1210
Macaulay, David and Neil Ardley. The New Way Things Work. 1998. Lexile: 1180
Mallory, Kenneth. Diving to a Deep Sea Volcano. 2006. Lexile: 1250
Marrin, Albert. Oh, Rats! The Story of Rats and People. 2006. Lexile: 960
McClafferty, Carla Killough. Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. 2006. Lexile: 1050
O'Connell, Caitlin, and Donna M. Jackson. The Elephant Scientist. 2011. Lexile: 1260
Osborn, Elinor. Project Ultraswan. 2002. Lexile: 970
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Shaping the Earth. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Charles Darwin: The Life of a Revolutionary Thinker. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Pringle, Laurence. Billions of Years, Amazing Changes. 2011. Lexile: none
Sayre, April. Secrets of Sound: Studying the Calls of Whales, Elephants, and Birds. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Schlosser, Eric and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. 2006. Lexile: 1110
Sloan, Christopher. Supercroc and the Origin of Crocodiles. 2002. Lexile: 1150
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Turner, Pamela S. Project Seahorse. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth. 2002. Lexile: 1000
Webb, Sophie. My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal. 2000. Lexile: 1040
Webb, Sophie. Looking for Seabirds: Journal from an Alaskan Voyage. 2004. Lexile: 1020
Webb, Sophie. Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage. 2011. Lexile: 1030
Wittenstein, Vicki O. Planet Hunter: Geoff Marcy and the Search for Other Earths. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Western Expansion
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. 1985. Lexile: 1160
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell. In the Days of the Vaqueros: America's First True Cowboys. 2001. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. Across America on an Emigrant Train. 1993. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. 2003. Lexile: 1100
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark. 2002. Lexile: 1090
Stanley, Jerry. Cowboys and Longhorns: A Portrait of the Long Drive. 2003. Lexile: 1060
Women’s History (not biographies)
Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote. 2004. Lexile: 1080
Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title Ix: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. 2005. Lexile: 1140
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Colman, Penny. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World. 2011. Lexile: 1180
Krull, Kathleen. Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought). 2000. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). 2011. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Thimmesh, Catherine and Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960
World War I
Bausum, Ann. Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I. Lexile: 1250
Freedman, Russell. The War to End All Wars: World War I. 2010. Lexile: 1220
Murphy, Jim. Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting. 2009. Lexile: 1160
Myers, Walter Dean and William Miles. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Preston, Diana. Remember the Lusitania! 2003. Lexile: 1030
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.
World War II
Bachrach, Susan D./United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. 2000. Lexile: 1280
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Denenberg, Barry. Shadow Life: A Portrait of Anne Frank and Her Family. 2005. Lexile: 1000
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. 2002. Lexile: 1110
Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the Uss Indianapolis. 2002. Lexile: 1260
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Thomson, Ruth. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust. 2011. Lexile: 980
Archaeology & the Ancient World
Arnold, Caroline. The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. 1992. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge. 2010. Lexile: 1070
Cline, Eric H. Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik. 2011. Lexile: 1080
Deem, James M. Bodies from the Ashes. 2005. Lexile: 1120
Giblin, James. The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt. 1990. Lexile: 1100
Harrison, David L. and Richard Hilliard. Mammoth Bones and Broken Stones: The Mystery of North America's First People. 2010. Lexile: 1040
O'Connor, Jane. The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China. 2002. Lexile: 980
Ray, Deborah Kogan. Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age. 2010. Lexile: 1140
Sloan, Christopher. Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons, & Rituals. 2002. Lexile: 1160
Tanaka, Shelley. Mummies: The Newest, Coolest, and Creepiest. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Walker, Sally. Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. 2009. Lexile: 1140
Aviators & Astronauts
Chaikin, Andrew and Victoria Kohl. Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Collins, Michael. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story. 1994. Lexile: 1170
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane. 1991. Lexile: 1160
Giblin, James. Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero. 1997. Lexile: 1140
O'Grady, Scott and Michael French. Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'grady. 1997. Lexile: 1040
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Taylor, Sarah Stewart, and Ben Towle. Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. 2006. Lexile: 1060
Black History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group. 2010. Lexile: 1180
Beals, Melba. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High. 1995. Lexile: 1000
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Bolden, Tonya. Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementoes of Being Young and Black in America. 2001. Lexile: 1130
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Bolden, Tonya, and Bob Adelman. M.L.K.: Journey of a King. 2006. Lexile: 1140
Bolden, Tonya and Field Museum of Natural History. George Washington Carver. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Bowers, Rick. Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network That Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement. 2010. Lexile: 1290
Brimner, Larry Dane. Birmingham Sunday. 2010. Lexile: 1190
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. 2003. Lexile: 1210
Fradin, Dennis. Fight On! Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration. 2003. Lexile: 1030
Hill, Laban. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. 2004. Lexile: 1270
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Hopkinson, Deborah. Up before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America. 2006. Lexile: 1060
Myers, Walter Dean. The Greatest: Muhummad Ali. 2001. Lexile: 1030
Myers, Walter Dean. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. 2011. Lexile: 1050
Civil War
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. Lexile: 1200
Fleming, Candace. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary. 2008. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Holzer, Harold. Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons. 2011. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Long Road to Gettysburg. 1992. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. A Savage Thunder: Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln's Killer. 2009. Lexile: 980
Swanson, James L. Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis. 2011. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110
Colonial Life & the American Revolution
Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How America Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. 2004. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. 2003. Lexile: 1180
Aronson, Marc. The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence. 2005. Lexile: 1180
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Cooper, Michael L. Jamestown, 1607. 2007. Lexile: 1040
Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac. 2003. Lexile: 1000
Freedman, Russell. Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence. 2000. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Washington at Valley Forge. 2008. Lexile: 1210
Freedman, Russell. Lafayette and the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Fritz, Jean. Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider. 2010. Lexile: 1030
McClafferty, Carla Killough. The Many Faces of George Washington. 2011. Lexile: none
Murphy, Jim. A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy. 1996. Lexile: 1140
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile:
Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold. 2010. Lexile: 990
Disasters & Tragedies
Aronson, Marc. Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Denenberg, Barry. Titanic Sinks! 2011. Lexile: none yet
Giblin, James. When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, Aids. 1995. Lexile: 1190
Guiberson, Brenda Z. Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes through the Centuries. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Landau, Elaine. Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Marrin, Albert. Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy. 2011. Lexile: 1000
McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Iceberg Right Ahead! The Sinking of the Titanic. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire. 1995. Lexile: 1130
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. 2003. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.
Explorers & Adventurers
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. 1998. Lexile: 1090
Aronson, Marc. Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado. 2000. Lexile: 1030
Bausum, Ann. Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: A Photobiography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. The Adventures of Marco Polo. 2006. Lexile: 1270
Freedman, Russell. Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas. 2007. Lexile: 1310
Johnson, Dolores. Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson. 2006. Lexile: 1070
Lawlor, Laurie. Magnificent Voyage: An American Adventurer on Captain James Cook's Final Expedition. 2002. Lexile: 980
Macy, Sue. Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Bulls-Eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley. 2001. Lexile: 1150
Murphy, Jim. Gone a-Whaling: The Lure of the Sea and the Hunt for the Great Whale. 1998. Lexile: 1150
Revkin, Andrew. The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World. 2006. Lexile: 1300
Ross, Stewart. Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air. 2011. Lexile: 1120
The Great Depression
Blumenthal, Karen. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. 2011. Lexile: 1250
Cooper, Michael L. Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's. 2004. Lexile: 1120
Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1990. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Marrin, Albert. Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl. 2009. Lexile: 1040
Nau, Thomas. Walker Evans: Photographer of America. 2007. Lexile: 1020
Partridge, Elizabeth and Dorothea Lange. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange. 1998. Lexile: 970
Stanley, Jerry. Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. 1992. Lexile: 1120
Inventions & Inventors
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Inventing the Future: A Photobiography of Thomas Edison. 2002. Lexile: 1140
Fradin, Dennis B. With a Little Luck: Surprising Stories of Amazing Discoveries. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Freedman, Russell and Kate Kiesler. Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille. 1997. Lexile: 1000
Mitchell, Don. Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford. 2010. Lexile: 1210
Thimmesh, Catherine. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960
Tomecek, Stephen M. What a Great Idea! Inventions That Changed the World. 2003 o.p. Lexile: 1250
Wulffson, Don L. The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions. 1997. Lexile: 1080
Kids in History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Freedman, Russell. Immigrant Kids. 1980. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor. 1994. Lexile: 1140
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Partridge, Elizabeth. Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary. 2009. Lexile: 960
Reef, Catherine. Alone in the World: Orphans and Orphanages in America. 2005. Lexile: 1160
Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story. 1996. Lexile: 960
Warren, Andrea. Pioneer Girl: Growing up on the Prairie. 1998. Lexile: 1020
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110
Native Americans
Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers. 1992. Lexile: 1170
Ferris, Jeri. Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan Laflesche Picotte. 1991. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell and Amos Bad Heart Bull. The Life and Death of Crazy Horse. 1996. Lexile: 1100
Freedman, Russell and Karl Bodmer. An Indian Winter. 1992. Lexile: 1150
Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. 1986. Lexile: 1130
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. The Buffalo and the Indians: A Shared Destiny. 2006. Lexile: 1120
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile: 1170
Sullivan, George. Geronimo: Apache Renegade. 2010. Lexile: 980
Walker, Paul Robert. Remember Little Bighorn: Indians, Soldiers, and Scouts Tell Their Stories. 2006. Lexile: 1170
Science & Scientists
Burns, Loree. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. 2007. Lexile: 1200
Burns, Loree. The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. 2010. Lexile: 1120
Carson, Mary Kay. The Bat Scientists. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. 2005. Lexile: 1030
Dendy, Leslie A. Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold "Test Pilots" Of Science & Medicine. 2005. Lexile: 1100
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: How Microbes Shape Our Lives. 2005. Lexile: 1270
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Diseases. 2005 revised. Lexile: 1200
Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Gore, Albert, & Jane O'Connor. An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming. 2007. Lexile: 1070
Heiligman, Deborah. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith. 2008. Lexile: 1020
Hoose, Phillip M. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. 2004. Lexile: 1160
Jackson, Donna M. The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes against Nature. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Jackson, Donna M. The Bug Scientists. 2002. Lexile: 1200
Jackson, Donna M. Er Vets. 2005. Lexile: 1190
Jackson, Donna M. Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places. 2009. Lexile: 1130
Jackson, Ellen. Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Krull, Kathleen. Isaac Newton. 2006. Lexile: 1000
Krull, Kathleen. Giants of Science: Charles Darwin. 2010. Lexile: 1110
Levine, Ellen. Rachel Carson: A Twentieth-Century Life. 2007. Lexile: 1060
Lourie, Peter. The Polar Bear Scientists. Lexile:
Lourie, Peter. Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Lourie, Peter. The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species. 2011. Lexile: 1210
Macaulay, David and Neil Ardley. The New Way Things Work. 1998. Lexile: 1180
Mallory, Kenneth. Diving to a Deep Sea Volcano. 2006. Lexile: 1250
Marrin, Albert. Oh, Rats! The Story of Rats and People. 2006. Lexile: 960
McClafferty, Carla Killough. Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. 2006. Lexile: 1050
O'Connell, Caitlin, and Donna M. Jackson. The Elephant Scientist. 2011. Lexile: 1260
Osborn, Elinor. Project Ultraswan. 2002. Lexile: 970
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Shaping the Earth. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Charles Darwin: The Life of a Revolutionary Thinker. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Pringle, Laurence. Billions of Years, Amazing Changes. 2011. Lexile: none
Sayre, April. Secrets of Sound: Studying the Calls of Whales, Elephants, and Birds. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Schlosser, Eric and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. 2006. Lexile: 1110
Sloan, Christopher. Supercroc and the Origin of Crocodiles. 2002. Lexile: 1150
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Turner, Pamela S. Project Seahorse. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth. 2002. Lexile: 1000
Webb, Sophie. My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal. 2000. Lexile: 1040
Webb, Sophie. Looking for Seabirds: Journal from an Alaskan Voyage. 2004. Lexile: 1020
Webb, Sophie. Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage. 2011. Lexile: 1030
Wittenstein, Vicki O. Planet Hunter: Geoff Marcy and the Search for Other Earths. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Western Expansion
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. 1985. Lexile: 1160
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell. In the Days of the Vaqueros: America's First True Cowboys. 2001. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. Across America on an Emigrant Train. 1993. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. 2003. Lexile: 1100
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark. 2002. Lexile: 1090
Stanley, Jerry. Cowboys and Longhorns: A Portrait of the Long Drive. 2003. Lexile: 1060
Women’s History (not biographies)
Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote. 2004. Lexile: 1080
Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title Ix: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. 2005. Lexile: 1140
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Colman, Penny. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World. 2011. Lexile: 1180
Krull, Kathleen. Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought). 2000. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). 2011. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Thimmesh, Catherine and Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960
World War I
Bausum, Ann. Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I. Lexile: 1250
Freedman, Russell. The War to End All Wars: World War I. 2010. Lexile: 1220
Murphy, Jim. Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting. 2009. Lexile: 1160
Myers, Walter Dean and William Miles. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Preston, Diana. Remember the Lusitania! 2003. Lexile: 1030
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.
World War II
Bachrach, Susan D./United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. 2000. Lexile: 1280
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Denenberg, Barry. Shadow Life: A Portrait of Anne Frank and Her Family. 2005. Lexile: 1000
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. 2002. Lexile: 1110
Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the Uss Indianapolis. 2002. Lexile: 1260
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Thomson, Ruth. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust. 2011. Lexile: 980
Non-Fiction/Performance Tasks Part II
In our last meeting with the Social Studies department, many of our CC Reads were shared. They were excited about the findings and especially the connection to the performance tasks. Since then, we have come across some more we would like to include in our Non-fiction/Performance Tasks:
Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How America Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. An outstanding book about how spies and secret agents played an important role in the Revolutionary War. (Look for the coded messages along the spine.)
Math & science tie-ins: Codes, ciphers, and recipes for tools like invisible ink offer puzzles and experiments to use across the curriculum.
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. The 1914 Antarctic expedition when the loss of their ship sent Shackleton and his men on a perilous journey across ice and stormy seas to reach inhabited land.
Performance Task 6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as through inference Have student identify the key ideas of this survival story in terms of information presented but also the sub-text about courage.
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. Biography of photographer Mathew B. Brady, best known for his photographs of the Civil War.
Performance task 9-10.2 Determine central idea and its development over course of text Armstrong contends that photographs influenced public perception of this war and war in general. Summarize and trace her idea and the details she provides.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. Nearly half of Germans age 10-18 got involved in Hitler’s Youth movement. Their stories and those of teens who rebelled told through a gripping narrative and the words of those involved.
Performance task 8.3 Analyze how text makes connections/distinctions among individuals (through comparisons, etc.) Bartoletti distinguishes among youth who questioned Hitler’s teaching and those who didn’t. Consider how she compares them.
Burns, Loree Griffin. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. About a scientist who tracks trash, including rubber ducks and hockey gloves, in the ocean.
Performance task 9-10.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of the text’s explicit and implicit content Burns contends that the problem of trash in the oceans is larger than generally recognized, which she presents through the work of a scientist. Summarize content and cite explicit and implied evidence.
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. The brutal killing and its aftermath of a 14-year-old Chicago boy in Mississippi in 1955.
Fiction tie-in: Compare with Crowe’s fiction version, Mississippi Trial, 1955.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. A highly readable biography that draws heavily on the artist’s correspondence.
Web tie-ins
1. www.vangoghletters.com Students can further explore letters written by and to Van Gogh at a website of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.
2. www.vangoghmuseum.nl Students can look at the many paintings of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, organized both alphabetically and by category, presented with useful notes.
Hill, Laban. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance.
Performance task RI 9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds a series of ideas or events Have students analyze Hill’s choices in how he organized this history, which begins with a chronological structure but then switches to chapters 6-9 that cover the same time period.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. An excellent account of how yellow fever swept Philadelphia in 1793.
Fiction tie-ins Pair this with Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson or Path of the Pale Horse by Paul Fleischman (out of print), both excellent novels about the yellow fever epidemic, set in Philadelphia.
Schlosser, Eric and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. A behind-the-scenes look at the fast food industry, beautifully adapted from Fast Food Nation, with added material about teens.
Performance task RI 9-10.7 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text Schlosser makes strong arguments on several aspects of fast food. Have students choose one of the arguments and assess “whether the reasoning is valid.” Have them try to identify “false statements and fallacious reasoning,” presenting their own counterarguments on this topic of high interest to teens. A debate format would suit this assignment well.
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. The story of thirteen women who qualified to be astronauts except for one requirement: that they had been test pilots, which women weren’t allowed to do. The grim story of how they were shut out.
Performance task: RI 6.6 Determining author’s point of view Stone is sympathetic to the Mercury 13 women. Have students find evidence in the text that reveals her viewpoint, such as her language in describing the women and their personalities.
Thimmesh, Catherine and Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. How women have responded to situations confronting them in daily life by inventing such items as correction fluid, space helmets, and disposable diapers.
Performance task 6.2 Determine central idea and how it is conveyed Thimmesh contends invented useful items based on their needs. Summarize the text and give details without adding opinion.
Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. The excavation a civil war submarine near Charleston, S.C., in 1995.
Performance task 7.5 Analyze structure including major sections Walker alternates discussion of the modern day excavation of the Hunley with how it was built and used during the Civil War. Analyze how alternating the information contributes to the whole and the development of ideas.
Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How America Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. An outstanding book about how spies and secret agents played an important role in the Revolutionary War. (Look for the coded messages along the spine.)
Math & science tie-ins: Codes, ciphers, and recipes for tools like invisible ink offer puzzles and experiments to use across the curriculum.
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. The 1914 Antarctic expedition when the loss of their ship sent Shackleton and his men on a perilous journey across ice and stormy seas to reach inhabited land.
Performance Task 6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as through inference Have student identify the key ideas of this survival story in terms of information presented but also the sub-text about courage.
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. Biography of photographer Mathew B. Brady, best known for his photographs of the Civil War.
Performance task 9-10.2 Determine central idea and its development over course of text Armstrong contends that photographs influenced public perception of this war and war in general. Summarize and trace her idea and the details she provides.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. Nearly half of Germans age 10-18 got involved in Hitler’s Youth movement. Their stories and those of teens who rebelled told through a gripping narrative and the words of those involved.
Performance task 8.3 Analyze how text makes connections/distinctions among individuals (through comparisons, etc.) Bartoletti distinguishes among youth who questioned Hitler’s teaching and those who didn’t. Consider how she compares them.
Burns, Loree Griffin. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. About a scientist who tracks trash, including rubber ducks and hockey gloves, in the ocean.
Performance task 9-10.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of the text’s explicit and implicit content Burns contends that the problem of trash in the oceans is larger than generally recognized, which she presents through the work of a scientist. Summarize content and cite explicit and implied evidence.
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. The brutal killing and its aftermath of a 14-year-old Chicago boy in Mississippi in 1955.
Fiction tie-in: Compare with Crowe’s fiction version, Mississippi Trial, 1955.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. A highly readable biography that draws heavily on the artist’s correspondence.
Web tie-ins
1. www.vangoghletters.com Students can further explore letters written by and to Van Gogh at a website of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.
2. www.vangoghmuseum.nl Students can look at the many paintings of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, organized both alphabetically and by category, presented with useful notes.
Hill, Laban. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance.
Performance task RI 9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds a series of ideas or events Have students analyze Hill’s choices in how he organized this history, which begins with a chronological structure but then switches to chapters 6-9 that cover the same time period.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. An excellent account of how yellow fever swept Philadelphia in 1793.
Fiction tie-ins Pair this with Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson or Path of the Pale Horse by Paul Fleischman (out of print), both excellent novels about the yellow fever epidemic, set in Philadelphia.
Schlosser, Eric and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. A behind-the-scenes look at the fast food industry, beautifully adapted from Fast Food Nation, with added material about teens.
Performance task RI 9-10.7 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text Schlosser makes strong arguments on several aspects of fast food. Have students choose one of the arguments and assess “whether the reasoning is valid.” Have them try to identify “false statements and fallacious reasoning,” presenting their own counterarguments on this topic of high interest to teens. A debate format would suit this assignment well.
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. The story of thirteen women who qualified to be astronauts except for one requirement: that they had been test pilots, which women weren’t allowed to do. The grim story of how they were shut out.
Performance task: RI 6.6 Determining author’s point of view Stone is sympathetic to the Mercury 13 women. Have students find evidence in the text that reveals her viewpoint, such as her language in describing the women and their personalities.
Thimmesh, Catherine and Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. How women have responded to situations confronting them in daily life by inventing such items as correction fluid, space helmets, and disposable diapers.
Performance task 6.2 Determine central idea and how it is conveyed Thimmesh contends invented useful items based on their needs. Summarize the text and give details without adding opinion.
Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. The excavation a civil war submarine near Charleston, S.C., in 1995.
Performance task 7.5 Analyze structure including major sections Walker alternates discussion of the modern day excavation of the Hunley with how it was built and used during the Civil War. Analyze how alternating the information contributes to the whole and the development of ideas.
New Nonfiction and Performance Tasks
After spending time studying Engage NY and the performance tasks as set forth by common core, we found several great, NEW, non-fiction that could be used among many of our teachers. Below are just some of the texts we evaluated for close read quality, attached to a specific performance task, and have shared with our colleagues:
Marc Aronson - Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 feet Below the Chilean Desert
Performance Task: RI 6.5 Analyze the Structure: The author paces his story on a way that creates suspense in regards to the rescue. Students can analyze how he uses the book's structure and arranges sections to create this effect.
Karen Blumenthal - Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition
Performance Task: RI 9-10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums. This book could be compared with Ken Burns' PBS series "Prohibition."
Karen Blumenthal - Mr. Sam: How Sam Walton built Walmart and became America's Richest Man
Performance Task: 9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds a series of events.
Eric H. Cline - Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik
Performance Task: 8.1 Cite the textual evidence supporting an analysis of what the text says explicitly and through inference.
Penny Colman - Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World
Performance Task 9-10.1 Cite textual evidence to support an analysis of what the text says explicitly and implicitly.
Deborah Hopkinson - Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Performance Task 7.9 Write about how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentation
Sue Macy - Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)
Performance Task 9-10.8 Delineate and evaluate the central argument, assessing reasoning and evidence.
Albert Marrin - Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy
Performance Task 8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among distinctions between individuals, ideas, and events.
Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson - The Elephant Scientist
Performance Task 6.7 Integrate information presented in different formats as well as in words to develop an understanding of a topic.
Laurence Pringle - Billions of Years of Amazing Changes
Performance Task 7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases including figurative, connotative, and technical; analyze the impact of specific word choice on meaning and tone.
James Swanson - Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis
Performance Task 7.5 Analyze the structure of a text and how major sections contribute to the whole.
(Ideas for books were taken from a workshop given by Kathleen O'dean)
Marc Aronson - Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 feet Below the Chilean Desert
Performance Task: RI 6.5 Analyze the Structure: The author paces his story on a way that creates suspense in regards to the rescue. Students can analyze how he uses the book's structure and arranges sections to create this effect.
Karen Blumenthal - Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition
Performance Task: RI 9-10.7 Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums. This book could be compared with Ken Burns' PBS series "Prohibition."
Karen Blumenthal - Mr. Sam: How Sam Walton built Walmart and became America's Richest Man
Performance Task: 9-10.3 Analyze how the author unfolds a series of events.
Eric H. Cline - Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik
Performance Task: 8.1 Cite the textual evidence supporting an analysis of what the text says explicitly and through inference.
Penny Colman - Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World
Performance Task 9-10.1 Cite textual evidence to support an analysis of what the text says explicitly and implicitly.
Deborah Hopkinson - Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Performance Task 7.9 Write about how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentation
Sue Macy - Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)
Performance Task 9-10.8 Delineate and evaluate the central argument, assessing reasoning and evidence.
Albert Marrin - Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy
Performance Task 8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among distinctions between individuals, ideas, and events.
Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson - The Elephant Scientist
Performance Task 6.7 Integrate information presented in different formats as well as in words to develop an understanding of a topic.
Laurence Pringle - Billions of Years of Amazing Changes
Performance Task 7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases including figurative, connotative, and technical; analyze the impact of specific word choice on meaning and tone.
James Swanson - Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis
Performance Task 7.5 Analyze the structure of a text and how major sections contribute to the whole.
(Ideas for books were taken from a workshop given by Kathleen O'dean)
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Critical Read....Close Read
Similar to NY, this resource has offers many great examples and rubrics to follow in regards to close/critical reads. During our last group session, we studied this and continued to search for and evaluate texts we have collected:
http://www.criticalreading.com/
http://www.criticalreading.com/
Academic Vocabulary: What our Students Need to Know
As we are evaluating resources for exemplary close read texts, we are seeing an increased demand on students to be able to read at a higher level than they typically may be accustomed to. Through professional development we have been provided with throughout the school year as well as specific training in common core, we are working towards understanding academic vocabulary more, how it helps with the success of our students, and interventions to help students with the rigorous texts they are being faced with.
As a group, we read through "Words as Tools: Learning Academic Vocabulary as Language Acquisition" by William Nagy (Seattle Pacific University) and Dianna Townsend (University of Nevada, Reno). The abstract states:
There is a growing awareness of the importance of academic vocabulary, and more generally, of academic language proficiency, for students' success in school. There is also a growing body of research on the nature of the demands that academic language places on readers and writers, and on interventions to help students meet these demands. In this review, we discuss the role of academic vocabulary within academic language, examine recent research on
instruction in academic vocabulary, considering both general academic words and discipline-specific words, and offer our perspective on the current state of this research and recommendations on how to continue inquiry and to improve practice in this area. We use the metaphor of 'words as tool s' to reflect our understanding that instruction in
Academic vocabulary must approach words as means for communicating and thinking about disciplinary content, and must therefore provide students with opportunities to use the instructed words for these purposes as they are learning them.
Clearly, as educators, before we can introduce our students to great texts to dissect and understand, we have to make sure they have the confidence to handle the language they are, and will be, exposed to. The article is extremely helpful in guiding teachers to help students understand the characteristics of academic language, interventions to help students struggling with difficult texts, and what we're continuing to learn in the field of education in regards to language acquisition in our students.
The following table has helped us to critically review texts for appropriate close read materials and ensure we are preparing our students to be able to read, analyze, and communicate about them:
Interpersonal Stance Does the way this is written tell us anything about the
author or what they believe? Why or why not?
Information Load How many pieces or chunks of information are in
this sentence?
Why is there so much information packed into this?
Organization of Information What clues, words, and pieces of information did the
author give us so we can follow where this
paragraph is going?
Are there some clues/words that tell us about
relationships?
Are smaller ideas part of bigger ones?
Lexical Choices Do we see phrases we don't often use when we
speak?
Why are they here? Are there many different words
in the passage? Why do you think that is necessary?
What do the challenging words tell us that the easier
words may not?
Representational Congruence Do you see any words that represent a process or
something happening? Why would the author use
one word and not explain the whole process?
*Taken from: Reading Research Quarterly. 47, pp. 91-108. International Reading Association
As a group, we read through "Words as Tools: Learning Academic Vocabulary as Language Acquisition" by William Nagy (Seattle Pacific University) and Dianna Townsend (University of Nevada, Reno). The abstract states:
There is a growing awareness of the importance of academic vocabulary, and more generally, of academic language proficiency, for students' success in school. There is also a growing body of research on the nature of the demands that academic language places on readers and writers, and on interventions to help students meet these demands. In this review, we discuss the role of academic vocabulary within academic language, examine recent research on
instruction in academic vocabulary, considering both general academic words and discipline-specific words, and offer our perspective on the current state of this research and recommendations on how to continue inquiry and to improve practice in this area. We use the metaphor of 'words as tool s' to reflect our understanding that instruction in
Academic vocabulary must approach words as means for communicating and thinking about disciplinary content, and must therefore provide students with opportunities to use the instructed words for these purposes as they are learning them.
Clearly, as educators, before we can introduce our students to great texts to dissect and understand, we have to make sure they have the confidence to handle the language they are, and will be, exposed to. The article is extremely helpful in guiding teachers to help students understand the characteristics of academic language, interventions to help students struggling with difficult texts, and what we're continuing to learn in the field of education in regards to language acquisition in our students.
The following table has helped us to critically review texts for appropriate close read materials and ensure we are preparing our students to be able to read, analyze, and communicate about them:
Domains of Academic Language and Guiding Questions for Teachers
Language Domain Questions to Drive InstructionInterpersonal Stance Does the way this is written tell us anything about the
author or what they believe? Why or why not?
Information Load How many pieces or chunks of information are in
this sentence?
Why is there so much information packed into this?
Organization of Information What clues, words, and pieces of information did the
author give us so we can follow where this
paragraph is going?
Are there some clues/words that tell us about
relationships?
Are smaller ideas part of bigger ones?
Lexical Choices Do we see phrases we don't often use when we
speak?
Why are they here? Are there many different words
in the passage? Why do you think that is necessary?
What do the challenging words tell us that the easier
words may not?
Representational Congruence Do you see any words that represent a process or
something happening? Why would the author use
one word and not explain the whole process?
*Taken from: Reading Research Quarterly. 47, pp. 91-108. International Reading Association
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