Contents of the MRS. KATZ and TUSH/BREAD IS for EATING
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Contents of the MRS KATZ AND TUSH/BREAD IS FOR EATING Curriculum Package Inside your Reading Rainbow handmade cloth bag, you will find: the Reading Rainbow videos Mrs. Katz and Tush and Bread is for Eating the Mrs. Katz and Tush book and the Bread is for Eating book a classroom game "Who's that Cat?" a Chinese lunar calendar a Chinese New Year banner a poster containing the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa ©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln All rights reserved Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages)' In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN' Language Arts and Note to teacher: In today’s society, young people often have mis- Literature conceptions about what it is like to be old and cannot imagine growing older. Many children do Through the use of the books, Mrs. Katz and Tush and not know any older people, and it is not uncommon Bread Is for Eating, and the accompanying Reading Rainbow for grandparents to be middle-aged. Extended fami- programs, students will have the opportunity to experience lies in the home and immediate neighborhood are the following: declining. Americans typically do not value the writing for different purposes elderly as other cultures do and tend to place a vocabulary study premium on youth, as evidenced by our commer- distinguishing fiction and nonfiction cial advertising. The elderly population, however, is connecting literature with writing one of the fastest growing groups, as a result of the literature from many cultures baby boom and medical advances. In light of all of work of an author and illustrator these factors, the need exists for activities that interviewing inform children and help shape their understand- figurative language ing and attitudes toward the elderly. making a glossary Children’s literature can assist in promoting posi- sequencing story events tive attitudes toward aging. Selection of books that using reference sources do not perpetuate stereotypes associated with the Spanish language elderly is an important consideration. These ste- reotypes include: the image of elderly persons as Language Arts and Literature Activities passive, sedentary, sad, poor, senile (as the result of old age, instead of illness), infirm, dying, always Critical thinking about story characters. After viewing the a grandparent, unidimensional, eccentric, and Reading Rainbow program, read Mrs. Katz and Tush to the dependent upon younger people to add interest students. (Explain that the story on the video is an adapted and excitement to their lives. This is not to suggest version of the book.) Guide the students to use details from that these images of elderly people do not exist in the story and illustrations to extend their thinking about the real life—they do. However, the cumulative effect characters of Mrs. Katz and Larnel by discussing the following: of only these images has an impact on the atti- tudes of young people. Teachers are encouraged 1. What did Larnel think of Mrs. Katz before he knew her very to evaluate the literature featuring elderly charac- well? ters that they choose to share with their students, 2. Larnel brought Mrs. Katz and Tush together. What else did according to the following: Larnel give Mrs. Katz? What did she give Larnel in return? - Is the elderly person an important character in the 3. How was Larnels friendship with Mrs. Katz different from story? his friendships with people his own age? 4. How did both Mrs. Katz and Larnel change and grow as a - Is the elderly character an individual with a well- result of their friendship? rounded, multi-dimensional personality? - Is the elderly character self-reliant? Vocabulary study. In the Mrs. Katz and Tush book, Mrs. - Is the elderly character engaged in a variety of Katz declares herself a bubee when Tush has kittens, and activities? Larnel describes her with the same term in the inscription on - Does the elderly character interact with people of her tombstone. In the Reading Rainbow program, LeVar calls different age groups? Shari his bubee. Author/illustrator Patricia Polacco uses - Is the elderly character described and depicted in bubee and babushka in reference to her grandmother in the illustrations as unique and diverse in appear- many of her books. Discuss with students all the different, ance as characters of any other age group? special names they have for their grandparents and make a - Is the elderly character related to the other story list. Add to this list as they encounter other names in books characters? (Balance the “Yes” responses with about grandparents and elderly friends. Some of the names books in which the character is not a family mem- on the list may be the words for grandparents in other lan- ber.) guages, such as abuela in Spanish. (See Annotated The Annotated Bibliography, beginning on page Bibliography for recommended books about grandparents.) 77, contains suggestions for many books which portray positive images of aging. MRS. KATZ AND TUSH/BREAD IS FOR EATING Language Arts & Literature 5 ©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Mathematics Through experiences with the Mrs. Katz and Tush and Bread Is for Eating books and the accompanying Reading Rainbow programs, students will have opportunities to work with these mathematical concepts: measurement months of the year size weight graphing ordinal numbers money values calendar patterns significance of numbers in cultures Mathematics Activities Making a graph. Children in the Bread Is for Eating Read- Note to teacher: ing Rainbow video talked about their favorite kinds of bread. A large survey and the resulting graph can Survey the class about their favorite bread and graph the be made more manageable by asking stu- results. Extend the survey beyond the classroom to include dents to predict what they think the most teachers and staff, other classrooms at your grade level, or frequent responses to the question of favor- other students, as appropriate, to have a more comprehensive ite bread might be. Limit the survey to a set graphing experience. number of bread choices from the students' predictions, and have the respondents Working with data from the tasting party. On the record- choose from among those types of breads ing sheet from the bread tasting party (See activity on page listed on the survey. The graph, then, con- 57 in the Science and Health section), students are asked if tains only that number of breads. they would eat those breads again. As a class, tally the results from those sheets. Have students draw a mathematical conclu- sion from the tallies and write a statement. Kind of Yes No Our conclusion bread bagel llll llll Five more people liked a bagel llll ll than didn't like a bagel. ll rye llll llll 7 people didn't like bagels. 14 bread llll people didn't like rye bread. llll We know that 7+7=14, so twice as many people didn't like rye bread. English llll Almost the same number of muffins llll llll people liked English muffins llll that didn't like rye bread. MRS. KATZ AND TUSH/BREAD IS FOR EATING Mathematics 29 ©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Social Sciences Through the use of the Mrs. Katz and Tush and Bread Is for Eating books and the accompanying Reading Rainbow vid- eos, students will have the opportunity to experience the following: intergenerational relationships family traditions neighborhoods food traditions careers international breads map study cultural holidays and festivals Social Science Activities What does it mean to be "old"? Prior to doing any activi- ties designed to promote positive attitudes toward aging, try to determine the students' conceptual base regarding elderly people. Have them cut out pictures of older people from magazines and attach them to a chart. Discuss the reasons for their choices. On this chart, record their responses to the question, "What does it mean to be old?" Ask them to name some people (including famous persons) whom they perceive to be "old." Brainstorm two lists with the students: "What older people can do" and "What I can do." Have students compare and contrast the two lists. At the end of this integrated unit, revisit these charts to see if the students have altered their thinking. Making new friends. Adopt a local nursing home or retire- ment home and arrange periodic visits for the students. Before each visit, brainstorm activities they can do with/for their new friends.