The Day You Begin Updated 6/12/2020, Page 1

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WORDS ALIVE: THE DAY YOU BEGIN UPDATED 6/12/2020, PAGE 1

THE DAY YOU BEGIN

AUTHOR: JACQUELINE WOODSON

ILLUSTRATOR: RAFAEL LÓPEZ

THE DAY YOU BEGIN ** REMEMBER: HAVE FUN AND THE KIDS WILL TOO! **

REMOTE LEARNING RESOURCES

Virtual read aloud: TOPICS & THEMES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH4sRdNoFDo • Diversity

• Friendship Kids taste rice from different cultures (video): • Inclusion https://youtu.be/et1yp1pnw3A • Sharing

Why kimchi is special: https://youtu.be/NN61TYg8EDU POWER PHRASES:

I WONDER… OVERVIEW I NOTICE… ABOUT THE BOOK “National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré TELL ME MORE… Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and DIGGING DEEPER: alone. There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or “Tell me more, why do where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not you think that?” easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but “How do you know somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art that? reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our “Why do you think they stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.” Amazon feel like that?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR “Interesting, did you “Jacqueline Woodson's memoir BROWN GIRL DREAMING won the 2014 National Book Award notice anything else?” and was a NY Times Bestseller. Her novel, ANOTHER BROOKLYN, was a National Book Award

WORDS ALIVE: THE DAY YOU BEGIN UPDATED 6/12/2020, PAGE 2 finalist and an Indie Pick in 2016. Among her many awards, she the recipient of the Kurt Vonnegut Award, four Newbery Honors, two Coretta Scott King Award, and the Langston Hughes Medal. Jacqueline is the author of nearly thirty books for young people and adults including EACH KINDNESS, IF YOU COME SOFTLY, LOCOMOTION and I HADN'T MEANT TO TELL YOU THIS. She served as Young People's Poet Laureate from 2014-2016, was a fellow at The American Library in Paris, occasionally writes for the New York Times, is currently working on more books and like so many writers - lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.” Amazon

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

“The illustrations created by Rafael López bring diverse characters to children's books and he works to produce and promote books that reflect and honor the lives of all young people. Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, written by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor focuses on differently abled kids working together to create a garden. The book is a #1 New York Times Children's Picture Books Bestseller and won the American Library Association's 2020 Schneider Family Book Award. His 2018 picture book release, The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson was also a New York Times #1 Children's Picture Books Bestseller and the recipient of the 2019 Jane Addams Children's Book Award.Rafael López has received three Pura Belpré Award medals from the American Library Association for Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln (2020) Drum Dream Girl (2016) and Book Fiesta! (2010). In addition he secured three Pura Belpré honors and recent books include a collaboration on Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song to honor the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street. His illustrations for Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics were honored with the 2017 Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators New York Original Art Exhibition. The book Maybe Something Beautiful based on his own work reclaiming neighborhoods with community murals secured the 2017 Tomás Rivera Book Award. Additional children's books have received three Pura Belpré honors and two Américas Book Awards for illustration. In 2012 he was asked by the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival Poster featuring best-selling authors, poets and illustrators on the National Mall in Washington D.C. He has created seven stamps for the United States Postal Service.” AmazonHE READ ALOUD

BEFORE READING

Use these prompts before reading the story to help students activate background knowledge and make predictions: • I wonder where this girl is going.

• Why do you think there are numbers on the door?

• What do you think the girl will begin?

DURING THE STORY

Use these prompts while reading the story to help students interpret the action and content: • (p. 1) Have you ever experienced people that aren’t like you?

• (p. 6) How does the boy feel when no one understands him?

• (p. 8) Why did the illustrator use flowers and musical notes on this page?

• (p. 12) Why is the girl afraid to share what she did during the summer?

• (p. 16) Is there a food you don’t like? How do you feel when you eat something different from others.

• (p. 18) Why do you think no one wants to include the new boy?

WORDS ALIVE: THE DAY YOU BEGIN UPDATED 6/12/2020, PAGE 3

• (p. 20) I wonder why the author said “The world feels like a place that you’re standing all the way outside of?".

• (p. 22) Why is the boys reflection on the bottom picture different from the real boy on top picture?

• (p. 24) Do you see a change in Angelina and how did the illustrator show us this happened?

• (p. 26) I wonder why Angelina feels comfortable even thou she is different?

• (p. 28) Do you think the children learned anything about people who look and speak different?

AFTER READING

Use these prompts after reading the story to help students understand what they just read: • Why did the author choose to write this book?

• How did the illustrator show the feelings of the characters during the story?

BRINGING THE BOOK TO LIFE!? • Have you or anyone you know been in a similar situation to this story?

COOPERATIVE LEARNING • How did this book change the way you might see someone different from you?

SMALL-GROUP IDEAS

1. DISCUSSION ACTIVITY • Retell the story allowing each person to add a sentence of what happened next.

• What could the children have done when they first entered the school to feel more comfortable?

• What could the teacher and classmates have done to help the new children?

• Do you think The Day You Begin is a good book title for this book? What else could you name this book?

Suggested Optional Activity:

Draw a picture of yourself when you have felt uncomfortable. Draw a thought bubble and write what you are thinking.

2. WRITING ACTIVITY Describe a plan for your classmates to help ease the transition of a new student in your classroom.

3. EXTENSION ACTIVITY Make a poster of the necessary rules in your classroom the new student should be aware of and add illustrations.

COMMON CORE LINKS

CCSS.ELA-Literacy .RL 2.1,2.2,2.3,2.4, 2.5

WORDS ALIVE: THE DAY YOU BEGIN UPDATED 6/12/2020, PAGE 4