The following is a list of Middle America books available through my public library that I will be reading over the next few months as I build some additional resources for my 6th Grade Social Studies classroom.
Category: Coffee Girl Reads
Article of the Week
Jenna uses these as homework in her middle school English/Language Arts classroom. Vale Middle School shares an article each week that is available to teachers and students free of charge. The middle school also provides scaffolded questions for each article based on CCSS which are editable so you can modify them to meet your student’s individual needs.
Relationship Building Journals
I recently read the article, How Dialogue Journals Build Teacher Student Relationships, published on the blog Cult of Pedagogy. Blog founder, Jennifer Gonzalez interviews Liz Galarza, a middle school writing teacher in New York, who uses dialogue journals to build relationships with her students. A dialogue journal is a simple spiral or composition notebook that… Continue reading Relationship Building Journals
All Eyes on Alexandra by Anne Levine
All Eyes on Alexandra shares an important lesson on family. Although Alexandra maybe be difficult and may not do things like the rest of the family, she has her strengths and uniqueness that makes her different her brothers, sisters, and cousins. While some may be caught off guard by her differences, I think things go best when the family allows her to be herself.
From the Heart of Africa
Each of the aphorisms shared in this collection are paired with an exquisite picture, its origin, and its meaning. Instead of reading all of the aphorisms at one time, I would share one at a time. Whether you share one a day or one a week is up to you; I think I will share one daily during a Geography unit on Africa.
