Independent Dames, written by Laurie Anderson and Illustrated by Matt Faulker, is a whimsical book that addresses all the ignored contributions that women made during the American Revolution.

The book begins by addressing the other half of history, the part that we aren’t taught in schools. Believe it or not, women actually held a vital role during the Revolutionary War and the book’s main focus is to take you on a journey through those significant roles. Women and girls supported the troops by providing them with food, clothes, and shoes for survival. They also spied on the enemy and passed on any battle plans they heard while eavesdropping. “Pioneer dames were extra tough. They fought off enemy troops by pouring boiling water on them and firing muskets from frontier forts.” Each page pays respect to the actual women  in history who preformed these jobs and provides a time line  for the Revolutionary War.

Curriculum Connections

Independent Dames should be used in teaching students about the American Revolution. It helps students understand how “everyone” was involved in winning the war against Britain. This book can be used with SOL:

USI.6 (a, d) Students will demonstrate knowledge of the cause and results of the American Revolution by: identifying the issues of dissatisfaction that lead to the Revolution and explaining reasons why the colonies were able to defeat Great Britain. 

Additional Resources

• Women of the Revolutionary War: Provides  background information on the roles of women during the American Revolution. This is a kid friendly website designed for late elementary/middle school students. It has background information on a few important women and it even provides a list of jobs women took over while the men were away at war.
• Revolutionary Women of South Carolina:Provides a lesson plan overview for teaching 8th graders about the roles of women during the American Revolutionary. Students have to compare and contrast the roles of women from today’s world vs then.
• Women in the Revolution: This site provides a 5th grade lesson plan for teaching students about the roles of women during the revolution. It includes a matching game for students to play.

Book: Independent Dames
Author: Laurie Anderson
Illustrator: Matt Faulker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Press
Publication Date: June 2008
Pages: 40 pages
Grade Range: 3-5
ISBN:978-0689858086

The book Chesapeake ABC is a entertaining rhyming book that discusses animals and objects found in the Chesapeake Bay. David Aiken is the illustrator and the pictures are really colorful and easy to identify the main idea on the page. Each letter is presented very large for students to read easily. This book can be used to incorporate learning the ABC’s as well as learning the importance of the Chesapeake Bay. It also tells who named the Bay:

“I is for the Indians

Who gave the bay its name.

Indians lived here long ago,

Before explorers came.”

There are also other books in this series called Chesapeake 1-2-3 and Chesapeake Rainbow from Priscilla Cummings as well as other books that involve animals found in the bay. They can be viewed at her website.

Curriculum Connections:

Chesapeake ABC can be used to help students learn the letters of the alphabet and different aspects of the Chesapeake Bay. It discusses what animals live there, different types of boats, and even items found near the bay. It can be used to cover VA SOL VS.2.

Additional Resources:

• The VA Department of Education has a page devoted to lesson plans for teachers on the Chesapeake Bay. One is called “Captain John Smith’s Chesapeake Bay.”
• National Geographic has a lesson plan about the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
• Chesapeake Bay.net has some printable coloring pages of animals found in the Bay and also two printable coloring books.

Title: Chesapeake ABC
Author: Priscilla Cummings
Publisher: Tidewater Publishers
Publication Date: 2000
Pages: 30
Grade Range: K-1st
ISBN:0870335251

Using quotes from the explorers’ journals, Rosalyn Schanzer, writer and illustrator of How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis & Clark, brings to life the “hair-raising adventures and narrow escapes” of Lewis and Clark.

The journal excerpts and illustrations provide students with thrilling and intriguing accounts of the expedition.  It can be used as informative piece or expand on it by discussing how the Lewis and Clark expedition impacted America’s history.

“On October 24, 1804, we saw one of the Grand Chiefs of the Mandans out hunting.  With great cordiality we smoked the pipe.  Every day curious men, women, and children flocked down to see us.  These are the most friendly Indians inhabiting the Missouri.”

“The bear was so close that the men threw aside their guns and threw them into the river, though the bank was 20 feet high.  The animal plunged into the water a few feet behind the second man.”

Curriculum Connections
Use this book to discuss the Lewis and Clark expedition, westward expansion, American Indians, geography, and life sciences.  Themes in this book correlate with Virginia SOLs USI.1, USI.2, and USI.8.

Additional Resources .

• Students can play a Lewis & Clark adventure game at this National Geographic site.
• Teachers can brush up on their knowledge of Lewis & Clark and show students the technology used for the expedition.
• PBS has many resources for teachers and students.  Use this lesson to prompt your students to write a historical journal.

Book: How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis & Clark
Author/ Illustrator: Rosalyn Schanzer
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Publication Date: 1997
Pages: 48 pages
Grade Range: 2-6
ISBN:   0792267265

1607: A New Look at Jamestown, written by Karen E. Lange with photographs by Ira Block, is a National Geographic children’s book that promotes the rediscovery of Jamestown beyond the common misconceptions that have prevailed through the years. Lange captures the essence of what life was like in Jamestown by covering the strengths and weaknesses of the settlers in Jamestown and their interaction with the Native Americans and their environment.

“Life in the brand-new Jamestown colony in 1607 wasn’t easy. The settlers arrived full of hope–then hard times brought despair.”

Curriculum Connections
1607: A New Look at Jamestown would be a great resource for teaching students about the first permanent English settlement in America and what life was like during this time (VS.3/VS.4). Teachers may integrate aspects of the English curriculum by having students write from the perspective of a settler about their experiences in Jamestown in 1607.

Additional Resources

• Freedom Project Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students will be asked to identify the people, events, and challenges of the Jamestown settlement.  
• National Geographic video and pictures of the struggle for settlers to survive against hostile Indians, drought, and hunger.
• ExploreJamestown virtually
• Jamestown adventure: online game with John Smith
• Jamestown diary webquest

Book: 1607 A New Looka t Jamestown
Author: Karen E. Lange
Photographs by:  Ira Block
Publisher: National Geographic Children’s Books
Publication Date: 2007
Pages:48
Grade Range: 3-5
ISBN: 1426300123

I Could Do That! by Linda Arms White and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter is the story of Esther Morris who led the way in getting voting rights for women in Wyoming, and was the first woman to hold public office in the United States.

 ”In 1820, six-year-old Esther McQuigg studied her mother making tea. ‘I can do that,’ she said. ‘Make tea?’ asked Mama. ‘The older girls do that.’ ‘But I want to learn,’ said Esther, and she did.” This became Esther’s slogan so to speak. When there was a need she wanted to fill it. Whether it be making tea, helping support her family, opening a business, taking care of the sick or later becoming politically active, she did what she could. Esther was not easily discouraged. She didn’t care if she was “too young”, or “a woman” this didn’t matter. She didn’t let these small things stand in her way. It was this determination that led her to open her own business when she was only 19, and later lead the movement to get women the right to vote. Though she was the first female judge and the first woman to hold political office in the United States she was not able to vote in national elections. Women were not given this right until eighteen years after her death.

Curriculum Connections
I Could Do That! is suitable for 2nd and 3rd graders and compliments Virginia SOL 2.12, 3.10 and 3.11.While the reading level is quite easy for a third grader the story is applicable as it reinforces the ideas of determination, hard work, and civil rights. 

 Additional Resources

• In the back of the book there is a list of several books that can be used as additional resources.
• A third grade lesson plan teaching the Bill of Rights.
• Women’s Suffrage Timeline: This is mostly useful for teachers, as it gives a concise timeline of the Suffrage movement.
• Make ballot boxes or a voting booth with your students and hold class elections, in-class elections along side local or national elections.
• Good Citizen lesson plan

Book: I Could Do That!
Author: Linda Arms White
Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa Books
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 40
Grade Range: 1-4
ISBN: 978-0-374-33527-4

Thats What Friends Are For, written and illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev, is a book that teaches a great lesson about compassion for your friends.  The book features a goat who wakes up excited for dinner with his friend pig that night.  When he looks out the window he sees his friend pig crying in his house.  He goes through a number of things that he could be crying about including having a pie stolen, his flowers ruined, his house flooded, and his shirt burned.  Goat is so worried he prepares for all of these possibilities and heads over to help pig out.  When he gets there his friend asks if he can help with dinner by slicing onions, and we find out that the onions were the reason pig was crying.  The story shows a great lesson on how to treat others with caring and compassion and can be extended for grades K through 3.

Curriculum Connections
This book would be good way tolook at VA SOL K.8 and 1.10 which focus on treatig others with kindness.

Additional Resources

• Lesson Plan Pages has an activity for students to make an autograph book for each student that is designed to focus on friendship among the classmates.
• Merry Bee presents a list of extension activities that can be related to the book including crossover curriculum connections with science.
• Can Teach provides a list of lyrics for songs based on friendship that can be used in young classrooms.

Book: Thats What Friends Are For
Author: Valeri Gorbacev
Illustrator: Valeri Gorbacev
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Date: June 2005
Pages: 32 pages
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN-13: 978-0399239663

The Let Freedom Ring book series is published by Capstone Press and includes 46 kid-friendly biographies of important Americans.  The Phillis Wheatley biography is written by Susan R. Gregson and includes a glossary of important words, poems written by Phillis, maps of the slave trade, and diagrams of slade ships, among other things.  Surprisingly, the book is only 40ish pages long, but really contains an impressive amount of information, much of which is perfect for use in the classroom.

The book begins with background information about Phillis Wheatley’s capture from Africa, journey to the United States, and purchase by John and Susannah Wheatley.  It details her early years living with the Wheatley family (John and Susannah named her Phillis) and explains how her talent as a writer was evident from an early age:

“The Wheatleys started by teaching Phillis to read, write, and speak English.  After she had mastered these skills, the Wheatleys taught her subjects such as Latin, philosophy, and mathematics.  Phillis loved to read and memorize poems.  She also read the Bible and was interested in religion.”

Facts are presented in a straightforward, easy to understand format that makes this book easy to read aloud to younger students, as well as conducive to silent reading or research for upper-elementary schoolers. 

Curriculum Connections

Because Phillis Wheatley isn’t covered by a specific VA SOL, the book could be adapted for use with related topics like History 1.1 (distinguishing the present from the past because of the timeline incorporated) and Civics 1.10, 2.10, and 2.12 (traits of good citizenship and diversity in America).  It could also be used during a lesson on the Revolutionary War because some of those battles are touched on in the text, as well, or in lots of US History SOLs (for example, US1.5, 1.6, 1.7).  It could even be used in an English lesson about poetry.

Additional Resources

• This Thinkquest website, entitled Voices of the American Revolution, is a neat way to show students the everyday lives of some lesser-known people who contributed to the war.  It has lots of information and a resource page for even further reading.

• This website, focused on another book series, provides lesson plans and a webquest focused on poetry to teach about Phillis Wheatley.

• The American Revolution for Kids is a website put together by a class of students with lots of information about all parts of the war.  Phillis Wheatley has a page, but the website is very comprehensive and would be good to have students use for some type of websearch assignment.

 General Information

Book: Phillis Wheatley (Let Freedom Ring series)
Author: Susan R. Gregson
Publisher: Bridgestone Books (Capstone Press)
Pages: 48
Grade range: 2-5
ISBN: 0736844988

Are you looking for a great introductory civics book? Look no further!  Before your next civics lesson, read We the Kids:  The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, written and illustrated by David Catrow, to learn all about America’s ideals.

A long time ago some smart guys had some smart ideas, and they wrote them down in the Preamble to the Constitution.  You have probably read it before, but do you know what it means?  And did it ever make you laugh?  Now it will!  With David Catrow’s hilarious art, this fun-filled look at the Preamble provides an accessible look at America’s founding ideals for citizens of all ages.  Catrow (2005) writes, “For me, the Constitution is simply a list of rules and promises written down by people just like you and me”(pg 1).  So begin a discussion today  in your classroom!

Curriculum Connections:  In the area of civics, the  Virginia History and Social Studies SOL’s for grades K-3 stresses the importance of  understanding basic civics concepts and that we are united as Americans by common principles.  We the People:  The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States is appropriate for multiple grade levels and could be used to directly address SOL’s 1.10a, 1.12c, 2.12b, 3.11a, and 3.12.

If you would like to create some civics sense in your classroom and find out more about the basics of being a good citizen,  here are a few suggestions for grades K-3:

• Read the book out loud and ask questions throughout
• Begin a discussion about the rules of the classroom
• Ask opinions of your students:  What does it mean to be a good citizen?

Additional Resources:  Try these websites where you’ll find lesson plans, worksheets, activities and free online games to aid in your civic education quest.

• Education World -  a link that takes you directly to ideas for teaching citizenship,  for K-1
• PBSKids - a link that takes you directly to a civics activity for older kids,for 5th grade.
• Edible Map - also from PBSKids - an acivity where you create an edible map to learn about the location of their local government buildings.

Book:  We the Kids:  The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States
Author:  David Catrow
Illustrator:  David Catrow
Publisher: Puffin Books
Publication Date:  2005
Pages:  32 pages
Grade Range:  K-3
ISBN-13:  978-0142472064

Our White House: Looking In Looking Out, is an anthology that is a beautiful compilation of 108 renowned authors and illustrators. It was created in association with the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance (NCBLA) and the Office of First Lady Laura Bush.  This book offers its readers stories, poetry and artwork that spans Amerian history from within the walls of The White House and its many residents, who, of course, were Persidents!  This is truly a very special book, with the literary and art works donated, and all royalties going to support the NCBLA as it promotes literacy, libraries and the arts.

Curriculum Connections:  Our White House: Looking In Looking Out is a wonderful book for teaching various civics and history lessons. Civics SOLs K.9, 2.11, 3.11. History SOLs K.1. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3.

Additional Resources:
This website allows children to read about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in a hands-on, child-friendly manner.  It offers basic information about both Presidents, and has additional resources that could be used on lesson about these specific Presidents.

This website provides instruction and information on how to write a letter to the President of the United States.  This would be a fun and interesting activity associated with this book and/or President’s Day activities.

This website offers several printable booklets for various ages from easy reader levels to a bit more advanced.  There are booklets for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  They include basic information about each President and allow for coloring in the pictures on each page.

General Information:
Book: Our White House: Looking In Looking Out
Author: 108 Authors and Illustrators
Illustrator: Various
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages:  256
Grade Range: K - 6
ISBN:  978-0-7636-2067-7

Of all the books published to celebrate the beginning of the new Millennium, For Every Child is one of the most important.  In November 1989, the United Nations formally adopted fifty-four principles that make up the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child — from the right to a name and a nationality to the right to education and play and special protection for disabled children.  Encompassed in this book are fourteen of the most essential rights that have been carefully selected and retold in a simple, evocative text that every child can understand.  Each right is interpreted in an awesome, double page spread by a handful of famous artists, including American award winners Rachel Isadora and Jerry Pinkney.

Curriculum Connections
This book would be an excellent addition to any lesson plan on responsibilities and good citizenship.  In the state of Virginia, this would correspond to SOL 2.10, respecting and protecting the rights and property of others; describing actions that can improve the school and community; and practicing honesty and trustworthiness.

Additional Resources
   *  Check out this creative citizenship lesson.
   *  Learn about giving back to your community at Kids Care.  
   *  Another great civics link: Project Citizenship.  
   *  Activities for exploring the five themes of citizenship.

Book Title: For Every Child
Author: Caroline Castle
Illustrators: Jerry Pinkney, Rachel Isadora
Publisher: Phyllis Fogelman Books
Publication Date: January 15, 2001
Pages: 40
Grade Range: 2-3
ISBN: 978-0803726505