Open Wide, Look Inside

Introduction
You Are in Ancient Egypt, written by Ivan Minnis, is a wonderful interactive resource for young children learning about Ancient Egypt and it’s contributions. The book is packed with important vocabulary, illustrations, photographs, charts, graphs, statistics, etc. The language of the book is simple and jam packed with information for children.

Summary
The book tells essential important information for young kids when learning about the early civilization of Egypt. Information such as religious beliefs, Egyptian technology, art, pharoahs and law, are included, amongst many other things. Throughout the story important anecdotal information and pictures are included, giving students an extra perspective on life in Ancient Egypt:

“People use a shaduf, a long pole used to raise or lower a bucket into a well, to take water from the Nile” (21)

“Even at the time of Ramses II, pyramides were more than 1,000 years old. Some were built around 2500B.C.E” (20)

Throughout the story highlighted vocabulary are offered for the students, focusing the students attention on the main ideas about the civilization. Such important vocabulary includes afterlife, scribes, pharoahs etc. The end of the book offers important facts for Ancient Egypt, summing up important information for students. These facts included information about Time, Money, Dates, and Numbers. A glossary is also offered defining the key terms from the book, as well as other resources to find out more about Ancient Egypt.

Curriculum Connections
This book is a wonderful resource for children learning about Ancient Egypt and can be used to help explain to children how the contributions of this civilization has influenced the present world in terms of architecture, inventions, calendar, and written language (SOL History 2.1)

Additional Resources

1. This website allows children to create an interactive Ancient Egyptian postcard. Students can create a postcard to sent to a friend by email, filled with important ancient Egyptian pictures, such as the Sphinx, King Tut, and Pyramids.
2. King Tut online allows students to color five beautiful images of Ancient Egypt. The pictures may be printed and hung in the classroom to help students identify with Ancient Egypt.
3. This website offers easy to read information on Ancient Egypt and Egyptians to help kids learn about this topic to help with specific projects and homework assignments.

Book: You Are in Ancient Egypt
Author: Ivan Minnis, Victoria Parker
Publisher: Raintree
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN: 978-1410906168

If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore is book about different aspects of the American Revolutionary War.  The book is set up into a question and answer format.  The author begins with explaining why we have the Fourth of July and ends with how life changed after the war.  The book contains a good deal of information.  Famous figures including women are  discussed in the text and expressions such as “John Hancock” and “cowboy” are explained. It is presented in a straightforward easy to understand text about an important event in the history of one country.

Curriculum Connections
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution is a good book for students to use for researching the American Revolutionary war. This book can be used for the civics and Virginia war SOL’s in grades 5 and 6.

Additional Resources

• Lesson plan to use with 5th graders teaching how to create a group PowerPoint on the American Revolution by searching the web.
• Revolutionary War Internet scavenger hunt– is a great website for students to click on highlighted word on each question and travel to the site to find the answer.
• Revolutionary War Color Pages– just click on a famous Revolutionary War figure  or event to get a color sheet.

General Information
Book: If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
Author: Kay Moore
Illustrator: Daniel O’ Leary
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 76
Age Range: 9-12
ISBN: 0590674447

Introduction:
The American Revolution is important part of our history.  If the American Revolution never took place, we could be a different country. Understanding what lead the American Revolution has become an important subject in many history classes and is important for many tests. However, students can not learn about the events that lead up to the revolutions without learning about the important people of the revolution. The American Revolution by Gail Stewart provides an in-depth look into the important figures related to the American Revolution.

Summary:
The book begins with a introduction into the American Revolution. This introduction describes the date that the revolution took place and some of the reasons that the American’s rebeled against the British. One of the main reasons that book describes is all of the new laws placed taxes on certain items that have never been taxed before. For example, the Stamp Act became very unpopular amongst the colonists because it placed a tax on any paper items that were used throughout the colonies. After the introduction there is a map of the all the colonies that existed at the beginning of the American Revolution. The rest of the book is about all the major people involved in the American Revolution, such as George III, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,  George Washington and more. At the beginning of the small section of each of the important figures there is a picture with  a brief header of what made them important in the American Revolution. For exampl, King George’s header is stated as ” Refused to Allow American Independence”. Towards the end of the book there is Chronological list of events leading up to the American Revolution and what happended after the American Revolution. In addition, there is information on more reading related to the American Revolution and websites that could be helpful in providing a  more in-depth view of the American Revolution.

Curriculm Connections:
I would use this book as a way to gather background information on the American Revolution and the important figures related to it. In addition, the students could use this information to fill in sheets or to make foldables related to an important figure from the American Revolution. It would help the students to US1.6c) describe key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis being placed on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry.

Additional Resources:

For a lesson plan that could be used to teach about the important people of the American Revolution try Causes of the American Revolution

The Revolutionary War is a webquest designed for 5-9 graders and provides information/ resources related to the American Revolution.

For a copy of the timeline of the events that lead up to the American Revolution try visiting American Chronology.

Book: People at the Center of The American Revolution
Author: Gail B. Stewart
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Thomsan Gale
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 48
Grade Range: 4-6
ISBN: 978-1567117691