{"id":1971,"date":"2009-11-02T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-03T01:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1971"},"modified":"2009-11-02T20:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-03T01:05:00","slug":"teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-my-america-a-poetry-atlas-of-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/11\/02\/teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-my-america-a-poetry-atlas-of-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Geography with Children&#8217;s Literature: My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/files\/2009\/11\/9780689812477.jpg\" title=\"9780689812477.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/files\/2009\/11\/9780689812477.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"9780689812477.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/My-America-Poetry-United-States\/dp\/0689812477\">My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States<\/a>, selected by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harpercollinschildrens.com\/HarperChildrens\/Kids\/AuthorsAndIllustrators\/ContributorDetail.aspx?CId=12232\">Lee Bennett Hopkins<\/a> and illustrated by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alcorngallery.com\/\">Stephen Alcorn<\/a>, is a collection of 50 poems combined with beautiful art that\u00a0together create a portrait of the United\u00a0States. The states are broken down according to their specific region, and a map and facts about each state precede the poems that describe them. The beautiful illustrations and fun poems are sure to keep the attention of students!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">&#8220;<em>It&#8217;s here our U.S. Presidents<br \/>\nare sworn into command;<br \/>\nwhere the courtly U.S. Capitol<br \/>\nand the stately White House stand.&#8221;<br \/>\n(excerpt from Washington D.C. by Rebecca Kai Dotlich)<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>Curriculum Connections<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States<\/em> is a great book for teaching the different states and regions of the United States. It covers the Virginia Social Studies SOL 1.4d, which involves the identification of the United States and Virginia on maps and globes. Teachers can also integrate English into a geography lesson plan by asking students to create their own poems about where they live.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This is an excellent 10-day unit map skills <a href=\"http:\/\/www.access2academics.com\/Map%20Skills%20Lesson%20Plans%20-%2010%20day%20Unit.pdf\">lesson plan<\/a>. Essential knowledge includes:<br \/>\nSymbols and cardinal directions are used to show where objects and places are located on maps and globes.<br \/>\nThe United States and Virginia can be identified by their physical shapes on maps and globes.<br \/>\nThe locations of the capital cities of Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia are identified by specific symbols.<\/li>\n<li>Using this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.access2academics.com\/Edible%20Map%20-%20Activity%20Sheet.pdf\">worksheet<\/a>, students can practice their map-making skills as well as the identification and usage of the cardinal directions.<\/li>\n<li>This<a href=\"www.ttac.odu.edu\">PowerPoint<\/a> is a great teaching resource for identifying the United States and Virginia on maps and globes.<\/li>\n<li>Watch the <em>My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States<\/em> Reading Rainbow episode, and have students compare and contrast the girl from rural Montana and the boy from New York City. As a class, complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the lives of the two children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>Book<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/My-America-Poetry-United-States\/dp\/0689812477\"><font color=\"#2277dd\">My America<br \/>\n<\/font><\/a><strong>Author<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harpercollinschildrens.com\/HarperChildrens\/Kids\/AuthorsAndIllustrators\/ContributorDetail.aspx?CId=12232\"><font color=\"#2277dd\">Lee Bennett Hopkins<br \/>\n<\/font><\/a><strong>Illustrator<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/authors.simonandschuster.com\/Stephen-Alcorn\/36456218\"><font color=\"#2277dd\">Stephen Alcorn<br \/>\n<\/font><\/a><strong>Publisher<\/strong>: Simon and Schuster Children&#039;s Publishing<br \/>\n<strong>Publication Date<\/strong>: 2000<br \/>\n<strong>Pages<\/strong>:96<br \/>\n<strong>Grade Range<\/strong>: 1-5<br \/>\n<strong>ISBN<\/strong>: 0-689-81247-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, is a collection of 50 poems combined with beautiful art that\u00a0together create a portrait of the United\u00a0States. The states are broken &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/11\/02\/teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-my-america-a-poetry-atlas-of-the-united-states\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,125,879],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-geography","category-poetry-in-the-classroom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}