Michelle Uhlenkott

Seattle University Master in Teaching Program

Fall 2007

Book list:

Bosca, Francesca. (2004). The three grasshoppers. New York: Purple Bear Books.

This book is about three grasshoppers, who are friends and work together until they panic that they don’t have enough food saved for the winter. Each grasshopper goes his separate way to find food, but they are forced to work together in the end to save their food from the elephant. This book will be read and analyzed by the students as they look for common elements of working together fiction.

dePaola, Tomie. (1989). Too many bunnies. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing.

This book is about a bunny family who work together to plant a garden, but they have some conflicts the first time they try. This book will be read and analyzed by the students as they look for common elements of working together.

Fleischman, Paul. (1997). Seedfolks. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books.

This book is about people in an urban neighborhood of Cleveland, who work together to make an empty lot into a beautiful community garden, where much more than plants are grown. This book will be read aloud throughout the unit.

Footman Smothers, Ethel. (2003). The hard-times jar. NewYork: Frances Foster Books.

This book is about a migrant worker child, who works with her family picking produce, but her true love is reading and she yearns for her own store-bought book. This book will be used to introduce the service project, where we will be writing and giving away books to younger students.

McCourt, Lisa. (1997). The Goodness Gorillas. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health

Communications.

This book is about students who work together as a club to do random acts of kindness, but they face a dilemma when a boy who makes fun of them needs their kindness. In the end, all of the students work together to make the world better. This book will be read and analyzed by the students as they look for common elements of working together fiction.

Paye, W.-L., & Lippert, M.H. (2002). Head, body, legs: A story from Liberia. New York:

Henry Holt and Company.

This book is about separated body parts that have to come together and work together to get the best food. This book will be read and analyzed by the students as they look for common elements of working together fiction.

Young, Ed. (1992). Seven blind mice. New York: Philomel Books.

This book is about seven blind mice that all experience a different part of the elephant and it is only through working together that they can discover its true identity. This book will be read and analyzed by the students as they look for common elements of working together fiction.

Learning Targets:

Students will learn what it means and takes to work together.

The student will analyze, understand, and apply the elements of short fiction based on the theme “working together”.

The students will understand and apply strategies to adjust the language to the needs of the audience.

Generalizations:

People have to overcome obstacles to come together as a group.

People are motivated to work together by a common goal.

When they work together people have to overcome obstacles to reach their common goal.

In the end, people either achieve or don’t achieve their goal.

Working Together TLU