Nancy Polette

“Pocahontas”
I liked this children’s biography of Pocahontas. I liked how the language was used in the book. The book did not just list facts but went through the story of Pocahontas as it was any other book. Also I liked how the book would phonetically spell out words that may be more difficult for students to read. For example, for the word colony it is spell “(KOL-uh-nee)” in order to help students better sound out the words. I also enjoyed this book because Pocahontas was one of my favorite movies growing up so it was interesting to read other information about her that I did not know before. The main message of this story is to retell the life of Pocahontas to give students historical information.… (mehr)

This is a fun read, and has some very helpful tips. As a retired teacher and now a sub, there are elements of interest in this book for use with particularly wiggly/antsy middle school kids. It is set up to involve significant authors of YA materials with understanding where they came from and why they do what they do. However, it would be stronger if more emphasis was given to connecting with the school library in terms of reading materials. One wishes for more direction about how to involve the educator in the process of learning as well as how to access digitally the authors of the titles from the library or from careful research about the author. Worth spending time with to gather thoughts about techniques and authors that may engage middle school age kids in reading.… (mehr)

Harold and his friends dig a hole in Harold's back yard to plant magic beans. They ask Harold why he is doing this and he tells them that he is growing a beanstalk. Harold and his friends let their imaginations run wild and come up with what else they could do while on the beanstalk. This is a great book for pre-k through 1st grade because it goes through different words that start with a letter from the alphabet. Also, it goes in alphabetical, which helps much younger children learn the alphabet in a fun way.… (mehr)

The new Common Core Standards stress the reading of informational and complex texts, so at first glance, this book takes us around the world encouraging the reading of many nonfiction titles. Country by country, we get a recommended list of titles and then a suggested activity page is supposed to help us learn about that country as elementary school students are often asked to do. However, the activities are simplistic, concentrate on trivia, and are often stereotypical. For example, for Germany, we learn about Grimm; Greece is all about myths. A few gathered facts and we are off on our adventure to another country. It is superficial learning. One is tempted to recommend the book for its bibliographies, but a search of Title Wave or some other automated selection tool can probably come up with good current titles. So, there are plenty of other great Polette title to choose from that will spark creativity and interest – just not this one.… (mehr)