Life in a Longhouse Village, Main Idea, and Paper Books

One of our first social studies units focuses on the Iroquois, Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands.  My favorite book to use with this unit is Life in a Longhouse Village by Bobbie Kalman. 

Since we were not going to have time to use this book as a whole class read aloud I set it out as a reading center.

We have been focusing on main idea and details a lot lately, as well as supporting our thinking with details from the text.  This was the basis of my reading center.

Students created little paper books (directions below) based on the assigned pages for the week (pages 8-9) on Sharing One Room in a longhouse.

They created a new title for their book on the cover and included an illustration and their name.

On the inside they wrote the main idea for the section.

For each following page they included some supporting details for the main idea.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

Need directions for making a paper book?  Check out James Darrow's directions here.

I love little paper books.  So cute, quick, and easy.  How else do you use paper books in your classroom?

Welcome Baby Natalie

Jeff and I are excited to announce the arrival of our new baby girl, Natalie.

I have a few posts written and scheduled over the following weeks.  I am also going to continue working on a few of my TPT projects such as an Interactive Notebook for Geometry and some holiday themed math centers.  However, I'm sure they will take me a little longer now.  Other than that, I apologize in advance if I am slightly absent as Miss Natalie has stolen all my attention!

Free Digital Children's Books

Today while shuffling through Pinterest pins I came across an amazing website:  We Give Books.

You can find over 150 digital children's books (for children up to the age of 10) and teacher resources all for FREE.  This includes both fiction and nonfiction books as well as some seasonal!  Check out the collection!

Plus, the organization donates a book for every book your students read online.  To date, We Give Books readers have donated over 1 million books.

I am blown away.  I can't wait to use this wonderful online tool in the classroom!