Book Review: Half Brother

I used to spend Saturday mornings with my mom and sister at the Saint Louis Zoo in the Jungle of the Apes/Fragile Forest.  Even though glass separated us from the apes, my sister raced with one of the chimps, Jimi, and I had my gorilla "boyfriend", the late Juma.  These moments where it was just the apes and us, I will always treasure.

Remembering times like this, I picked up Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel and began the journey of Ben and Zan in this young adult book.  The story focuses on Ben and his families move across Canada, so that his father (a fairly well-known professor) can begin a new, groundbreaking study for the 1960s.  The study involves cross-fostering a chimpanzee named Zan and teaching him language utilizing ASL.  Not only does Ben have to adjust to this lifestyle change, he is the new kid at a prestigious private school where he doesn't believe he is smart enough to be, and negotiate the trials of having a major crush. 

At first, Ben wants nothing to do with Zan.  His parents hope he will come to think of Zan as a little brother.  This does happen and it is enjoyable to read.  Its amazing to read how these two grew in understanding of each other. Ben becomes closer with Zan then he does his own father.

The book does not sugar-coat having a chimp in the household. There are issues with research students, neighbors, and media.

Ben makes tough choices and shows great courage towards the end of the book.  I began crying at the end because of how touching the hope was in Ben.

Link to discussion guide.

Encyclopedias as a Component Of Research

3rd grade was introduced to encyclopedias and actively used them to research this past week.  The lesson started with a video explanation of how one might go about using an encyclopedia from Discovery Education.  This short clip was a segment from "Discovering Language Arts: Primary: Research."  The video covered how encyclopedias come in volumes and that you needed to check the spine of the book for the specific letters in your subject that you seek.  Exactly what I wanted my students to know.

Before they went on to their task, I introduced them to World Book Online.  The school district is kind enough to pay for a subscription.  After students finished their first task, they went on to work in groups of four answering questions about a specific topic using the online encyclopedia.

Each student was given a web graphic organizer and asked to choose a topic, find the encyclopedia that matched and write 6 facts about their topic of choice.  Some classes chose subjects right away and got to webbing, while others had to be encouraged and nudged to finally choose a topic.  In one class, the encyclopedia index was used several times!  

I'm excited about the progress students made because they will get to use their new found skill for their upcoming Black History Month project.

Post-Worthy Black Heroes

Nothing like overhearing older students argue about whether Michael Jackson was white or black because they couldn't figure out if he should go on the Black History Month mini word wall.  If it weren't for the books at the table, students would've come up short on names of black heroes.  Typically, MLK, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Barack Obama make the list without having to look in a book.  I realized they needed to expand their repertoire of black people who made or are making a difference.  That's when I made the decision to whip out a project I did two years ago with my 5th graders called Post-Worthy Hero.  

The 5th graders chose a famous black person from anywhere in the world that they considered worthy of being on a postage stamp.  The project turned out pretty decent and the students did a good job of applying research skills and their postage stamps were creative.

This year, I'm having my 3rd-5th graders complete the project.  The template I used for the 5th graders is readjusted for each grade level--all end up asking for facts, an event including year, and a justification statement as to why the individual deserves to be on a postage stamp.  It's nothing fancy, but here is the link to an example.  

Students will use three different resources: book, online database (World Book Online), and the Internet.  Students will use each resource as a different center--15 min looking through a book, 15 minutes looking through World Book Online, and 15 minutes searching the Internet.  This allows for student management by group sizes because I only have 12 computers currently and I want everyone to be able to use that resource.

The hope is that this project guides students to learn about other eras besides Civil Rights and modern day pop star singers/rappers.  Having students get to know famous figures that are beginning to get lost in the shuffle--Sojourner Truth, Nelson Mandela, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Mahalia Jackson, Wangari Maathai, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Wilma Rudolph, Lonnie G. Johnson, Mae Jemison, Louis Armstrong--that would expand their knowledge base a considerable amount.


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