The Mailbox® and PITNF Team Up for Black History Month
Feb 9th, 2010 | By Plugged-in | Category: Featured, News
We’ve teamed up with The Mailbox® to offer free lesson plans and audio excerpts to Mailbox subscribers. (If you don’t already subscribe to The Mailbox®, visit http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ to sign up) Since February is Black History Month, we thought we’d feature some titles from Plugged-in to Nonfiction that profile some great people in Black History. Click here to see the newsletter and lesson plans. You can download the accompanying audiobook excerpts to use as book hooks below or via the newsletter.
We’re also giving away one copy of both the print book and CD audiobook for A Negro League Scrapbook! In this acclaimed book, New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford compiles an enthralling summary of Negro league history that includes fascinating tidbits about prominent pitchers, hitters, utility players, teams, and traditions. Booklist says, “A lively presentation—give it credit for at least a triple” and Kirkus Reviews calls it “a thorough picture of the Negro leagues in all their sadness, pain, and glory. One doesn’t need to be a baseball fan to be fascinated.” NEW! As of February 24, we are also adding Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive in CD audio and print to the giveaway! The winner will receive both CD audiobooks and both print audiobooks.
To win, leave a comment below telling us your favorite classroom activity for Black History Month. See the end of the post for complete contest rules.
To download mp3 excerpts, right click and “save as.”
Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Narrated by Kevin R. Free
A Negro League Scrapbook
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Narrated by Ezra Knight
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
by Michael Martin, Narrated by Susan Spain
The contest is now closed. Congratulations to Deborah Davila!
COMPLETE CONTEST RULES:
- Leave a comment below (be sure to enter a valid email address, or we won’t be able to contact you if you win!) sharing one of the above ideas and you’ll be entered to win.
- Contest only open to U.S. residents.
- Tweet (we’re @pluggedintoread) or blog about the contest and you can leave a second comment linking to your tweet or post—you’ll get another contest entry. Spread the word!
- Again, be sure you leave a valid email address with your comment so we can contact you. If you’re picked as a winner and we can’t contact you, the prize will got to the next winner.
- Comments will be assigned a number (first commenter is #1, second is #2, etc). Winners will be picked by random.org according to comment number.
- Drawing will be held on March 22, 2010 at 12:00PM Eastern time. Winners will be contacted by email to get mailing information.
- Winners will receive: one copy of A Negro League Scrapbook on CD audio and one copy of the hardcover print book, one copy of Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive on CD audio and one copy of the hardcover print book
I am a third grade teacher in Wilmette, Illinois. For Black History Month we read Follow the Drinking Gourd, by Jeanette Winter. I copy the song, The Drinking Gourd, and give each group of students a stanza of the song, along with a sheet on how to decode the underground railroad messages that are in the song. After deciphering the codes in the songs, the students then design a mural depicting their stanza. We will then make an imovie of our murals,along with the children depicted as slaves and dialogue.
Looks like a great idea to use these audio books- I am excited to use them in a classroom soon.
Looks like a great idea!
What do we do for Black History Month? Listen to “Speeches That Changed the World” by Simon Sebag Mortefiore (http://www.amazon.com/Speeches-Changed-World-Simon-Montefiore/dp/1905204167) We listen, talk, and read about the history behind each of the speeches.
RT ed through my twitter feed (kurtusu)
I usually do a book display and some book talks featuring various titles.
I have a beautifully illustrated book of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. My students listen to an audio of the speech while following along in the book. We have had interesting discussions about the illustrations in the book and their symbolism. I use the speech to teach figurative language, so we pick out examples and identify the literal meaning. We then compare the figurative to the literal to illustrate the power of words, and how figurative language makes writing more interesting.
I love to read books on history. The children would really enjoy listening to the stories by themselves.
I have several books that I enjoy reading to my students. Henry’s Freedom Box, Martin’s Big Words, Rosa, The Story fo Ruby Bridges, etc.
My favorite book to read is This is the Dream, by Diane Z. Shore. It has powerful illustrations to show that “separate, but equal” was not really equal.
These books always spark wonderful classroom discussion!
One of my favorite books to read to my students is about the Underground Railroad, It is called The Last Safehouse. It is a well written book and full of great information. Over the years I have learned so much about the Underground Railroad. Every year it seems I discover something new reading this book to my students.
I am a teacher librarian, so I tie in the use of a library book with my short lesson on Back history. I read aloud this book: Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange. Both the author and the subject of this book relate to Black History.
I would love to have these books in my classroom!
Our Black History unit is a cross-curricular study. My class creates a PowerPoint presentation showing how the slaves used the constellations to guide their way. I use this project to discuss animation.
During Feb. we have several activities for example, we listen to MLKs I Have a Dream Speech, they write what their dream is for the world, we discuss how people communicated during the time of slavery and afterwards, the students are asked to keep a journal of their life as if they were living during the period of the underground rr, and I have a selection of research cards with questions about the lesser known important black americans near the computer for my students to research and write a short assignment as to their contributions. It is interesting to read their dream(s), how they perceive how their lives would have been during the underground rr period and to see what they learn about their researched black americans.
We spend a lot of time talking about black history and how important it is to learn from history so it doesn’t repeat itself. We watch the Reading Rainbow movie “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, read “Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt”. We do a map activity to learn how far the slaves had to travel and how hard it would have been for them. I really like the idea of making a mural. There are some awesome ideas out there, thank you!
This would be an awesome part of our Brownie Underground Railroad Try-it activities.
For Black History Month, I love to dress in an African outfit and celebrate Kwanzaa with Swahili words. Students learn the history of Kwanzaa and what it means to the African Americans heritage. We read books on Kwanzaa and discuss the meaning of the candles being lite.
At our school we celebrated Black History month with a new person each day. It was very interesting to learn about a lot of different black anericans who have contributed so much to our society.
For Black History Month, I read aloud a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. book, and then my students write about what they hope and dream for a better world.
For Black History month, each student selected an African American person. They researched this person and wrote an expository essay about the person. Students also selected one year that was a year of major accomplishment for their person and our class created a big Black History timeline. Finally, students created shirt in honor of their African American person. The front of the shirt said “In Memory of (name of person)” and the back of the shirt stated the year and major accomplishment. Our class (included myself) wore the shirt on thelast day of Black History month to school. It was very exciting!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE audio books!
In an academic world where sports tend to dominate, these titles will be of interest to many students.
I like for the students to learn how important music was for the slaves. We read a story called Music and Slavery and compare it to Follow the Drinking Gourd. They have fun working in groups to figure out the code they used for the underground railroad.
In my classroom, the students conduct research on several African American Historical figures and then they present their information to the class. After the projects and presentations are completed in class, we share with other grade levels. It would be exciting to see these books brought into the presentations that the kids do and to have them be able to share them with others in our school!
In our Social Studies project classes, we have learned of famous Black Americans and their contribution to our society. After their research the students share their findings with other classes and post their information on the ‘Black History Time Line’ for all of the school to observe. These books would be a true asset to our school.
I love telling about Harriet Tubman and using the Drinking Gourd song to explain the route for the Underground Railroad. This is a great American feat!
We do a variety of activities to celebrate Black History Month. The librarian displays books– biographies and picture books about influential African Americans. Some teachers have students research and write a report about an individual of their choice and we also look at the United States Postal Service’s web site dedicated to African Americans honored with a postal stamp.
We have a variety of activities to celebrate Black History Month. CPC News (our morning news show) features a famous African American each day. Our media center has various books on display that are about famous African Americans. In our social studies books (I teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th) we learn about famous African Americans who helped shape our country. The students write about one of the men or women that they have learned about during the month.
I am a student that is getting ready to student teach in the Fall. I am searching and looking for any materials that will help me to enhance my teaching career. This would be a great tool for me to teach with in my classroom.
During February, we research African American Inventors. Students use their research to write a class newspaper detailing the inventor, their invention, and its impact on the USA.
I begin a “prequel” to Black History Month when we study Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the week of his birthday in January. In February, I assign famous African Americans randomly to my students for research. I have books on the 15 historical figures (including some still living) who are assigned. Due to the number of books, some students have duplicate people to write about. Using the books that are in my classroom library, school library books, and internet sources each student writes a biography of their person. They present their biographies to the class. During some years, time permitting, we are able to include art projects as well. This year we also saw a play about George Washington Carver. I am also enjoying reading the comments of others and will try to include your ideas in future years.
The lesson ideas help bring Black history into the classroom. I am looking forward to trying them.
For February we read the Watson’s go to Birmingham. We also learned about MLK’s speech and the students made their own I have a dream speech.
I would love to use these books in my classroom. I read a MLK book to my 4th grade class. They choose one of his “big words” to write about in their journal.
This would be a great addition to my classroom. I feel that this is an area that is not discussed a lot in my school due to the area I am in. It would be great to integrate the important role that many African Americans have played in our lives. Is there a better way to do this then through the use of great literacy.
For Black History we try to involve the whole school by hanging posters and parts of speeches around the school. There is always an assembly for Martin Luther King’s Day and every grade and factuly member has a part. This opens the Black History Month at our school and it continues through the end of March. We are a very proud people and we need to learn the history of the USA
For black history month, my kids goat a chance to choose one African American that changed the world as they knew it and make a tribute to that person and then present it to the class. We did the usual people in class, so they were not allowed to choose someone we studied in class. The projects turned out awesome!!!
After studying many of the famous African Americans briefly , each student got a square of construction paper to draw a picture of one of the people we studied or another person of their choice. The students added important words around the drawing to help those who looked at the project know who the famous African-American was and what he accomplished. We then made a quilt by putting the squares together to hang in the hall for a few days, then in the room for a while.
I teach Social Studies and we are talking about the steps leading up to the Civil War. I read aloud several books to the students and we discuss the reasons slavery was wrong. Then the students brainstorm alternative solutions for both sides to avoid war and give freedom to the slaves.
We had guest speakers to come in and talk to the student,also read poetry and dance activities.
Each student did a book report on a famous African American and read it to the class.
My fourth grade students watch the film, My Friend Martin. It is a cartoon based on MLK Jr.’s life. They then answer comprehension questions about the film. Our whole school puts on a play, dance, and a drama for Black History Month.
We read “Bein’ With You This Way,” by W. Nicola-Lisa, and discuss similarities and differences, and talk about whether or not it would be fair to exclude people based on the color of their eyes, or hair, or height. It also opens the door to discussions about disability awareness and multiculturalism in general.