5th grade spent time in September reading Historical Fiction!  This book can be used in Daily 5 Cafe for multiple strategies.

COMPREHENSION

• Recognize literary elements (theme). 
  • persistence in the face of challenges
  • standing up for what you believe in
  • a full life is well-rounded and allows you to develop your passions
  • privilege plays a role in what individual determination can achieve (how would Banneker’s life be different if he hadn’t been born to a freedman?)  If he had been born closer to the civil war?  If he was born in the South during the civil rights movement?)
• Compare and contrast within and between text

ACCURACY

• Use the pictures…Do the words and pictures match? More complex words like observing, plotted, astronomy, and eclipse make sense in the context of this book.

BEHAVIORS THAT SUPPORT READING

• Select and read good-fit books Benjamin Banneker taught himself astronomy!  Amazing.  The level of self motivation he must have had is amazing.  Our students need to strive to find topics and issues that interest them so they too can be motivated to take a lead role in their own successes.  Use this book to reinforce the strategy of IPICK.