Integrating Literature

[MsCoffeeLover]

I have one Social Studies class and three science classes. Our social studies class is split. We have class, lunch and potty, and then returning with usually around fifteen minutes or so left before the next class. We usually complete assignments not completed earlier or since I have these same kids again for science, we work on science.

That fifteen minutes after lunch would be an ideal time to read to the kids or have the kids read a class set of books on whatever it is we are covering. Right now, we are covering WWI, and still have a ways to go and then on to WWII.

Does anyone have any recommendations on 7th grade level chapter books that can be incorporated into this unit? I have a few for WWII, but not WWI. There are many book units with activities, but I don't know if there are any for WWI like a diary or first hand account or something.

If you have any recommendations for science, that would be delightful, but we are fixing to start cells, heredity, and genetics, and I can't even imagine a chapter book that could possible incorporate those standards.

the history one is the bigger thing right now.

[busbus]

You might find science literature books on

allbookstore.com

also, you might find something on

reading a-z

I think that FOSS has a literature booklist

Sorry for not having the links, just google them.

Good luck

[jsfowler]

I teach science, but my other area is language arts. I am happy to see content teachers using literature into their classroom. I am sorry to say that I cannot think of a single young adult novel based around WWI. Don't give up on the idea though because there are plenty for WWII. For now, it might be nice to bridge the SS and Science classes together by studing famous scientists and discoveries during the WWI time period. I am actually doing this right now with my students covering the Revolutionary War. In Lang. Arts they are reading Johnney Tremain, in SS they are studing the RW, in Math they are working with Ceaser codes and distance, and in Science we are looking at scientist/Inventors and also making casts like in the novel. Students always like to look at important people who died in battle, study what they accomplished before the war, and then discuss what other great things they could have done if they had not died.

[upnorthteacher]

I have seen one book that addresses WW I for middle school age students. It's short, but pretty good.
Assassination in Sarajevo: June 28, 1914 by Alex Woolf.

There are a couple of websites that might help:
www.guysread.com
www.geocities.com/talestoldtall/BooksforBoys.html#About

I've found some good science and war related books on these sites that my students have really liked.

[busbus]

I have one Social Studies class and three science classes. Our social studies class is split. We have class, lunch and potty, and then returning with usually around fifteen minutes or so left before the next class. We usually complete assignments not completed earlier or since I have these same kids again for science, we work on science.

That fifteen minutes after lunch would be an ideal time to read to the kids or have the kids read a class set of books on whatever it is we are covering. Right now, we are covering WWI, and still have a ways to go and then on to WWII.

Does anyone have any recommendations on 7th grade level chapter books that can be incorporated into this unit? I have a few for WWII, but not WWI. There are many book units with activities, but I don't know if there are any for WWI like a diary or first hand account or something.

If you have any recommendations for science, that would be delightful, but we are fixing to start cells, heredity, and genetics, and I can't even imagine a chapter book that could possible incorporate those standards.

the history one is the bigger thing right now.

Hi MsCoffeeLover,

Don't have any books to recommend, however, since reading your post, I've wondered if this site will help you as you cover WWI and WWII:

www.fpri.org/education/teachingmilitaryhistory/

Hope that this helps.

busbus

[MsCoffeeLover]

Thanks for all your help!! One other teacher mentioned All Quiet on the Western Front, but I don't know if that is too advanced for them. I did, however, find diaries and letters from WWI and some poetry, so I may use that as well and have the kids write letters like they are soldiers off at war.

We are almost done with WWI, so I may just save the reading for WWII.

However, in Science, my next assignment is for the kids to write a children's book/story/comic strip on the Immune System and how we get sick in terms that youngsters in the early grades can understand. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.

[Chef Dave]

Does anyone have any recommendations on 7th grade level chapter books that can be incorporated into this unit? I have a few for WWII, but not WWI. There are many book units with activities, but I don't know if there are any for WWI like a diary or first hand account or something.


Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
This is a rather depressing anti-war novel about an American soldier who wakes up in a hospital only to find that he has no arms or legs and that he is also deaf, blind, and mute. After nine years of lying in bed, he begins to tap messages in morse code using his head. He asks for someone to either help him die or help him leave the hospital. Neither of his wishes are met.

The Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.

Generals Die in Bed is a anti-war novel by the Canadian-American writer Charles Yale Harrison. Based on the author's own experiences in combat, it tells the story of a young soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I. It was first published in 1930 by William Morrow. If I had to characterize this story, I would say that it's the Allied version of All Quiet on the Western Front. In this story, a Canadian soldier embarks on a troop transport with his squad. Throughout the story, his squad mates die one by one and the soldier becomes disillusioned and bitter.

Under Fire: The Story of a Squad (French: Le Feu: journal d'une escouade) by Henri Barbusse, published in 1917, was one of the first novels about the Great War to be published. Although it is a piece of fiction, the novel was based on the author's own war experiences.

Death of a Hero is a World War I novel by Richard Aldington. It was his first novel, written in 1929, and is thought to be partly autobiographical. The story is about an artist named George Winterbourne who enlisted at the start of the war.

The casualty rate among officers is particularly high at the front. When a number of officers in George's unit are killed, he is promoted. Upon spending time with the other officers, he finds them to be cynical and utilitarian. He loses faith in the war quickly. Having come from a well to do family, George is eventually promoted and becomes an officer due to the high casualty rates among officers. The story ends with George being killed by machine gun fire.

[Chef Dave]

I just thought of these ...

Storm of Steel (in German: In Stahlgewittern, ISBN 0-86527-310-3) is the memoir of German officer Ernst Jünger's experiences on the Western Front during the First World War.The book is a graphic account of trench warfare

Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will R. Bird is another memoir about trench warfare. Humor and horror are interspersed throughout the book. The camaraderie between the soldiers is strongly demonstrated as well. The author had a brother killed in the First World War and tragically lost his son during the Second World War.

[wig]

A very good book written on a middle school student's interest level is

Private Peaceful
World War I
Morpurgo, Michael

Scholastic, 2004

Thomas lied about his age to join his beloved brother Charlie fighting for England against the Germans in France in World War I. He learns first hand about the horrors of trench warfare and the horrors of war within the ranks for nonconformists such as Charlie.

I know you said that you are just about finished with the unit, but it is one to keep in mind for future years.

This site is an excellent site for good books for Middle School Students
http://www.middlebooks.com/historical.html