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Monumental Women: A Timely Short Text Set

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

Did you know that August 26, 2020 marks the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment?  As women, we are thankful for the many who fought for our right to vote.   The very first statue of women in Central Park will be unveiled this week to commemorate the 100th Anniversary and the millions of women it took to get the 19th Amendment into law. The statue will feature three suffragists -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth -- who represent this hard work.  You can watch the unveiling LIVE on Wednesday, August 26th beginning at 7:45 a.m. by visiting THIS LINK or visit it at a later time where it will be archived.   

This post will feature short texts at your fingertips focused on women and women’s suffrage that can be used in real time or to look back in the days and months to come.   

BUILDING SOME BACKGROUND

There are a lot of great books, texts and resources about women and the women’s suffrage movement.  Here, we highlight a few of our favorites that can be used as:

  • Whole group mini lessons, shared reading, or read aloud

  • Small group work led by the teacher, by students, or a combination of both

  • One-to-one during teacher/student conferring or for independent reading

PICTURE BOOKS

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LINKS TO THESE TITLES [for reference or purchase]

Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers  and The Staff of the New York Times

Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America By Deborah Diesen

History Smashers: Women's Right to Vote By Kate Messner

Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote by Kristen Gillenbrand

Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women's Suffrage by Claire Rudolf Murphy 

How Women Won the Vote: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Their Big Idea by Susan Campbell Bartoletti 

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner 

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport

OTHER ARTICLES, VIDEOS & OTHER SHORT TEXTS

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Share one (or more) picture books or resources with students about the Women’s Suffrage Movement.  Invite conversation around the ideas that are shared.  Ask students if they have any questions or wonderings about voting rights, either related to today or in the past.  Jot those questions down to reference later.  Or, show the students a photograph or drawing of the new statue.  Ask them what they notice about the three women depicted. There is a great deal of symbolism included.  Then introduce the three important figures through some of the resources above.

Step 2

Pose the following questions and ideas to students, with the whole group or in small groups, and provide time and space for some conversation.

  • Did you know that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth were all from the same state?  Do you know what state they are from? [New York]

  • Was Susan B. Anthony alive when the 19th Amendment was passed?  

  • What is an Amendment and how does it become official?

  • In 1872, fifteen women voted illegally.  Who were they and what happened to them?

  • What are the rules around voting today?  Can everyone who lives in the U.S. vote?  

  • Why is this new statue so important?  Why do you think there are so few statues of historical women?

  • What other historical women do you think should be depicted in a life-sized statue?  Why?

As students share, listen in and note students’ background knowledge, misconceptions, and wonderings.  For more on ways to kidwatch, check out the Kidwatching section.

Step 3

If time and interest permit, invite students to form mini-study cohorts (small groups no larger than 3-4) to research and learn more about a voting topic of their choice. Each mini-cohort can focus on the same topic OR they can research a variety of topics.  The main goals would be for students to have an opportunity to:

  • Read more (volume!) about a related topic of interest

  • Collaborate with peers, either by researching together or sharing new information they’ve learned with others

  • Use short texts to pique interests, potentially leading to reading even longer texts 

Step 4

Determine how long you’d like to dedicate to this learning experience and share that timeline with students.  A reminder that this opportunity can be a one-day exploration or more, depending on the time you have available and the goals you’ve set with students.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT TEXT SETS

This is the perfect opportunity to use a text set.  We love to use a curated set of texts about a topic or related topics.  Start general and get more specific (e.g show an image of the new statue and then explore the woman depicted and the movement.  Or, go the other direction and read one of the woman’s life stories and then talk about the Suffrage Movement and the statue.  By reading a number of different short texts, the readers get a broader view of the topic.  And, they get to explore the topic further.  You can start by reading a text together and then inviting your students to pick another text that is of interest to them.  

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (Benchmark, 2021).

Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Launching into Summer Reading

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

SHORT TEXTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: LAUNCHING INTO SUMMER READING

For the past ten weeks, we have offered a series called Short Texts at Your Fingertips.  One or two times each week, we provided teaching ideas around a different type of short text that is easily found in the home, so that no family feels under-resourced. The ideas we have shared were easily integrated into any curriculum and pedagogy, from Workshop to basal. If you are a caregiver, teacher, or curriculum director, these brief but mighty texts and lessons are our way of saying thanks. And our way of giving children authentic and enjoyable reading and writing engagements each day. For some, summer is already in full swing.  For others, summer is just a few short weeks or days away.  Regardless of when your school year ends, it’s important that students of all ages keep reading and writing across the summer months.  In this blog post we talk about the WHY and HOW to create voluminous readers this summer!  Stay tuned for next week’s blog post where we wrap up this series talking about the WHY and HOW to create voluminous writers this summer!

SUMMER READING

Readers bring so much to the reading experience. We love chapter books and novels, but we also know that for some kids short, interesting texts  will  keep them reading.  We think about reading as eyes on print - eyes on print - EYES ON TEXT.    It doesn’t matter if you are reading a long text or a short one, reading often with many pages turning is what creates voluminous reading.  We want kids to be in the driver’s seat so that they can create reading habits that last into adulthood.  Choice helps kids to feel empowered.  We often tell students that becoming a stronger reader requires building muscles.  When we are building our basketball or soccer muscles, our karate muscles, our art muscles (or even cooking muscles), we have to practice in order to get better and stronger.  The same is true for reading -- we get better at reading and build our reading habits when we read widely [lots of text types] and deeply (reading lots about a topic, idea, or author).

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Ask students what they want to read about.  Do they want to read:

  • Fiction or nonfiction?

  • Short texts or novels/chapter books?

  • Books and texts by the same author or different authors?

  • With someone or on their own?

If you want to find out about students’ interests and curiosities, consider using one of these surveys:

Step 2

Ask students to set up a summer reading goal.  Ask:

  • How many days each week will you read? 

  • How many minutes will you shoot for each time you read?  

If it’s helpful, ask students to set up a summer reading calendar outlining the days and times they plan to read.

Step 3

Ask students to identify different spots for their summer reading.  Create a short list of places that might be a perfect reading nook such as:

  • Comfy chair

  • Snuggled up on a couch

  • On the porch or in the backyard

  • At the park on a bench

  • Under a favorite tree

  • In the car

  • On the beach or at the pool

  • On the airplane or train

  • In bed on a rainy morning

Step 4

Ask students to gather a stack of summer reading books and texts.  Consider creating a stack and taking a picture of the spines to celebrate summer reading goal setting!  Here’s an example:

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Step 5

Visit the local library regularly (either online resources or if possible, in person).  And, make sure all readers have their own library card!  

Step 6

If it’s short texts that you are interested in, check out our blog series which is filled with lots of resources that can be found right at your fingertips! 

And don’t forget to think about how you will make these  short texts easy to access and use.  Maybe you have a basket or tub filled with inviting short texts or longer texts with the short pieces bookmarked and ready to go at a moment’s notice.  Or, if you have some printed short texts, fill a binder, manilla folder, or two-pocket folder so that you can store them easily and read them over and over again.

FOR MORE RESOURCES, CHECK THESE OUT!

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (2022)

Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Articles

We offer you Short Texts at Your Fingertips. One or two times each week, we provide teaching ideas around a different type of short text that is easily found in the home, so that no family feels under-resourced. These ideas can integrate into virtually any curriculum and pedagogy, from Workshop to basal. If you are a caregiver, teacher, or curriculum director, these brief but mighty texts and lessons are our way of saying thanks. And our way of giving children authentic and enjoyable reading and writing engagements each day. 

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

SHORT TEXTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: ARTICLES

Articles are a perfect short text.  Found in newspapers (the old-fashioned ones still found in driveways and at newsstands and now also online), in magazines and on websites, they are easy to find and easy to share.  While we all want to be careful about how much of current events we share with children, there are lots of fascinating articles to share with any age group.  Sports stories are often the hook needed to get a reluctant reader interested.  And, if you read about a game you watched or attended, you bring lots of background knowledge to your reading.  We are particular fans of the quirky human interest story: the armored truck with the faulty door that spills thousands of dollars in cash all over the highway or the message in the bottle that washes up a 100 years after it was dropped into the ocean on the other side of the world.  There really is an article for everyone.

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TRY THIS!

Step 1

Find an article you want to share.  There are lots of places to find articles.  One excellent source is your local newspaper.  It is a great source of information about your town or neighborhood and is likely to be filled with issues and events of interest to your young readers.  Local papers usually have online platforms, making it easy to share the article or get a printer-friendly copy in readers’ hands. In addition, there are many online sites to peruse so take a look at the resource list provided below.  

First, select a subject matter that will interest readers.  Consider a:

  • Current event

  • Human interest story

  • Sporting event

  • Historical event (old newspapers also have fascinating articles)

Next, ask yourself, will you and your students read the article:

  • All together?

  • Partially together and partially on their own?

  • On their own?

Step 2

Discuss the article.  There are many ways to guide the discussion such as:

  • Look at the features of the article and talk about their importance. 

    • Headline -- What is this article about?

    • Byline -- Who wrote this article?  Can you figure out their job at the publication?

    • The “Lead” --  How does this article begin?  What’s the pithy sentence or two right at the top to catch readers’ attention?

    • Photograph / Image -- What do you see?  Is there a caption?  If so, what does it teach you?

    • Quotes -- What are some one-liners from the article worth noting?

  • To keep the conversation going, considering asking:

    • What are some facts from this article?

    • Do you have any connections or new ideas based on your reading?

    • What are your opinions about this article?

    • What other questions do you have about what you read? 

Step 3

Ask students to brainstorm a list of interesting topics that they may want to learn more about (such as animals, space, rainforest).  Then, invite students to go on an article hunt and find 1-2 articles related to any of the topics that were generated.  Ask students to share the articles with their peers.  This can lead to high interest, voluminous reading filled with texts curated by students for students.  For more on ways to curate texts to inspire voluminous reading, check out this blog post.

Step 4

Give students opportunities to write their own articles for their peers or for online publication submission.  Check out these two resources:

  • Time for Kids  - A great site which includes articles by grade level. 

  • Google has some free templates that students can use to create their own newspapers. 


FOR MORE  RESOURCES, CHECK THESE OUT!

  • DOGO News - A great site that one can search by topic.

  • Scholastic News  - A tried and true publication which is organized by grade level.

  • News For Kids  - Lots of interesting articles organized by date, with the most recent articles at the top.

  • KidsPost  - This the kids’ section of “The Washington Post”. 

  • Teaching Kids News - A site started by a parent and a teacher and geared for grades 2-8.

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (2022)

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