Nonfiction – “Animal Ark” By Kwame Alexander, Photographs by Joel Sartore Publication date: May 5, 2009

Description – “Animal Ark” is a collaboration between National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore and author Kwame Alexander. I chose this book because I loved how it incorporated poetry into a book about animals and their different characteristics. I thought that students would have a great time looking at the vivid photos as well as following along with the excellent prose. The author does a great job at explaining how animals are different but we all rely on each other and our planet to survive.

Core Integration –

This book would relate to the curriculum area of language arts. We would explain why “Animal Ark” is considered to be in poetry form. We could relate this to other stories we have read aloud and explain how the genres differ. We would then as a class create our own environmental poem. We would use the information that we have learned thus far in the unit and create a class poem. I would dictate for that class on the board and occasionally have students come up and spell simple words (maybe star words that we are all familiar with, or words that they are able to phonetically sound out). We could then type out our class poem and create a hallway display of it along with pictures created by students to illustrate our poem.

NHES –

Healthy behavior outcomes for personal health and wellness – HBO 6: Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.

Standard: PHW4.2.4 Identify how to communicate care and concern for others to enhance their personal health and wellness.

CCSS English Language Arts Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.5

Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.2.D

Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.