I was absolutely thrilled when the movie Hidden Figures came out. I will begrudgingly admit, I had NO idea of the roles behind the scenes. I had explored the history of spaceflight; the astronauts, the missions, and the patches. I knew about the Space Race, but I had not considered the tumultuous times and struggles occurring in the US at the time. As the credits rolled and on the screen appeared the words "Inspired by the book", I knew I had to read it. Upon further investigation, this teacher was ecstatic upon learning of the Young Readers Edition of the book and I knew I wanted to use it in my classroom. So, I purchased a class set of Hardcover books. Why hardcover? you ask. I mean I want the books to last and I teach fifth grade! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly, but decided to read the book and see where it took me. Learning about new things, collecting resources from a variety of places and creating units is one of my favorite things. In my true fashion, I scoured for resources and ultimately decided to create a lot of my own. See Author's Note below. The book is targeted for 8-12 year olds, but the Lexile Level is 1120. This corresponds to ~8th grade reading level, depending on your students. I know that I have some kiddos who are ready for this, but many who are not there yet. I still want them to be able to experience this awesome story and all the benefits reading it provides though! In order to do that, my plan is to read the book together, either whole group or in small groups. Also, the historical context will definitely need to be discussed as my students are unfamiliar with this time period and it is not specifically covered in my standards. To provide them with the necessary background information, I found other (mostly multimedia) resources. I have attached my unit overview as a pdf to download at the end of this post. Resources that align well with the book:
Things I love about the book:
Thank You:
Authors note: There are targeted resources already created that are available for purchase on teacherspayteachers.com . From what I gathered, they were mostly supplemental readings, activities and a lot more of a focus on the movie than the book. Stay tuned readers for more updates on what my unit entails and how it's going in my classroom!
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It all started with Tom Hanks, as I'm sure many things do. As a kid, I watched Apollo 13 so many times...on VHS, of course! I was recently reminded of this fact and purchased my very own copy on DVD. As a curious and creative girl, I think my interest was initially sparked by my Dad. As an engineer who had worked in failure analysis, this was his thing. We still comment about what a great movie it is and I loved sharing all about my trip to the Space Center with him. Luckily, Houston did not have a problem! I didn't get to see the real landing on the moon, but man I was intrigued by it. My grandpa, Papa Andy, also fostered a love for space. After he retired as a pharmacist, he became an astronomer. He was extremely passionate about sharing space with others. Whenever we would see him, he would show us the NASA Picture of the Day from the Hubble Telescope and let us see his telescope. He would frequently say, "I'm going to blow your mind! Look up. That light traveled billions of light years." Another love of his was Purdue, school of the astronauts! Even though I didn't see the moon landing, I did step in Neil Armstrong's footsteps. Full disclosure: it was on Earth. In front of the Armstrong Hall of Engineering to be exact. A minor detail in the grand scheme of things. I'm proud to say that both of my parents attended and my brother is a current senior. Boiler Up! Fast forward a few years, I'm a proud Purdue alumnus and educator. Last year, I started co-teaching a space unit and it quickly became my favorite. Tom Hanks entered the picture again, with his HBO Mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. It is a wonderful resource that helped us inform our students of the history of space exploration in a more exciting way. As part of my year in space, I want to expand my current space unit and share NASA's resources with other educators. My next project is created a Hidden Figures unit that aligns with the Young Readers Edition. Stay tuned space fans! |
AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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