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!
2 Comments
Liz Pierce
2/6/2020 05:19:56 pm
I am LOVING looking through your unit plan. I am curious, the documents in purple that you created - are those available somewhere for me to use? I just bought the book and started it with my kiddos today and love the links you have shared. THANK YOU.
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CAPCOM Conrad
2/9/2020 03:15:29 pm
Liz,
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AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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