[MOSAIC] comprehension text set

[Eve]

There's a book on our state reading list this year that deals with 
immigration with a boy as the main character--The King of Mulberry 
Street by Donna Jo Napoli.  It's about the main character's 
experiences coming over on a boat by himself as a child(mom put him 
on the boat but didn't go herself and he didn't find out till they 
were at sea) and how he adjusted to life in a new country.  He had to 
sneak through Ellis Island since children were supposed to be 
accompanied or met by an adult to take charge of them.

Eve

At 11:47 PM 3/6/2007, you wrote:
>A book I love that would be great to use in an immigration unit is
>Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse. This book is about a girl and her
>family as they leave Russia to go to America to escape religious
>persecution. Rifka?s family is forced to leave Rifka behind and she
>must continue the journey on her own.  You could teach or review a lot
>of strategies with the book. There are many places where students
>could make predictions and later verify them, many questions can be
>raised based on feelings, historical relevance, ect. Also, there are a
>ton of connections to be made with the book. Text to world connections
>can be made between the text and World War II, text to self
>connections can be made by relating the feelings Rifka is having(such
>as loneliness, being afraid, ect..) to themselves and if you are using
>Esperanza Rising as a read aloud many text to text connections can be
>made between that and Rifka since both are about young girls
>immigrating to America. The book also talks a lot about Ellis Island
>which is a great topic pertaining to immigration. :)

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Eve Dubois
Classroom Teacher
Renaissance School
Shelburne, Vermont