Sing Down the Moon ch. 9-16

At this part of the book, the girls escape the Spanish town and find their way back to the tribe. The Spanish "Long Knives" tell the tribe they must leave their village or else they will use force. The tribe leaves, planning on coming back to their home once the Spanish have passed. But they watch from their temporary camp at the top of the canyon as the Spanish burn their homes and ruin their crops. The Spanish find out where the tribe is hiding and go up to where they are. They start the tribe marching away from their home, along with a number of other Navajo tribes.
This is the part where we are introduced to the Navajo migration to Fort Sumner. Bright Morning also becomes a woman in the traditional ceremony in this part of the book, so we are introduced to more Native American culture. The reader can identify more personally with Bright Morning because her character is becoming more developed and she is growing into a bigger role in the tribe.
Again, the specialized terms for Native American culture are used throughout this section with the fast-paced plot. It is very easy to understand everything that is happening even if you don't know anything about the history. I am getting really into the story now that the migration has started.
I think this would be a good book to use in a unit on Native Americans because it is easy to make connections with the characters and get the history. Students could make connections with the history and have a class discussion on justice.

Book Blog 2

As Taylor mentioned before I like how the book is going at a fast pace as well. The chapters so far have been concise and to the point. The whole tribe being captured is very intense and the story through "Bright Mornings" eyes works well. Bright Eyes and Running Bird have a good dynamic and it helps keep the story light. 

I think this would be a great book for students to read regarding the history of Native Americans in the US and the atrocities that many of them suffered. It is a simple enough read to appeal to a younger audience but deals with a mature subject matter that makes it worth while in terms of learning. It would be good to challenge students to imagine what it would be like in that scenario, it offers a look through the eyes of a youth something that also bodes well with a younger audience.

Thoughts on the book

After reading the first few chapters I like this book so far. I thought it was going to be more a children s book in the sense that the reading would be more basic and easy. There were some words that I didn't even know so I thought it was challenging. I like the content to because it seems realistic.  So far it is discussing the lives of the Native Americans and the ins and outs of their culture. How a member of the tribe who is younger gets him name changed after he kills a bear. The part about the two girls getting stolen by the Spanish slave captors seemed very real. So far I like this book and I am interested to see what

Sing Down the Moon ch. 1-8

I really like the book partly because of the simple language the author uses. The author also incorporates specialized language for Spanish and Native Americans. I like that the book feels sort of fast-paced and to the point. It's not dragging on. It seems like a pretty good representation of a young girl going through this struggle. If you taught it in your classroom, you would have to give your students some background on the history and the Indian Removal Act because the book doesn't give you any. There are Spanish people in America and the students wouldn't know why. I think that would be really confusing. If i hadn't read about the history before reading the book I would have been lost.

Tier Words

I looked at Chapter 1 for the words
 I'm not sure how correct these are but I put

Tier 3

 mesas
pinon
barrancas
Navahoes


tier 2
outstreatched
scattered
hardly


tier 1
prongs
canyon
aspen
corral

If I had to come up with a vocabulary activity I would have students go through the chapter and find 10 challenging words, or more. There would be a few columns asking students do you: know this word, think you may know this word, have no idea what the word means. The next column would have the student write the sentence that the word is in,  the third column would have the students try to make meaning from the context of the sentence, then looking it up and writing the definition of the of the word, finally having the student write it in a new sentence. This would be a great activity because not only is it helping them make sense of the words in the book they're reading, but it is also teaching students to pick up contextual clues from the surrounding words and the sentence. By then having the students look up the actual definition and synthesize this information into a new sentence, the student will have a deeper understanding of the word and will be more likely to remember the words. A class list of words could even be used that could be displaced on a word wall. 

Book club post 1

Sing Down the Moon vocabulary words (ch. 1-8):

Tier 1: can, small, ran, sky, happy
Tier 2: outstretched, stalks, flock, rafters, cautioned
Tier 3: piñon, mesa, graze, slavers, lowlands, Jicarilla

I think it is most important in this case to focus on tier 3 words. Since one of the purposes of reading this book is to gain a multicultural perspective, it would be worthwhile to teach students the Spanish words used in the book and the words the Native Americans use to describe places and things. These are words the students either haven't heard before, or words they have heard just not in context. I think it would be fun to read at least three different multicultural books throughout the school year and focus on the different tier 3 words in all of them.

Lesson:
For each chapter, have students independently pick out 2-3 words in the story that are new to them. Have them write in their journal what they think the word might mean and what clues (context or prior knowledge) made them think that.
Pairs of students who chose one of the same words will research their word. Adding to their journal entry, students will write what the word means and use it in an original sentence.
Record the words on the board. Write down the students' definitions.
Have students reflect on the words in their journal. How do they help tell the story? How does this help us understand the character's perspective? Why did the author use these words?

Book Club Post #1

I have found this book really interesting so far and have found/thought of so many different ways you could utilize a book like this in a classroom. It seems as from what we have been taught through out these teaching courses a common theme of attempting to incorporate all./multiple areas of learning into lessons or at least attempt to. As I was reading through the book I would find myself catching "teachable moments" or thinking of lessons/ideas I could use in a classroom with this book. Essentially you could have every subject revolve around and relate to the ideas in the book. For example, you could have the students in history be learning about the navaho tribes, and the trail of tears, and almost follow it in a chronological following the progression of the book. In science you could be learning about sun and moon cycles, art, have the students draw vivid pictures of what the text explains in a specific passage. Even having the students write their own passages in a style similar to the way the writer does. There are just so many possibilities with this book.  I really enjoyed how the author has put so much of the "culture" of the Navahoes into his writing style through out the book. By referencing time in relation to the sun and the moon cycle, using the Navaho names, having the setting involving Navaho ways of life it adds so much value to the text. I think the pace of the story is good for the classroom with not many dull moments and a sense of mystery from what I have read so far. The book really gives you a great glimpse into the life of a Navaho girl. I was kind of confused when I was reading through the book when she got taken by the Spaniards  I started wondering if the Spaniards were the ones that lead them to the trail of tears, or if she escapes which almost spoiled the book for me in a sense. So I guess I don't know if I would expose the book being about the trail of tears when introducing the book. I have enjoyed reading so far and wonder if she's going to escape from the Spaniards  I also never knew about how they would get kidnapped to be servers or slaves.