Help! I'm starting point of view for the third quarter. There isn't a good story in our basal reader. I'm looking for some good books to teach point of view.
I like Encounter by Jane Yolen. Yolen views the arrival of Columbus through the eyes of a Taino Indian boy on San Salvador who has a dream about the newcomers. It is a thought provoking book.
I recently came across the most amazing book for point of view called Voices in the Park. It tells about a trip to a park as told from the point of four different characters so you get the same story told four different ways. It is really quite interesting.
I agree that Voices in the Park is a wonderful book for point of view as well as the voice writing trait (6+1 writing traits). Also, "The True Story of 3 Little Pigs" would be great to use too. It tells the story of the 3 little pigs from the wolf's point of view.
I just ordered four classic tale "flip" books by well-known author Dr. Alvin Granowsky. He wrote numerous classic children's tales from a new perspective! One "flip" book with two viewpoints. For example, The Three Billy Goats Gruff/Just a Friendly Old Troll or Goldilocks and the Three Bears/Bears Should Share! Contains the traditional tale and -- on the flip side -- a humorous new version from another character's perspective or point of view. Even the illustrations underscore two differing perspectives. These books are a great way to introduce point of view. After reading one of the books to my students, they begged me to read more of these flip books and they often choose to read these books independently during Self-Selected Reading.
I would also highly recommend "Encounter." It was reviewed in one of the teacher magazines last fall and I was intrigued enough to get it from the library. Using it in class created insights and further questions and discussion by the students and the timing was right for Columbus Day and on to Thanksgiving.
Thanks for all the book ideas. You can find the fairy tale flip books by Dr. Granowsky on Amazon.com. One title I found was Snow White/The Unfairest of them All: A Classic Tale. The others just came up with it.
I found a bunch of "flip books" on clearance at my local Barnes & Noble. One that I have is "Snow White", with one side of the book being told by the Queen and the other side being told by Snow White.
Another book we have read this year is called "I Was a Third Grade Spy". It is about a boy with a talking dog and the chapters flip flop as to who is telling the story. One chapter it is the young boy, the next is the dog, etc. The kids LOVED this one!
is "Polar the Titantic Bear," written by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden. This is actually a true story that the author wrote for her only son, Douglas. This story is about a stuffed animal named Polar and how he came into Douglas' life. The story is written from the bear's perspective. Their adventures include sailing on the Titantic. This book is really cute, and includes authentic photographs as well as illustrations.
Possible Activity: You could have your students bring their favorite stuffed animal from home, and you could read this story to them. As a writing activity, you could have them write a story (from their stuffed animal's point of view) about how they came into that particular's student's life, just like Polar the bear came into Douglas' life.
I always like to start point of view with an actual visual representation (seeing the same thing from two different perspectives). There are a couple of great picture books for this - Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg and Livingstone Mouse by Pamela Duncan Edwards.
I read the book to the kids and we talk about how the ordinary items (kitchen sink, sneaker, etc.) would appear "normal" size to us but seem huge to the ants or the mouse. Then I have them choose an object to draw from two different points of view.
This works if you have visual kids - and it's a good introduction to the term "point of view."
with my students called Cockroach Cooties. We read it as a group and my kids loved it!! There are so many things you can do with this book. It reveals the point of view from the bully's perspective at the end. A really good lesson in social skills!
How about "A Boy in the Doghouse" by Betsy Duffy? Its chapters alternate between the boy's and the dog's point of view. (Each is trying to "train" the other--and-in the end-they BOTH think they have succeeded.
I used to read Beverly Cleary's books to my third graders and one year when I was reading Henry and the Clubhouse I had the students right the episode of Henry being locked in the clubhouse from Ramona's point of view! (In the book, you see the incident from Henry's.)
Hey, Little Ant. I've used it for persuasive writing and point of view. It is about an ant who is trying to convince a boy not to step on him. My students always love this story!
01-09-2008, 02:22 PM
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