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4. If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People by David Smith: This CCSS informational text exemplar for grades 2-3 describes a village of 100 people as if it had the characteristics of the world. For
example, in the village of 100 people,
only 7 would have computers, only 24
would have enough to eat, and 22 would
speak Chinese. Before asking students to consider the concept of the world as a
village of 100, reading Whoever You Are by Mem Fox introduces students to the global
community. The story describes children
with different languages, different customs,
and different skin colors, while at the same time describes the similarities of the children as well. Starting with this fictional description of the people of the world provides students with the opportunity to reflect upon similarities and differences among the people around the world before moving to Smith’s account of the characteristics of a 100-person village.
Just click on
the pictures
of the book covers to get them for yourself!
5. So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George: This CCSS informational text exemplar for grades 2-3 provides readers with various interesting facts about the
presidents of the United States, including which presidents went to college, the most common first names of presidents, physical characteristics of presidents, etc. Before examining this text, an appropriate fictional twin text is My Teacher for President by Kay Winters. This tells the story of a boy who
believes his teacher should be President of the United States because she holds many of the essential characteristics. This engaging text that students can connect to can create a bridge to introducing them to the non-fiction text about the characteristics of the actual presidents.