Rosa

Rosa

Rosa

By: Nikki Giovanni

Illustrated by: Bryan Collier

Copyright: 2007

Published by: Square Fish

Genre: Biography/ Non-Fiction

My rating:

Grade Level Equivalent: 5.1

Lexile Measure: 900L

Fifty years after refusing to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks is still one of the most monumental figures in the American civil rights movement.  Rosa Parks’ story moves through the Civil Rights movement and is paired with visually striking pictures.  This book goes into great detail about who Rosa Parks was and what she enjoyed doing in her free time. This is a great introduction to the acts of civil rights and disobedience during the 1950s and 1660s. 

Suggested Delivery:

Read Aloud

Words to Describe book:

Monumental

Inspirational

Informative

Realistic

Historical

Useful Electronic Resources:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/westonwoods/study_guides/rosa_back.pdf Scholastic Lesson Plan

This lesson plan layout provides teachers with before activities and after activities that align with the reading of the book.  There are some  creative activities that students can complete that help to build upon their background knowledge and schema.  There are also expanded research-based activities that the students can participate in to get more information about the movement, the time period and the important people involved. 

http://p5cdn3static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_32715/File/Departments/Library%20Services/Armadillo/ArchiveLessons/Rosa_06-07.pdf Rosa Activities

This resource provides a variety of accompanying activities that are across many different content areas and can be used with students of varying areas of interest.  There are also companion books that students can investigate if they are interested in this topic and enjoyed this book. 

http://hbpub.vo.llnwd.net/o16/discussionguides/9780805071061DG.pdf Rosa Discussion Guide

Great discussion question ideas for students to talk about in small groups or as a whole class.  The questions are helpful for guiding a discussion after the book is read to allow the students to use literal and inferential comprehension skills.  There is a also a timeline of events from the Civil Rights Movement provided for more support. 

Teaching Opportunities:

Key Vocabulary:

Neutral- Not helping or supporting either side in a conflict, disagreement; impartial

Lynched- Kill (someone), especially by hanging, for an alledged offense with or without a legal trial

Justice – A fair behavior or treatment

Injustice- Lack of fairness or justice

Nonviolent- A person not using violence

Segregation-

The action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things

Reading Strategy Suggestions to increase literal and/ or inferential comprehension:

Pre-Reading Strategy

K-W-L Chart

K- What do you know about Rosa Parks and/or the Civil Rights Movement?

W- What do you want to learn about Rosa Parks or the Civil Rights Movement?

L- What did you learn after reading Rosa?

During-Reading Strategy

Concept Map

Students can create a concept map with the Civil Rights Movement in the center and important facts, characters or events that go along with the movement in the circles around.  Or, students can write Rosa Parks in the middle and write various facts and interesting things about her in the surrounding connected circles.  

Post-Reading Strategy

Event Timeline

Students can create a timeline of events sequencing the events that are talked about in the story.  There are event and year cards included on pages 43-53 of the book.  The students can work together to put the events in chronological order. 

Writing Activity

Students can answer this question to connect the past with present events to make the text more significantly relevant:

The struggle for civil and human rights continues in this country and around the world today.  What examples can you think of?  What are the issues involved?  Are there any recent examples of a person, like Rosa Parks, whose “no becomes a YES for change?” (34).