This summer Patrick Allen inspired me to look at themes of endurance and persistence in beginning of the year read alouds. This work has continues throughout the year as my class and I have realized that so many of our favorite books show characters that have to work hard, persevere, and believe in themselves to achieve greatness. Two of our favorite read alouds that led to great thinking and had themes of endurance were When Marian Sang and Soar Elinor!
I highly recommend these books to read aloud. They can be used for multiple comprehension strategies. The language in both makes the reader pause often to appreciate the craft of writing. We viewed old photographs of Elinor Smith and her plane and watched YouTube clips of Marian Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial to deepen our understanding. We stopped to discuss plot, setting, character actions, important events in a sequential text structure, and so much more while reading each book.
I used Lucy Calkin's new resource for reading with the common core (3rd grade) to guide students on how to read biographies or narrative non fiction. I'm hoping the lessons these women left about believing in your dreams, and working hard against all odds will stick with students:)