Booking Across The USA!

I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers over the entire United States to bring you Booking Across The USA!

Here are all of the bloggers who are participating!
Alabama: Everyday Snapshots Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days Arizona: Simply Kinder Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now Connecticut: The Teacher Park Delaware: Mama Miss Florida: Teaching Stars Georgia: Fabulously First Hawaii: Teaching With Style Idaho: True Aim Education Illinois: Growing Book by Book Indiana: Teach Preschool Iowa: Surviving a Teacher's Salary Kansas: KCEdventures Kentucky: Chicken Babies Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes Massachusetts: Mama Smiles Michigan: Play DrMom Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk Missouri- Ready. Set. Read! Montana: The Honey Bunch Nebraska: The Good Long Road Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts New Hampshire: Elementary Matters New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom New York: What Do We Do All Day North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog North Dakota: ND HealthWorks Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory Tennessee: No Monkey Business Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen Utah: Teach Beside Me Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog Virgina: Once Upon a Story, and The Freckled Homeschooler Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me Wisconsin: Reading Confetti Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle USA: The Corner on Character

Does this make you want to sing the Fifty Nifty song?  A little bit?  Ok, here we go!

Most of you know that I am now teaching in Hawaii.  I am loving learning about the Hawaiian culture of my state and also the Filipino culture of my island.  I've already blogged a bit about it.  You can catch up by going here, here, and here.

For my book, I chose a Hawaiian folktale that is modeled after the traditional story of The Pied Piper.  

Get the book from BeachHouse Publishing

The story is very cute and includes tons of nods to authentic Hawaiian culture, not just stereotypical lu‘aus, surfing, and hula - which I still love, but I want to read about other aspects of the culture, too!  It is about a boy named Maka who loves to make people happy by playing his ‘ukulele and singing his song about the shaka.  But one day, a wild boar comes in his village and chases everyone away.  He climbs a tree to hide and sees that his baby sister is still on the ground in a basket, so he plays his ‘ukulele to calm the boar and saves his sister and the village.  

As I was writing my unit to go with this story, I obviously saw the text-to-text connection to The Pied Piper, but I also saw opportunities for classrooms and children to discuss nonviolent conflict resolution, text-to-self connections, and also diving more into Hawaiian culture and language.  The book also includes a CD of the song Maka plays and also a page in the back with lyrics and music.  I'm thinking about having my husband come in and play the song for my class!  

You can now find this unit in my TpT shop! :)

In my unit, I included:

• Vocabulary cards, worksheets, and a journal
• Two non-fiction passages with comprehension questions to practice writing in full sentences and finding information in text
• Writing prompts with graphic organizers to plan out essays or paragraphs
• Two types of writing paper for each activity and answer keys where needed

I hope you get a chance to teach your class a little about Hawaii.  I bet they will love it!

Do you teach about the different states in your classroom?  Which state are you most excited to learn about?