February, 2008
Food Checkout Day is February 6. This year it will take the average American 37 days to pay for all the food he or she will eat in 2008.
- The Japanese pay 14.9 percent.
- People in Canada pay 11.7 percent.
- People in Mexico pay 26.6 percent.
- People living in Brazil pay 22.7 percent.
- The British pay 16.4 percent.
ACTIVITY: Use the figures above to practice percentages and other math facts. Provide 100 pennies to represent per capta income. Discuss the meaning of per capita (the average income per person).
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Students round off percentages to the nearest whole number.
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Students take out the correct number of pennies from the 100 for each country listed above. How much is left?
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Students create bar graphs to illustrate the numbers.
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Students locate the countries listed above on a world map.
- Students brainstorm and list factors that might affect the percentage of income spent on food in these countries (average per capita income, agriculture, climate, politics, government policy, trade, etc.)
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Divide the class into research groups to learn what they can about the factors they have listed for each country.
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Groups report their findings to the class.
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Brainstorm factors that allow people in the US to spend less on food than other people in the world.
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Divide into groups to research the factors listed.
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Groups report findings to the class.
Try these lessons to celebrate Food Checkout Day
Students learn where their food dollars go while getting practice recognizing coins and making change. (2nd-3rd grade language arts and math)
Farmer's Share of Retail Food Dollar (National Farmer's Union)
Students read about the invention of the shopping cart and identify major elements of the story’s structure. (3rd-6th grade math, language arts and social studies)
Student estimate the weight and cost of produce and calculate the actual price. (1st-5th grade math)
Agriculture: It Doesn't Just Happen
Students use research skills to find information about agriculture research projects and use gathered information in a variety of presentations. (6th-8th grade language arts and social studies)
How Far Does It Travel? Exploring the Geography of Food
Students compare the distances food travels from farm to table. (6th-8th grade social studies, language arts, and math)
Where Has All the Farm Land Gone?
Students look at issues related to land use worldwide (6th-8th grade social studies and language arts)
Black History Month
Bill Pickett, Bulldoggin' Cowboy
Students are introduced to Pill Pickett, An Oklahoma rodeo personality, who pioneered the rodeo act of bulldogging. (4th-5th grade language arts, social studies and visual arts)
Students read about George Washington Carver and outline the information. (3rd-5th grade science and language arts)
Cotton Pickin': Before and After the Civil War
Students examine the importance of cotton to the economy of the South before and after the Civil War. (6th-8th grade social studies and language arts)
Hundreds Day
Celebrate the hundredth day of the school year with
A
Hundred Bales of Hay
More hundreds to count
100 kernels of popcorn
100 pencils
100 kernels of wheat
100 steps
(Have students check their heart rates before and after taking 100 steps, in
honor of National Heart Month.)
100 heart beats
100 peanuts
100 pecans
100 valentines
100 cans of food
(Have a food drive for your community's food bank, in honor of National Canned
Foods month)
100 pancakes
2008 is the International Year of the Potato
United Nations site with great information about growing potatoes, the history of potatoes, etc.
National Potato Lover's Month/ National Sweet Potato Month
Potatoes and sweet potatoes both originated in the New World, though they are not related. The leaves of sweet potatoes can be eaten by animals. The leaves of potatoes are poisonous. The earliest use of the word "potato" in English actually referred to sweet potatoes. That changed in the middle of the 18th Century. Sweet potatoes are often confused with yams, but they are not the same.
ACTIVITY: Bring potatoes and sweet potatoes.
- Younger students separate the sweet potatoes from the potatoes then arrange them according to size and count them.
- How are the two vegetables similar and different? Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast.
- Older students estimate which weighs more, the sweet potatoes or potatoes, then weigh them, using standard and nonstandard measuring tools.
- Use the potatoes to construct addition and subtraction facts and to write addition and subtracton number sentences..
- Use potatoes to measure perimeter and area of students' desks or a work table.
- Go to the library to research the Irish potato famine.
Tater People (humor/wordplay)
The Potato Eaters, by Vincent Van Gogh
A
Priceless Collection
The dramatic story
of Russian plant breeder Nikolai I. Vavilov, who faced starvation during
World War II to protect and preserve a valuable collection of seed potatoes.
(5th-8th grade science, social studies, language arts and math)
Powerful
Potato
Students observe
the growth process of a potato. (3rd-6th grade language arts, math,
social studies, science and visual arts)
To-may-to, To-mah-to; Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to
All about the Nightshades. (1st-6th grade language arts, math, science,
visual arts, music)
February 19 is President's Day, celebrating two of our country's greatest presidents.
FEBRUARY 22 IS GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. George Washington is known as the father of our country, but, like Thomas Jefferson, his great love was agriculture. He was happiest when conducting agricultural experiments on his farm at Mt. Vernon.
ACTIVITY: Students research online to find some of the contributions George Washington made to agriculture through his experiments.
Dear George: Using Census Data to Report on Agriculture
Students use Census of Agriculture information to compose a letter about agriculture in the US and translate correspondence about agriculture from George Washington into modern language. (6th-8th grade language arts and social studies)
George Washington and the First Census of Agriculture
Students will read excerpts from a letter George Washington wrote about agriculture in the US in 1771 and compare his evaluation with agricultural data over time. (8th grade language arts and social studies)
George Washington's Favorite Song: The Darby Ram
FEBRUARY 12 IS ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress establishing the US Department of Agriculture
ACTIVITY: Students esearch online to find more about the establishment of the US Department of Agriculture in 1862.
Current Events Connection
Students research online, in current magazines or online to learn what they can about the agricultural policies of the presidential candidates.
The Great Backyard Bird Count: February 15-18.
Count the birds at your classroom feeder and record the results on this site.
National Snack Food Month.
Look for healthy snack ideas in "Food and Fun," and try this lessons:
Students experience the concepts of ratio and probability, using agricultural products that can be considered snack foods. Students analyze and record information from the class experience. (1st-6th grade math and health)
February is National Dental Health Month.
Try these natural tooth cleaners: carrots, apples, pickles, plums, melons, celery, tomatoes. Parsley is a great breath freshener
ACTIVITY: Experiment to find which of the above does the best job making teeth feel clean. Students will vote and graph results. Compare with toothbrush and toothpaste.
Cool Link of the Month: Noble Foundation Cell Imaging Gallery
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is fortunate to have the Noble Foundation in Ardmore as a partner. A small group of 6th-8th grade teachers recently returned from a 2-day curriculum review at the Noble Foundation Conference Center, where we were fascinated to hear about the important research that takes place there. One of the most fascinating was the cellular imaging facility. On the Noble Foundation's Plant Biology website, you will find a gallery of up close and personal images of plant cells, including this image of a root hair.
PASS for February Activities
(P.A.S.S. for recommended lessons online are listed in the lessons)
Food Checkout Day
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 2.4; 5.1
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 3.1a; 5.1
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1c. Social Studies: 1.1; 4.1,3,4; 5.1,2,3
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1b. Social Studies: 1.1; 2.2; 4.2,4; 5.4
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 2.1d; 5.1ab. Social Studies: 1.1; 7.1,2,5
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.3,6; 4.1; 5.1,3,4. Math Content: 5.1. Social Studies: 1.1,2,3; 3.1,2; 4.1,2
- Grade 7 - Social Studies: 1.1; 2.2,4; 3.2,3; 4.2.3,5; 5.1,2
Brushing Teeth
- Pre-K - Math: 5.2,3. Health: 3.3.
- Kindergarten - Math: 5.1,2. Health: 1.3
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1; 2; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1; 2; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1,2.
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1abc.
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1b.
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1a.
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 4.1; 5.1. Math Concept: 5.1
Pancake Activities
- Pre-K - Oral Language: 1.1; 2.2. Literacy: 8.3. Writing: 9.4. Physical Education: 1.1
- Kindergarten - Reading: 1.5; 6.2; 7.2ab. Oral Language: 1.2; 2.2. Math: 5.1,2. Science Process: 1.3. Physical Science: 1.1. Physical Education: 1.1
- Grade 1 - Reading: 6.1ac,3a. Writing: 2.5. Oral Language: 2.3,4; Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1,2. Science Process: 1.2; 4.3. Physical Science: 1.1,2. Physical Education: 1.1; 2.1; 5.1,2,3,4
- Grade 2 - Reading: 5.1ac,3a; 7.1,2. Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1. Science Process: 1.2; 4.3. Physical Science: 1.1. Physical Education: 1.1; 2.1; 5.1,2,3,4
- Grade 3 - Reading: 4.1a,3a; 6.2b. Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 3.2b; 5.1ac,2b. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Physical Science: 1.1. Physical Education: 5.1,2,3
- Grade 4 - Reading: 3.1b; 5.1,2. Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1b. Science Process: 1.2; 4.4. Physical Education: 5.1,2
- Grade 5 - Reading: 3.1b; 5.1,2. Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 3.2b; 5.1a,2b. Social Studies: 3.1. Science Process: 1.2; 4.4. Physical Science: 1.1,2,3. Physical Education: 5.2,3,5
- Grade 6 - Reading: 3.1b; 5.1b. Math Process: 1.1,3,5,6; 4.1; 5.1,4 Math Concept: 5.1,2. Science Process: 1.1; 4.1,5. Physical Science: 1.1. Physical Education: 5.1,2
President's Day
- Grade 3 - Social Studies: 1.1; 3.3
- Grade 4 - Social Studies: 1.1; 4.2
- Grade 5 - Social Studies: 1.1; 4.4
- Grade 8 - Social Studies: 4.6; 6.1
Hundreds Day
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.3. Math Concept: 2.4
Play With Your Food: Cherries
- Pre-K - Math: 5.2,3; Science Process: 1.1; Physical Science: 2.1; Life Science: 3.1
- Kindergarten - Math: 1.1; 5.1,2. Science: 1.1; Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.2. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3.
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1ac. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1b
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1a
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.6; 4.1; 5.1,4. Math Concept: 5.1
Potatoes
- Pre-K - Math: 1.1; 4.2,3
- Kindergarten - Math: 1.1; 4.2,3; Science Process: 1.1. Science: 1.1,2;
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 2.2a; 3.1a,2; 5.2. Science Process: 1.1,2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 3.1a,3; 4.2ab; 5.1ac. Science Process: 1.2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.21bc,3; 5.1b. Science Process: 1.1,2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.4b; 5.1b. Science Process: 1.1,2. 2.1,2
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.2,4; 5.1d. Science Process: 1.2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.1,3; 2.1; 4.1; 5.1. Math Content: 4.3; 5.1. Social Studies: 1.3; 3.2
- Grade 8 - Social Studies: 9.5
Play With Your Food: Sweet Potatoes
- Pre-K - Science Process: 1.3. Life Science: 3.1,2
- Kindergarten - Science Process: 1.2. Life Science: 2.1,2
- Grade 1 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1
- Grade 2 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1
- Grade 3 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1,2
- Grade 4 - Science Process: 3.1,3; 4.4. Life Science: 3.1
For such a short month, February is full of celebrations:
Additional Opportunities
National Meat Month
Oklahoma's top three agricultural commodities are meat animals. Number one is cattle and calves; number two is poultry and eggs; and number three is hogs and pigs. In 2006, we ranked fifth nationally in the production of cattle and calves, fifth in the production of meat goats, eighth in the production of hogs and pigs and 10th in the production of chicken broilers. Celebrate National Meat Month with these lessons.
Students explore the components of a hamburger and build models of their own to create a balanced, nutritious meals. (1st-4th grade language arts and math)
Students identify and decipher some common
phrases in the English language that are related to poultry. (4th-6th grade
language arts, science, social studies and visual arts)
Students will work in teams to play a game in which they answer true/false questions about swine and then research and develop questions of their own. (2nd - 5th grade language arts)
Students compare and contrast different energy values of animal feeds by graphing the net energy for maintenance and percentage of fat for a variety of feed types. (6th-8th grade science and math)
February 2 is International Pancake Day.
The tradition of whipping up batches of pancakes this time of year began in the Middle Ages and is a direct result of the Christian holiday, Lent. Since Lent is a time of abstinence for all participants, everyone prepared by ridding their pantries of rich foods such as eggs, butter, and milk. The favorite dish to use up all the soon-to-be-forbidden ingredients was pancakes. Shrove Tuesday - also known as Mardi Gras - is the day before Lent begins and is everyone's last chance to indulge.
Pancake Race
The small town of Olney, England has been holding a Pancake Race every year since 1445. The tradition began when a housewife was cooking the family's traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes as the church bell summoning the townspeople to the shroving service began to ring. Anxious to get there on time, the woman immediately ran out the door, with her skillet still in her hand. This mistake immediately turned into a beloved tradition. Entrants in the Pancake Race must wait at the starting line, skillet in hand, until the "pancake bell" sounds. Then they must toss their pancake in the air, catch it in their skillet, and run the 400 yards to the church. Once they reach the finish line, they must once more toss their pancake in the air. When the race is finished, everyone attends the shriving service in the church, then the whole town joins together for an enormous pancake party!
ACTIVITY: Read and discuss the story above about the origins of the pancake race in Olney, England. Students retell the story, place the events in proper sequence and draw pictures to illustrate the story.
Pancake Relay
- At the starting line, each participant flips a pancake (or representations, such as a flat round piece of cardboard) in a small skillet (or representation).
- Run (gallop, hop, skip, etc.) a designated distance, carrying the skillet and pancake (without dumping the pancake).
- Return to the starting line, flip the pancake again, and hand the skillet and pancake over to the next person on the team.
ACTIVITIES: Make pancakes in your classroom and experiment with healthful additions like wheat germ or wheat bran, or substitute whole wheat flour for up to half the flour. Challenge students to be food explorers and try buckwheat pancakes, a common food in American pioneer days.
- Research buckwheat pancakes and other common breakfast foods eaten by American pioneers.
- Make Pancakes in a Bag, using a pancake mix from from one of our Made in Oklahoma companies like Shawnee Milling or Pepper Creek Farms. Simply follow the directions on the package. Place portions of the batter in quart-size zip-closing bags. Cut a small hole in one corner of the bag so students can squeeze the batter onto a hot, lightly-greased griddle or electric skillet. When the edges start to dry, flip the pancakes over.
- Students determine how many pancakes each student wants, one or two, and then determine how many pancakes are needed.
- Make butter while the pancakes are cooking.
- Add chopped Oklahoma pecans to your pancake batter, or top your pancakes with with canned, frozen or dried cherries or cherry yogurt, in honor of National Cherry Month.
- Provide assorted toppings - butter, sorghum molasses, syrup, honey, yogurt, jelly, fruit, peanut butter, cream cheese, etc. Students will write impressions of each topping, vote on their favorite, and graph the results.
- List toppings on the chalkboard. Students will list all the possible ways they can be combined.
- Place the pancakes in stacks before serving to demonstrate multiplication facts.
How Leaveners Work
Experiment with different leaveners in pancakes. Leavening is a chemical reaction caused by the formation of carbon dioxide. In pancakes (and other kinds of baking) carbon dioxide is formed by baking soda, baking powder or yeast. These leaveners all work in different ways and need different ingredients to help them work.
YEAST
Yeast is really tiny plants that need food and water to grow. When we use yeast in bread and other recipes, the sugar and water provide food for the yeast. The yeast digests the sugar and gives off carbon dioxide gass bubbles. These gass bubbles cause air spaces that help the dough rise. The yeasts themselves are killed by heat in cooking.
- Dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water.
- Open a packet of yeast and sprinkle over the top of the water.
- Allow the yeast to dissolve (about 10 minutes).
- Students will observe and record their observations.
BAKING POWDER
Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases with cooking.
- Stir 1 teaspoon baking powder into 1/3 cup hot water.
- Students will observe and record their observations.
BAKING SODA
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand at high temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients.
Baking Soda (Buttermilk) Pancakes
Use this experiment to demonstrate what baking soda needs in order to form the carbon dioxide that makes pancakes rise.
You need:
- 3 clean, empty pop bottles
- 3 ballons
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sweet milk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- Put 1/2 cup buttermilk in one pop bottle.
- Put 1/2 cup sweet milk in another pop bottle.
- Put 1 tablespoon vinegar in the last pop bottle.
- Put 1/2 teaspoon baking soca in each balloon.
- Cover each bottle with a balloon, shaking the balloon to be sure all the baking soda falls into the bottle.
- Watch the bottle for about 10 minutes.
- Record results. Was carbon dioxide formed? How fast was the reaction?
Pancake Poems
Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan.
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.
~Christina Rossetti~
Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
"I'll take the one on top."
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Teresa smiles and says,
"I'll take the one in the middle."
~Shel Silverstein~
ACTIVITY: Younger students will memorize one or both of the poems.
Compare the two poems above. What is the difference in tone and style? Discuss the use of rhythm and other literary devices in each. What is the poet's purpose in each?
Write the word "pancake" on the chalkboard. Students will separate the two words that make up this compound word. Students will write sentences using the words pancake, pan and cake.
National Canned Foods Month
Eating healthy is a matter of choice for most of us today, but it wasn't so simple for early American colonists. We know that a healthy diet includes eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and that we can usually get some variety of these at the grocery store. But early Americans could only get fresh fruits and vegetables during the growing season. For the rest of the year they had to rely on food preservation techniques.
Explore food preservation techniques with Food for Keeps (6th-8th grade science, language arts, math, social studies)
Oklahoma Vegetables of the Month: Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family and native to the American tropics. They are a winter crop, so they provide fresh vegetables when many other vegetables are unavailable. A sweet potato is a root tuber, a fleshy root that stores food for a plant.
Play With Your Food: Grow a Sweet Potato Plant
ACTIVITY: Stick toothpicks in a small sweet potato on three sides, and place it in a jar filled water, with the narrow end down and the toothpicks resting on the edges of the jar. After a week or two you will see roots sprouting. A few days later you will see leafy purple sprouts. Soon you will have a beautiful vining plant.
Be a Food Explorer: Sweet Potato Chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel sweet potatoes, and slice thin. Cover a baking pan with foil, sprayed lightly with vegetable spray. Lay sweet potato chips on the foil, rubbing each one slightly in the veggie spray. Then lightly spray the tops with veggie spray, sprinkly with salt. Bake for 20 minutes, turn, sprinkle the other side, and bake for another 10 minutes.
Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Cherries
The US leads the world in sweet cherry production, producing about 370 million pounds every year. Sweet cherries are grown commercially in Washington, Oregon, California. and Michigan. Oklahoma is too hot and dry for commercial cherry production, but sour cherries are grown successfully in some home gardens. On large cherry orchards, large machines actually shake the tree to harvest the cherries.
Ag in Art: Chinese Plate with Cherries and Bean Pods, Giovanna Garzoni (1620)
Play With Your Food
ACTIVITY: Students compare sweet and sour cherries and canned, frozen and dried cherries. How are they different? How are they the same? Which do students prefer? Graph the results.
Be a Food Explorer
Cherries with pancakes for Pancake Week
February Books
Carle, Eric, Pancakes,
Pancakes, Aladdin, 1998. (Grades
PreK-2)
The barnyard rooster crows and Jack wakes up -- hungry, of course! What
does he want for breakfast? A big pancake! But first, Jack's mother needs
flour from the mill, an egg from the black hen, milk from the spotted
cow, butter churned from fresh cream, and firewood for the stove. Will
Jack ever get his pancake?
dePaola, Pancakes
for Breakfast, Voyager, 1990. (Grades
PreK-1)
With visions of pancakes dancing in her head, a little old lady goes
to great lengths to procure the necessary ingredients.
Durham, David Anthony, Gabriel's
Story, Doubleday, 2001
(Young Adult).
Set in the 1870s, the novel tells the tale of Gabriel Lynch, an African
American youth who settles with his family in the plains of Kansas. Dissatisfied
with the drudgery of homesteading and growing increasingly disconnected
from his family, Gabriel forsakes the farm for a life of higher adventure.
Thus begins a forbidding trek into a terrain of austere beauty, a journey
begun in hope, but soon laced with danger and propelled by a cast of
brutal characters.
Peterson, Cris, Century
Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm, Boyd's Mills, 1999. (PreK-2)
A look at a Wisconsin dairy farm owned by the same family for four generations.
The current owner tells the story and weaves family history into the
descriptions of early day operations. While the author details the many
changes that have taken place in the past century, readers are also reminded
that many things remain the same. Vintage sepia photos of the farm and
Peterson's grandparents as well as good-quality, full-color contemporary
photos enhance the text. Interesting captions add even more information.
Pinkney, Andrea D., and Brian Pinkney, Bill
Pickett, Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy, Gulliver, 1996. (Grades K-3)
This storybook biography traces Pickett's early life and eventual rise
to the upper ranks of professional rodeo fame and provides historical
information about black cowboys.
Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson
Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005. (Grades K-5)
A
Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both
history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's own history,
the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery
and the civil rights movement to the present. Growing up on a plantation
in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing
up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with
signs that show the way to freedom. (A 2006 Newberry honor book)
