Sitting Down for the Power of Story

We are starting our Civil Rights Movement exploration with the fourth grade students.


With today's fourth grade class I read, Sit-In: How Four friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Here's a great interview from Barnes and Noble Books with the two of them.

I decided to write Reading is Power and The Power of Story on the board. 

I asked the students of they could name the author whom we had studies and who said these words.In every class a few students made the connection to Patricia McKissack. I asked them to keep those words in mind while we read Sit-In. They sat engaged and intent throughout the reading of this book.  (That's the power of a great story!)

The discussion was very interesting.  This book is so rich, both in content and visually, it needs more than one reading.  We'll be coming back to it next week. I also want to show them the pictures fomr my visit to the Woolworths and then to the museum which now occupies the space.  You can read about it on this blog post: Standing Up and Sitting In.

Here's a quick look at some initial reactions by students.