Reading Enrichment Unit: African American Authors

This reading enrichment unit was designed for 5th grade students.

ELA5R1 The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a warranted

and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational texts.

For literary texts, the student identifies the characteristics of various genres and
produces evidence of reading that:
a. Identifies and analyzes the elements of setting, characterization, and conflict in
plot.
d. Relates a literary work to information about its setting (historically or culturally).
f. Identifies and analyzes the author’s use of dialogue and description.
g. Applies knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the message about life and
the world that the author wants us to understand whether implied or stated.
i. Makes judgments and inferences about setting, characters, and events and
supports them with elaborating and convincing evidence from the text.

For informational texts, the student reads and comprehends in order to develop
understanding and expertise and produces evidence of reading that:
f. Identifies and analyzes main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details.
g. Makes perceptive and well-developed connections.
h. Relates new information to prior knowledge and experience and makes
connections to related topics or information.

Day 1

The media specialist will have the following books on a table: The Patchwork Quilt,
Welcome Precious, Just like Josh Gibson, Coretta Scott, Me & Neesie, and The Other
Side. She will ask the students the following question.

o What do all of these books have in common?

The media specialist will explain to the students that all of the books on the table were
written by African American authors. She will then ask the students the question below.

o Did you know that your media center has a number of books written by
African American authors?

The media specialist will use a Promethean Board and projector to show the students a
list of books by African American authors that are in their media center. The URL of the
website is: http://booksbyafricanamericanauthors.weebly.com.

She will tell the students that her favorite African American authors are Jacqueline
Woodson, Angela Johnson, Christopher Paul Curtis, Walter Dean Myers, Sharon G.
Flake, and Nikki Grimes. The media specialist will have a picture of these authors on
the bulletin board. Pictures of the following books will also be placed on the bulletin
board: “We Had A Picnic This Sunday”, “The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33 rd
Street”, “Bud, Not Buddy”, “Barack Obama Son of Promise, Child of Hope”, “Lily
Brown’s Paintings”, and “Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid”.

The media specialist will inform the students that she is going to read one of her favorite
books to them. The book is entitled “Barack Obama Son of Promise, Child of Hope” by
Nikki Grimes. After the media specialist reads the book, the media specialist and
students will discuss the book.

Day 2

Before students arrive in the computer lab, the media specialist will place the URL
below on the Promethean Board:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards. After the
students arrive, she will explain to them that they will create their own character trading
cards. The media specialist will guide students as they log on to the Internet and enter
the website’s address. Once the students get to the website, they will type their name,
type the name of a character from “Barack Obama Son of Promise, Child of Hope”, and
type the name of the story. Students will then answer five groups of questions about the
chosen character as well as the story. When the students are finished, they will print the
completed trading card, and draw a picture of the selected character in the box that is
located on the card.

Day 3

The media specialist will have Storyline Online on the Promethean Board. Storyline
Online is an online streaming video program featuring actors and actresses reading
children books aloud. The URL is: http://www.storylineonline.net. The media specialist
will inform the students that they will watch a video of Tia and Tamera Mowry of Sister,
Sister reading “No Mirrors in My Nana’s House” by Ysaye M. Barnwell who is also an
African American author. At the end of the video, students will use Handout 1 to rate
the book and Handout 2 to answer questions about the story. Both handouts were
obtained from the Georgia Performance Standards website.
Handout 1
 Handout 2

Answer the following

about the text:
What was your favorite part of the
story? _______________________
_______________________
Describe any parts you would
change: ________________
_______________________
_______________________
List 5 adjectives below to describe
the main character:
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Does the main character remind you
of anyone you know? ____ Who?
________ Why? ________
___________________________