Read alouds can be used to teach and integrate social studies in the classroom. Margot Raven's book, Americas White Table, makes a great mentor text for Veterans Day. Student will learn about the white table Americans set to honor veterans. We love how this story is told through a child's point of view making it engaging for students. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
In this book, a young girl named Katie, learns about the importance of honoring and remembering veterans on Veterans Day. Katie’s mother teaches her and her sisters about the white table many Americans set for this day and what each item on the table symbolizes. They set a small table with an empty chair. There is a lemon slice and salt on the plate plus a turned over glass and a rose on the table.
Katie learns that her Uncle John is a veteran who was held prisoner when he served in the war. He will be joining them for dinner that night and the girls realize just how much this symbol means to him. Each girl makes a special gift to place on the table. Katie makes a book where she expresses her hopes that all Americans set a table like this to remember veterans. When Uncle John sees the table the girls have set, it brings tears of pride to his eyes.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
America's White Table lends itself to teaching so many different skills in addition to a lesson on Veterans Day. Check out just some of the skills our book companion covers:
- Help students to analyze what the author’s purpose for writing the book might be.
- Practice identifying the main idea and key details.
- Integrate letter writing by having students write letters to veterans.
- Engage students in descriptive writing activities.
- Teach students about possessive nouns and plural nouns.
- Practice identifying and using articles.
- Lead a class discussion on taking being respectful and showing respect to service members.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
If you are looking for a resource to teach America's White Table in your classroom, you will want our Starts With a Story Book Companion. Our goal with these book companions is to help make planning read alouds easier for teachers!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Wall by Eve Bunting
- Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
- The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
- Akiak by Robert J. Blake
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
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