Social Studies

Around The World Through Holidays: Cross Curricular Readers Theatre includes scripts for twelve plays adaptable for any of the reading or performance methods of Readers Theatre presentation. Each play introduces students to a specific world culture by looking at holidays celebrated in that culture. The structure of the book introduces holidays chronologically throughout a calendar year—one play per month. The focus is on literacy and social studies, so the book is not tied to the traditional nine-month school calendar.

Chizuko came to visit her friend Sadako in the hospital. She had a piece of gold paper that she had cut into a large square. "Watch!" she said, and she folded the paper over and over, and it turned into a beautiful crane.

"If a sick person folds one thousand paper cranes," Chizuko said, "the gods will grant her wish and make her well again." The girl handed the crane to Sadako. "Here's your first one."

Buildings were weaving in and out. The street pitched like a stormy sea. Bricks were raining down all around him. The ground shook with such violence that Jacob thought the world had come to an end.

Native American author and teacher Joseph Bruchac has collected 26 tales from Northeast tribes in this book. Some are gentle and humorous, like "Sunny Wundy's Skipping Stone", about a boy who outwits a stone giant. Others, like "The Origin of Medicine", are darker in tone.

An anthology of contemporary Iroquois writing, edited by Joseph Bruchac.