Thomas Streissguth

There are always many conflicting stories and the facts at Wounded Knee and we will never be known for certain until we learn to time travel, this is one compilation. The author does not choose to give you much choice in conflicting facts, but to me seems to cover the sequence of events leading up to and including, in a very organized, mostly clear and concise manner. I have read many other publications on this, this one kept my attention, seemed amazingly complete in a short book and I show more learned much and hopefully understand more a muti-sided issue. show less

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was one of the largest disasters to ever hit the Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska. THis disaster caused thousands of gallons of oil to spill into the water, hundreds of animals to die, and a lot of damage to the Alaskan coastline. I found this book to very eye opening into how damaging an oil spill can be to an ecosystem. Although this was an accident, mistakes like this can be prevented if all individuals involved take the necessary steps to show more communicate more effectively. I think that this book would be a great source to teach about disasters to an ecosystem and the influence the government has on how large companies transport goods. show less

Neil Armstrong by Thomas Streissguth is a nice, little biography about the first man to walk the moon. The book is short and to the point, providing information about Armstrong's life. The first page gives a quick overview of Armstrong and notes that he was the first man to walk on the moon. Each page thereafter is a different topic of Armstrong's life in sequential order. The layout follows a large photograph on the left page, with a title and short paragraph about that topic on the right show more page. At the bottom of each right-sided page is a bold print word with definition to give the child reader better understanding. The topics included Learning to Fly, Wartime Service, Test Pilot, NASA, Apollo 11, Apollo Team, Life After Apollo, and One Giant Leap. The book also includes a timeline of Armstrong's life at the end of the book, with a short glossary (not including words defined within the text), and a page with places to look for more information. The only inaccurate information in the book was “Life After Apollo” where the author talks about where Armstrong is now. I knew Armstrong had passed away recently, so we used the internet to check and see if he was in fact still on his farm in Ohio.
I read this book to my kindergarten boys after reading a great picture book titled, One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong by Don Brown. I knew Streissguth’s book was not as exciting or enticing as Brown’s, so I created a challenge for the boys as I read. I grouped the boys in pairs, giving each set a green flag and a red flag. After each page the pair would decide if the information I read was in the Brown’s as well, or if it was new information. The student would hold up the green flag for repeated information, and the red flag for new information. This was a great informal assessment for me, and an easy way for us to compare and contrast two books about the same topic. It also kept the boys engaged and focused during this read aloud. show less

A good book to suggest for middle school students doing research on Poe. The book is very neatly organized making it easy to find information. It also includes a glossary and section on further readings and websites that may be useful to students.