Elizabeti's School - Tanzania

Elizabeti's School
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
Illustrated by Christy Hale
2002 Lee and Low Books Inc.
New York, NY

Elizabeti’s School is the story of Elizabeti’s first day of school in her home country Tanzania. At first Elizabeti is excited to go to school but then becomes shy when she does not know many other students. Other students introduced Elizabeti to a game called machaura and taught her a new dance. She also learned how to count to five and helped in the school garden. While Elizabeti did enjoy most of her school day, she missed her family a lot and was excited to get home to them at the end of the day. This story shows children that while some things about Elizabeti’s school are different from what they are used to, they share many of the same feelings and experiences.

“My School”

Standards
English Language Arts
2-1 The student will read and comprehend a variety of literary texts in print and non-print formats.
2-1.1 Analyze the details that support the expression of the main idea in a given literary text.
2-1.7 Create responses to literary texts through a variety of methods (for example, writing, creative dramatics, and the visual and performing arts).
2-4 The student will create written work that has a clear focus, sufficient detail, coherent organization, effective use of voice, and correct use of the conventions of written Standard American English.
2-4.2 Use complete sentences (including simple sentences with compound subjects and predicates) in writing.
2-4.4 Use grammatical conventions of Standard American English, including
• personal pronouns,
• common and proper nouns,
• singular and plural nouns,
• proper adjectives, and
• conjunctions (and, but, or).
2-5 The student will write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
2-5.2 Create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) that follow a logical sequence of events.
Social Studies
2-2 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community and the way it compares with other communities in the world.
2-2.5 Compare the history and features of the local community with those of different
communities around the world. (G)

Objective: The student will write a short story about a day at school and make comparisons to Elizabeti’s school day.

Materials: Paper, pencils, other drawing and coloring utensils.

Procedure: After reading Elizabeti’s School, the students will write a short story about their own school days. The students can include the things in school that they like as well as things they don’t like, what they do before and after school, and how they feel throughout the school day.
The students will then share their stories with a partner or a small group. Then the students will discuss some of the things they had in common with Elizabeti: did they learn some of the same things or have similar feelings?