Louisiana

Textbooks get short shrift these days as being too tedious to read. I take exception concerning the series, FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA, and notably the "Louisiana" volume. (Note: This series, first published in the mid-1900's, was replaced by an updated set very recently--2009.) Because my school library has the older set, I am using them in my lessons on information and resource books. As librarian, my job is to teach what's in the library--how to find it and how to use it, among various responsibilities. That's the bottom line to the verbiage of all those standards. How do I use what is there? For this information lesson, I wanted to show how a book is organized and how to use those parts. So here goes part of the lesson for third through fifth grades, with allowances for age knowledge. Each student had a different state. We looked at the title page and found the word consultant, a good word to know. Now they do. On the verso (copyright) page, we found that the dates of our books varied by four years, the time it took to put together this series. We also discovered that the map of the United States in each state book is identical except for the individual state being colored tan to set it apart from the other 49 yellow states. The Table of Contents has identical chapter headings, with almost identical paging. The chapter students really enjoyed and wanted to share with each other was "Gallery of Famous ___" (substitute the name/form of people who live in the state, eg "Gallery of Famous Louisianians"). People in Louisiana's gallery include Louis Armstrong, Clementine Hunter, Michael DeBakey, George Washington Cable (Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby, The Song of the South--zippety do dah), Kate Chopin, Lillian Hellman, Truman Capote, Ernest J. Gaines, Anne Rice, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, jr., Terry Bradshaw, and Eddie Robinson. From the "Did You Know" chapter: Louisiana produces about 60 million pounds of crawfish a year. They are served in soups, stews, gumbos, and jambalaya. From the "Louisiana Information" chapter: Nicknames: Pelican State, Bayou State, Creole State, Sportsman's Paradise, Sugar State State tree: Bald Cypress State Dog: Catahoula leopard dog State Insect: Honeybee We also examined the glossary and index and did a little exploration there. And that's the "shining" state of Louisiana! Please click on this title for the updated 2009 Louisiana text: Louisiana (From Sea to Shining Sea). I hope to get this updated set in a year or so.... (the dots represent finding funds....)