Edgemont Honors Nelson Mandela

When our Follett book order arrived just a few weeks ago we were especially impressed with one of the books we had ordered, Nelson Mandela, by Kadir Nelson.  The book is filled with gorgeous paintings and a powerful telling of his life story.  We put the book in our back room and planned on sharing it with classes later in the year.  But, when we heard of Nelson Mandela's death last week we thought it would be appropriate to share the book now.  We read it only to the 4th and 5th grade classes and were amazed at how many of the students had never heard of Nelson Mandela.  It provided a great teaching opportunity and the discussion following the book was very active.  There were many questions asked and every student was eagerly involved. 

Before reading the book we showed them where to find South Africa on a globe and showed pictures of the beautiful country.

 

Then we talked about some of the words that might not be familiar to them that they would hear during the book.  This created silent and interested listeners with every reading.

We finally shared this beautiful book and then answered the many questions they had.  It was a successful learning experience for our Edgemont students!