Nonfiction Monday: Swimming
With swimming in the headlines thanks to Michael Phelps' 8 Olympic gold medals(!), let's look at a fiction-nonfiction pair of swimming books.
Surfer of the Century
by Ellie Crowe (Author) and Richard Waldrep (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 7-11
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
This biography introduces young readers to the father of modern surfing, Duke Kahanamoku. Duke grew up swimming in Hawaii and was recruited to swim in the 1912 Olympics. His times were so fast they weren't believed at first. Over the years he won six Olympic medals in swimming and introduced surfing to the mainland U.S. and Australia.
Pair With...
Jumping into Nothing
by Gina Willner-Pardo (Author) and Heidi Chang (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 7-10
Hardcover: 64 pages
Publisher: Clarion Books
In this chapter book Sophie is afraid to jump off the high dive, so she makes a list of scary things, and proceeds to try them one by one from smallest to largest, until at last she can jump off the high dive.
Activities
Check out the photos on the 2008 Olympic SwimCam Gallery at usaswimming.org
Learn how Eagle Scouts earn a Swimming Merit Badge.
Try this printable Swimming Maze.
Ask students to make a safety poster with these Water Safety Tips from the American Red Cross.
If you're blogging about nonfiction books on this Nonfiction Monday, go to Picture Book of the Day and add your blog to this week's Round-up. (Classroom blogs welcome!)
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