Tristar Reads

Watch Senator Dawn White Read “Grace Goes to Washington” Aloud

This week, Tristar Reads would like to highlight the importance of showing diversity through BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) characters in children’s books.

Sen. White joined us this week to read “Grace Goes to Washington” by Kelly DiPucchio about a young girl and her classmates learning the three branches of government and what it means to serve the needs of the people. Keep reading as we talk about ways to engage in social studies through learning online and book recommendations.

Watch Senator Dawn White read here.  

Begin reading with Tristar Reads at www.tristarreads.com and log your reading hours each week for a chance to win one of three $1,000 scholarships. If you’ve joined a team, don’t forget to add your team name when you register!

Social Studies is Magic

Now more than ever, it’s important that students understand the history of our country and the way our government functions. 

Check out Kids in the House, a website created by the House of Representatives that provides students of all ages information, print outs, and photos of federal buildings in Washington, DC.

Liberty’s Kids features hundreds of episodes on their YouTube page about our country’s history in cartoon form. These videos are for kids ages 7-14 years old and follow three kids immersed in the events leading up to America’s independence.

For older students, utilize the National WWII Museum’s electronic field trips for award-winning interactive webcasts on compelling WWII topics.   Interested in talking to your student about racial justice? Read an article from Edutopia on what it looks like to begin to build understanding across racial differences.

Featured Book of the Week

This week, we’re recommending Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci by Adam McCauley, Jon Scieszka. This fiction book is for students in grades 3-5, and takes the Time Warp Trio back in time to visit Leonardo da Vinci. It’s going to take “at least three more bright ideas, two magic tricks, and one great invention to get them out of trouble and safely back home.” Grab it where books are sold or win it in one of our next challenges!

TSR’s Winners Circle

Last week, our TSR Challenge of the Week was to provide a short video or photo of your student engaging in some sort of music fun or learning.   Check out our 3 winners from last week’s challenge: