Institute for Children and Poverty : Home at Last

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Learning Toolbox

Welcome to the ICP Learning Toolbox—a series of grade-specific lesson plans and educational resources aimed at teaching the complex issues surrounding family homelessness. For each of four ICP children's books, Our Wish, Cooper's Tale, Saily's Journey and Voyage to Shelter Cove, you may find the following materials useful across grade levels K–5:

A short summary of each book
Introduction to learning activities
Vocabulary list
Visual panels of major story events (story panels)

You will also find corresponding Pre-Reading/DVD Guides to use alongside the book or DVD for grades K–1, 2–3 and 4–5. In addition, for each book and grade level, there is a detailed lesson plan aligned to New York State learning standards, as well as any necessary handouts and worksheets to make the lesson classroom ready!

We encourage you to adapt the educational materials to suit the individual needs of your students, while being sensitive to the presence and right to privacy of any homeless children in your class or school.

To ensure that students develop an enduring understanding of family homelessness, these lessons were inspired by the principles of Understanding by Design (see Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), a proven curriculum best practice. For more information, visit: www.ubdexchange.org.

ICP continually updates and improves this Learning Toolbox and considers the feedback of educators like you. Share your feedback and earn a chance to win a classroom set of ICP children's books! Check back for updates and additional resources for each book and grade level and send us your comments at info@icpny.org.

Use the K-W-L graphic organizer as an overall introduction to the topic of homelessness. (Download PDF)

VOYAGE TO SHELTER COVE
Summary
Introduction (Download PDF)
Vocabulary List (Download PDF)
Story Panels (Download PDF)
Pre-Reading/DVD Guide (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)
Learning Experience Plan and Materials (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)

SAILY'S JOURNEY
Summary
Introduction (Download PDF)
Vocabulary List (Download PDF)
Story Panels (Download PDF)
Pre-Reading/DVD Guide (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)
Learning Experience Plan and Materials (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)

COOPER'S TALE
Summary
Introduction (Download PDF)
Vocabulary List (Download PDF)
Story Panels (Download PDF)
Pre-Reading/DVD Guide (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)
Learning Experience Plan and Materials (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)

OUR WISH
Summary
Introduction (Download PDF)
Vocabulary List (Download PDF)
Story Panels (Download PDF)
Pre-Reading/DVD Guide (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)
Learning Experience Plan and Materials (Download PDF: K–1, 2–3, 4–5)

Animated
books
on DVD

Mango's Quest

Voyage to Shelter Cove

Saily's Journey

Cooper's Tale

Our Wish