Elementary Matters: environment

This blog post tells about the book A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry, and has a craft to go along with it. It's part of the Booking Across the USA series.

Happy Booking Across the USA! There are over 50 bloggers representing 50 states who are posting about their states today! What are we posting about? Books, of course!

Everyone has found a book that represents their state.

I'm so excited about the book I chose!

Click the image for an affiliate link to Amazon.

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry is a piece of history and a lesson about respect for the environment. Plus, it is a beautiful taste of the state of New Hampshire!

When I first picked up this book, I thought I had a nice picture book about a river that runs through Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but it turned out to be so much more!

This map from the end pages shows how the Nashua River runs through parts of Massachusetts and empties into the Merrimack River by Nashua, New Hampshire.

The story begins 7000 years ago when Native Americans first settled on the banks of what is now the Nashua River. (They originally called it Nash-a-way, which meant "River with the Pebbled Bottom.") When I read this story to my students, they had an unmistakable vision of the clear water and the shiny pebbles. For hundreds of years, the Native Americans lived by the banks of the river, taking only what they needed and respecting the river and the surrounding forests.

Then came the English settlers. The story explains in detail how the settlers cleared the land of the forests, building farms, villagers, then sawmills.

Then came the industrial revolution. The Nashua River became a dumping ground for factory waste and was no longer the beautiful clear water with the pebbles shining from the bottom.

The story continues to tell the story of the efforts to clean the Nashua River. It is a true story that tells a valuable lesson.

As I read the story to my students, I was struck by their passion for what happened to the river, and how strongly they felt about the need for a clean-up! They commented on the beauty of the water and Lynne Cherry's beautiful illustrations that are so similar to what we see in many parts of New Hampshire. They loved the borders around the text, which told the story of that error of history. (First, the wildlife that lived undisturbed in the river valley, then the tools of the Native Americans, then the tools of the English traders, and onward until the clean-up efforts and clean waters of today.) You could spend days learning about New England's history from this book without even reading the text! (But please, read the text, too!)

This book would be a great book to read when learning about Native Americans or when learning about the environment. It's a great choice to read on Earth Day because of the environmental lesson. It's also a great book for teaching history as well as the beauty of New England.

I had many thoughts about activities connected to this book, but settled on one that celebrates the beauty of the clean waters of the Nashua River.

The above picture from the book reminded me of a technique of artwork called pointillism as done by some impressionist artists such as George Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh. (See THIS LINK for examples.) It's simply artwork made by lots of tiny dots.

Although this little project hardly captures the complexity of Starry Night by Van Gogh or A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by George Seurat, the kids get a kick out of it.

For this activity, you'll need crayons, watercolor paints, and my favorite: blue glitter glue!

First, start by drawing lots of little brown, black, and gray pebbles in a "river shape".

Second, make a green wash, with loads of green dots beside the pebble river.(This is the beginning of the forest by the river.)

That will need to dry before the next step: add yellow, orange, and red dots. (These dots will be the beautiful New Hampshire trees in the autumn.)

Here's my favorite part: cover the pebble river with the blue glitter glue. Can you see the pebbles sparkling from the bottom of the river?

Reading this book, and knowing more of her work makes me want to read some of these other books by Lynne Cherry! (Click the images for links to Amazon.com)

Here are a few more books with a New Hampshire theme:

Please check out these other reviews as part of the Booking Across America celebration. And if you like what you see, please pin them and tell your friends!