Spotlight on Literacy #17- Anna's New Coat

Trading and Bartering:  Story #4
View and read along:  https://youtu.be/WbapXdZhU4Y -  

Anna's New Coat by Harriet Ziefert, with illustrations by Anita Lobel (Knopf, 1986, 1991 pb).  Anna's mother attempts to obtain a new coat for Anna, but she has little, if any money. Even if Anna's mother had the money, the goods are not available in the stores.  She gives the farmer an item in exchange for his sheep's wool.  Similar trades of goods for services are made throughout the process of spinning the  thread, weaving the cloth, and tailoring the cloth into a coat.  At the end of the  story, there is a gathering of all those who contributed to the coat.  Each is wearing the item Anna's mother traded.  If Anna's mother had sold her brooch or necklace, she could have used her money to purchase the goods and services that she needed.  Instead, she bartered goods for services.

This is an example of a person who barters (or trades) things she has (goods) for the work of someone who can do what she is not able to do. 

Fill in the blanks on this sheet.  Review the story if you need to.

For each of the tasks on this sheet, tell what thing (goods) that Anna's mother traded to the person who did the task for her.

Now that you have read all four of the stories what was the same about all of the stories; and what was different?

If you can find a copy of On Sand Island by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (HMH, 2003) read that story.  In this story Carl needed the materials to make a boat. 
If you can find this book read it and decide which of the earlier four stories are most like On Sand Island.

Note to teachers and parents: On Sand Island is out-of-print, but available in many libraries.  It is not available on YouTube.

In the early days people were self-sufficient in terms of all that they needed or wanted, clothes, food, and so forth.  Later bartering of services came into favor, and eventually people put a value on their goods or services and they began to trade or barter based on the worth of what was being offered and what was being requested. This type of bartering led to the development of our present day monetary system.

~~~

For more learning activities visit http://bit.ly/mclinks101

Share this page by using this link: http://bit.ly/readingtrove-17

Cite this page as:

McElmeel, Sharron (2020, April 30). Spotlight on Literacy #17 - A New Coat for Anna.  Reading Trove.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/readingtrove-17

Spotlight on Literacy #10 - Being a Builder

It is fun to build things.  Here's a story about Maxine who builds things.  She takes apart objects and makes a float for the class pet parade.

Made by Maxine by Ruth Spiro, with illustrations by Holly Hatam (Dial Books, 2018). ISBN: 9780399186295.


Until June 2020 you can hear the author Ruth Spiro read her story on YouTube at https://youtu.be/93cE9QwsiMA.

Raid your family's recycling bin and see what you can repurpose to build something new. Or if your household has marshmallows (any size) and any of these items you can build towers, buildings, constellations, shapes, and other things that you can imagine.

Now let's see what you can make.

Teachers/parents:  To learn more about the author and her other books go to https://ruthspiro.com/.  

And if you have access to Jacqueline Briggs Martin's book, Bim, Bam, Bop and Oona, with illustrations by Larry Day (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) you may want to read that book too.

Check out the blog post "Being Good With Gizmos and Gadgets" 

at http://bit.ly/gizmos-gadgets for more ideas about building and creating.

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. (2019). Bim, Bam, Bop …. And Oona. Illustrations by Larry Day. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN-13/EAN: 978-1517903954
Spiro, Ruth. (2018). Made by Maxine. Illustrations by Holly Hatam. Dial Books. ISBN-13/EAN: 978-0399186295

~•~•~ 

For more learning activities visit http://bit.ly/mclinks101

Share this page by using this link: http://bit.ly/readingtrove-10

Cite this page as:

McElmeel, Sharron (2020, April 22). Spotlight on Literacy #10 - Being a Builder.  Reading Trove.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/readingtrove-10