GIPS TIE Program: goldensower08: Mr. George Baker


Grand Island, Nebraska

Mr. George Baker
by Amy Hest

Mr. George Baker is a story about a boy named Harry who sits on the porch with Mr. George Baker, an African-American who is 100 years old but still plays the drums and dances. Mr. Baker was a jazz musician. To find out whether Mr. Baker was an actual jazz musician and to learn more about famous black jazz musicians and other black musicians, go to the following web sites:

Time For Kids: Famous Black Musicians

Black History Month: Famous Black Musicians

Share your findings in a Keynote, MediaBlender, or Kidspiration presentation.

(Interpersonal/Musical)

Use the GarageBand program to compose a drum composition and share with your class.

(Interpersonal/Musical)

The author uses many interesting words in the story such as crookedy, tumbles, swoops, and shuffle. Make a list of verbs, adverbs, and adjectives from the story with the computer. Use different fonts for each list. Have someone show you how to use a three-column format.

(Verbal/Linguistic)

Harry and Mr. Baker are going to school and learning how to read. Visit an elderly person and read to them, then write about your experience.

(Interpersonal/Verbal/ Linguistic)

There is another Golden Sower story this year about elderly people. It is called Effie's Image. Read this story then compare and contrast this story with Mr. George Baker in a Venn's diagram.

(Logical)

Look on the media center's card catalog and find out if there are any other books by the author, Amy Hest. If there are, read one of the stories and draw a picture using MediaBlender of a scene from the story.

(Bodily/Kinesthetic)

The illustrator, Jon Muth, used water color to illustrate Mr. George Baker. Look on the media center's card catalog and find out if there are any other books illustrated by Jon Muth. Create a water color picture with ideas from the stories or illustrating a subject that is important to you.

(Bodily/Kinesthetic/Interpersonal)

Pretend that you are the media specialist's helper. The media center wants to spend $100 to buy books illustrated by Jon Muth. Go to this web site and pick books for a children's media center. List the titles and prices.

Amazon.com- John Muth books

(Logical/Mathematical)

Mr. George Baker is a Reading Rainbow book. If you have watched this educational t.v. series before, you know that children give reviews about books they have enjoyed. Make a recording (use Sound Studio, GarageBand, or an iPod) of yourself reviewing the book, Mr. George Baker. For an example, go to this web site:

Reading Counts: Mr. George Baker
(Click on "Grandfather Counts".)

(Intrapersonal/Musical)

Do you have an older person who is a good friend of yours? Write several paragraphs telling about your friendship and share with someone.

(Verbal Linguistic/Interpersonal)

Read several books about friendship from the media center. Type a list of the books you read including the author and tell which one is your favorite.

(Interpersonal/Intrapersonal/Bodily Kinesthetic)