Sample Application Narratives

The following excepts have been taken from application narratives submitted for the 2008/2009 We the People Bookshelf on Picturing America.

St. Joseph Catholic School
Marion, IA
Submitted by Mary Ann Gensicke

Our school will conduct the following programs:

• A Night of the Notables - students portraying prominent Americans featured in the books.
• Oral readings by students from the books received, followed by narratives explaining how the readings support the theme of "Picturing America."
• Sponsored trips to local history centers and art museums, to assist students' understanding of the importance of history and art in the local community.
• Invited guest speakers to address the older students about the following topics, which are a part of Iowa history: Orphan Train riders who came through Iowa (ties to the book "Across America on an Emigrant Train"); Mark Twain, by a local actor who portrays this legendary character (ties to the book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"); Iowa's famous SULLIVAN BROTHERS who were all lost serving their country during World War II (ties to the book "On the Wings of Heroes"); the face of the local community through a visit from a photographer (ties to the book "Restless Spirit; the Life and Work of Dorothea Lange"); Iowa's own American Indian tribe, the Meskwaki (ties to the book "The Birchbark House"); a visit to the local African American history center (ties to the book "Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule").

Student presentations would be a testimony to the parents and the community of their pride in America and the value they place in its freedoms. These freedoms were purchased at a high price by an earlier generation of our countrymen. Our forefathers had a love of principle, commitment to ideals, and a willingness to sacrifice, which has defined our people and guided our nation's destiny. Hopefully by reading the books from the grant, the students would have a deeper understanding of American culture, history, and its founding principals.

The books would remain in the library as an active part of the curriculum that is taught at each grade level. They would reside in a special area of the room for display purposes and the art work which we have just been awarded would be featured in conjunction with the books.

Gainesville Middle School
Gainesville, GA
Submitted by Shelby Day

Our school plans to implement the following to promote We the People:

• Prominent display of the books to promote awareness;
• Discussion of programs with local radio and newspaper;
• Host a celebration with displays of the books and posters. In 2009, our school will open a new building. We will hold the Bookshelf celebration at Open House. We anticipate over 1500 people to attend;
• Create a web page featuring each book;
• Create living history displays illustrating Bookshelf themes with students as primary actors;
• Create a time capsule with a Picturing America theme. The capsule will be meaningful for both the Bookshelf program and our first year in a new building;
• Hold a pumpkin contest in October. Students will create pumpkins based on Bookshelf characters such as Revolutionary Heroes, Cesar Chavez, Ichabod Crane, etc. Pumpkins will be displayed and judged by community volunteers;
• Hold a black and white photo contest to spark interest in "Restless Spirit." Students will take Lange inspired photographs of our school to be displayed and judged;
• Sponsor story hours featuring historical or cultural themes of one or more Bookshelf books;
• Award those who read a certain number of the Bookshelf books;
• Host an essay contest based on "Travels with Charley in Search of America." Students will write essays about searching for America and will reflect on "finding" America in different places, such as in a forest, on a busy street, etc. Essays will be judged and prizes awarded;
• Present posters created by faculty, staff, and local leaders. Posters will be based on their favorite Bookshelf book;
• Provide an area in the school for Bookshelf presentations, products, and promotions;
• Host immigrant community members who will share experiences of coming to and living in America. This will be based on the themes of "Across America" and "Harvesting Hope;"
• Sponsor a “Who is your American hero?” event. After students are exposed to the Bookshelf materials, they will create a presentation including photos and narrative describing an American Hero.

Granville Public Library
Granville, OH
Submitted by Julia Walden

The Granville Public Library will use a variety of means to encourage patrons to explore the theme Picturing America including inviting English and History professors from Denison University to lead lectures on John Steinbeck, 1776, and Dorothea Lange; hosting a Johnny Appleseed actor to tell the story of the orchards he planted only miles from our library; as well as leading Book Clubs for various ages on "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Travels With Charley," and "On the Wings of Heroes."

Other promotional ideas feature a Write Your Own Scary Sequel contest based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,"; a contest to see who can recite either Walt Whitman's "Oh Captain My Captain" or "The Midnight of Paul Revere" by memory during a poetry recital for National Poetry Month; and a photography workshop / photography contest for all ages based on the theme of Picturing America as part of our Summer Reading "Arts" theme and incorporating "Restless Spirit."

Riegelsville Public Library
Riegelsville, PA
Submitted by Zeau Modig

Historically, Riegelsville has been a racially homogenous area; lately, however, our demographics are changing and we actively seek programming resources to appeal to an increasingly culturally-diverse community. A Martin Luther King Day weekend program could include a children's story hour on "Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule," with a discussion of how broken promises and delayed dreams affect people's lives (How would it feel to be promised your freedom, but not be allowed to live it fully? Are things getting better for people of color today?)

American history is very much alive in our community's consciousness. A July 4 week program can include book club talks on "Founding Brothers" or McCullough's "1776," coupled with a screening of the movie musical 1776 for different perspectives on the founding of the United States. In the aftermath of this historic election year, "Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out" could be a springboard for a program about presidential families. A local historical-society member does a one-woman show about Mary Todd Lincoln; we could offer a joint President's Day event with the society that combines her performance, our President-themed prints and readings from this book.

Plymouth Meeting Friends School
Plymouth Meeting, PA
Submitted by Lynne Haase

The librarian, head and specialist teachers have developed the following program ideas:

• All school read: All students will read one book from the Bookshelf. We will organize book talks, films and other activities around the book.
• American Tall Tales: Fourth graders will explore hyperbole and setting of American Tall Tales and how the tall tales illustrate the ideals of our country. How have our country’s ideals changed over the last two hundred years? Students will write tall tales about a modern day hero.
• The fourth graders perform a circus and each year the circus has a theme. We are considering using "American Tall Tales" as next year's circus theme.
• Poetry month: For poetry month, we will read only American poets. Whitman and Longfellow will be highlighted. The librarian and drama teacher will have the students memorize and recite poems.
• Halloween: The librarian will read "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with third through sixth grade students.
• Public library connection: We have created a partnership with one of the libraries in The Free Library of Philadelphia system. We are hoping to have a book discussion there with students from other schools.
• Immigration: The sixth graders study immigration. They interview family members about how and when they came to this country, they visit Ellis Island and read several literature books related to immigration. Next year, we will focus on the concept of "aspirations" - what were immigrants' aspirations and did this country meet these aspirations?
• Art: In library class, students will use online and print resources for images of Dorothea Lange's photographs. We will read "Restless Spirit" and discuss how Lange captured the character of the country.
• Buy Local/Nature: First and Second graders have a connection to a farm stand at a farm market that sells only locally grown produce. One of the sellers has visited our school and discussed why it is important to buy locally. Related to this theme is Harvesting Hope.
• Quaker Testimony - Peace: Fifth graders will examine the inquiry question "Is there ever a good reason to fight or go to war?" We will read "Freedom Walkers" and watch the Teaching Tolerance film about Rosa Parks. We will then read literature books related to WWII including "On the Wings of Heroes."

Westmere Elementary School
Albany, NY
Submitted by Elizabeth Ahearn

Westmere will create a robust web presence for the We the People Bookshelf on its library page. The slides will be featured online, and a photograph of the Bookshelf display will become part of the virtual tour of the library. These slides will be also be shared at the annual ESL Festival, with the actual Bookshelf titles available for handling and browsing by families.

Children will be encouraged to read the Bookshelf titles through a series of digital options that attest to their having read and comprehended the texts. Younger children will be encouraged to illustrate their response to each title through artwork; these illustrations will be digitally scanned into a slide show and shared online and at assemblies. Intermediate grade students will be invited to create blog entries online on our library website. The current 5th Grade book review link on our website will feature their student reviews.

The We the People Bookshelf is ideally suited to align with Westmere's celebration of the Hudson-Champlain Quadricentennial. Permanent displays and installations relating to 400 years of our region's cultural and geographic heritage along the Hudson River can be viewed at www.guilderlandschools.org/westmere/Library/hudsonriverschooltour.htm. The Bookshelf titles will be visually and thematically linked to the Quadricentennial and the Picturing America grant Westmere received. For example, the urban images of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Chrysler Building, together with the bucolic paintings of the Hudson River School provide a regional backdrop for presenting the Bookshelf titles. Artwork by Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden can contribute to background knowledge for reading "Sweet Music in Harlem" and "Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule" that illuminate the African American Diaspora to New York. Dorothea Lange's photo of a migrant mother and Winslow Homer's farm painting give context to the books about Cesar Chavez, relating to the increasing number of migrant workers on upstate New York farms.

Central Academy of Technology and Arts
Monroe, NC
Submitted by Deb Christensen

We will work with our art, English and social studies teachers to create a contest where students would illustrate the theme Picturing America through poetry, essays, drawings, photographs or other means.

Our AP US History teacher will hold Socratic Seminar discussions on select chapters of “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation” by Joseph J. Ellis with his AP students and his honors class. The digital photography class will be particularly interested in the biography of Dorothea Lange. This biography will also provide new insight into the American Dust Bowl, The Great Depression, internment camps during WWII and other periods of history.

All of the books selected are wonderful choices that will be treasured for many years to come so encouraging their long-term use will not be a problem. Our history teachers will be fighting over the book “1776: The Illustrated Edition.” The resources included in this book will make their classes more exciting for the students.

Contra Costa County Library, Antioch Library
Antioch, CA
Submitted by Kathy Middleton

The first children's program entitled, "Picturing America: All That Jazz" will include reading "Sweet Music in Harlem" by Debbie Taylor and "Jazz on a Saturday Night" by Leo and Diane Dillon. Children will also enjoy listening to jazz sound recordings by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The program will end with a snack of Bugles and juice. Children will respond to hearing exciting true stories about people who changed history through music with an introduction to the Bookshelf.

"Picturing America: A California Experience," program for children, will take place in spring 2010 in celebration of Cesar Chavez Day. We'll read "Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez" by Kathleen Krull and/or Ada and Camoy's translation, "Cosechando esperanza: La historia de César Chávez." A craft of either Mexican paper flowers or Mexican paper weavings will be featured along with a California grapes snack. Children will be introduced to Chavez and the labor movement that impacted California.

The first young adult program (summer 2009) entitled, "Picturing America: READ" is both a promotional event for the Bookshelf and a project for teens. Teens will produce a "READ" poster for display in the library. A photographer will take digital headshots of individual teens holding one of the bookshelf books. Library staff will print out the photos and teens will mount them on colored card stock. Posters will be rotated every three months throughout the library.

The second young adult program (February 2010), "Picturing America: A California Experience" will feature a Dust Bowl and photography slide show, listening to sound recordings such as "Why we came to Californy" by Jack Bryant (1940). Teens will be encouraged to learn more about Dorothea Lange, photography and the Diaspora of Oklahomans. Participants will be inspired to read additional Bookshelf resources.