Darlene and her sisters always enter the local double Dutch contest. Darlene and Loretta always twirl and Venesha always jumps. Big sister, Trina, always cheers for them. Mom and Dad always watch. The routine is always the same and the chant is the same, too. However, this year everything is different. The song that accompanies this heartfelt book is titled “Double Dutch Queen” (Lyrics adapted from traditional chants). The book releases April 6th, 2021.
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This classroom guide for Darlene’s Double Dutch Dreams is designed for students in second through fourth grade. It is assumed that teachers will adapt each activity to fit the needs and abilities of their own students.
It offers activities to help teachers integrate Darlene’s Double Dutch Dreams into English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies curricula. Art and drama are used as a teaching tool throughout the guide.
All activities were created in conjunction with relevant content standards in ELA, math, science, social studies, art, and drama.
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Read aloud Darlene’s Double Dutch Dreams by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by Heath Gray. Then, hand out a set of photocopied scripts to the class. Assign individual parts, the remaining children will be the Chorus. For the first run‐through, children will simply read their role aloud. Once all readers are comfortable with their parts, a second reading can include props and costumes, if desired.
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