Kids and Educators

Children's Books | DVDs | Lesson Plans

Children's Books

Amazon. Noah's Ark by Peter Spier, winner of the Caldecott Medal (ages 2-6). One Amazon reviewed describes it as "an Almost Wordless Vision of Noah's Story." Another criticizes gender stereotypes. Also in paperback (only a few bucks less, so get it in hardcover).

Amazon. Noah's Wife: The Story of Naamah by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Bethanne Andersen. Children's book tells how Noah's wife saved the world's plants. The Publisher's blurb describes it as:

"Nondenominational, Nonsectarian, for ages 4 and up! Endorsed by Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Religious Leaders."

Noah's Ark by Jerry Pinkney (a Caldecott Honor Book), also in paperback (ages 5-8).

Noah's Ark by Rien Poortvliet, creator of Gnomes, etc. (Age-range not given.) Negative review in Publisher's Weekly:

"While this imaginative, pictorial retelling shows empathy for the animal kingdom and gently preaches reverence for life, the pictures (223 pages in color) are sentimental to the point of anthropomorphizing the animals, and the handwritten commentaries are frequently coy or trite. Besides continually proclaiming his awe at the infinite variety of creation, Poortvliet devotes pages to comparative studies of beaks, eyes, ears, snouts. He annoyingly mixes in boyhood reminiscences and musings on being an artist."

Noah's Ark by Lucy Cousins (Baby-Preschool)

DVDs

Amazon. Stories to Remember: Noah's Ark. 1989 DVD version of Peter Spier's Caldecott-winning Noah's Ark, voiced by James Earl Jones (Warning: May lead children to misunderstand Darth Vader.) Blurbed, with some parental suggestions Jewish Heritage Video Collection.

Amazon. Noah's Ark: Story of the Biblical Flood. This is apparently a more biblically-minded retelling, but I can't find out much about it.

Amazon. Discovery of Noah's Ark: The Whole Story promotes nurse anesthetist Ron Wyatt's "discovery." What parent would not want to hear this?

"Mommy! Daddy! When I grow up I want to be a junk archaeologist!"

Lesson Plans

Puzzle Mystery (grade 3–5) by Dawn Kelly, from the Getty Museum. I love this lesson:

"Your students will have fun trying to solve a mystery in this lesson. Students are given a small detail of a painting, which they sketch and give a title. Students share their titles and try to determine the theme and subject of the full painting based on these clues. At the end of class the students put their details together like a puzzle to create a reproduction of the painting."

Lesson Plan: Noah Builds an Ark. Includes a "hand-motion" storytelling exercise, and a low-res (2MB) and high-res (8MB) video of three adorable children doing one.

Lesson Plan: Studying Noah's Ark, A Teaching Strategy for Science and Religion by Antonio Cremades, Seventh-Day Adventist educator. Very detailed literalist programme.