“This is such an encouraging and courageous story.  It shows how strong a young person can be despite their limitations, which for Mandy Sue are very few.  I appreciate how her whole family allows her to be a normal little girl.  I appreciate the courage of her parents and their strength to let her enjoy her adventures and not hold her back because of her disability.

This would be a good book to read to see if the students can pick out which disability Mandy Sue has.  After everyone has had a guess and it is revealed, then each could take turns trying to navigate the classroom with that disability imposed on them.   Allow them to see what it is like.

This would also be a good book to read if you had a disabled child in your class.   You could talk about how she still did the things she loved the most in spite of her disability.   You could talk about the different types of disabilities and what those mean to a child.”

Grade 4 Teacher's Edition:

• Mon: Read MANDY SUE DAY
• Tues: Grammar - Declarative and Interrogative Sentences
• Wed: Vocabulary - Content-Area Vocabulary
• Thurs: Reading Strategies - Drawing Conclusions / Making Predictions
• Fri: Writing - Personal Narrative

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Mrs. Erin Matheu, Grade 4
MANDY SUE DAY VOCABULARY:

• whinnies – neighs in a gentle way
• bridle – the part of a harness that fits over a horse’s head
• straddle – sit with one leg on each side of something
• stirrups – pair of loops that hang from a saddle to support a rider’s feet
• meadow – grassy land
• gallop – the fastest gait of a horse

Mr. John Farias, Grade 4, Teacher Blog Oct 2010:

“We recently finished reading MANDY SUE DAY by Roberta Karim as a whole class read-aloud to review Main Idea and Writing A Summary.  Students learned that Mandy Sue is blind but gets to enjoy spending a day with her beloved horse Ben on her own.  Although Mandy Sue may have a disability, it does not prevent her from enjoying a variety of activities independently.

Today, students brought in various pictures associated with the story and created 5 different collages to depict what Mandy Sue can see using only her imagination.  These collages remind us that no matter what, with determination and hard work, one can enjoy a special day doing what one loves.”

Grade 4 English Language Arts:

“Sept 2009: Students jumped right into our first story: MANDY SUE DAY.  We have read the story and are working on several accompanying activities which have to do with the five senses (as Mandy Sue can not see.)

Science/Social Studies: We are working on mapping skills and exploring the 5 senses which goes along with our reading story.”

Parents of Blind Children Division:

“I presented MANDY SUE DAY to my group and we have decided to use it along with activities to guess what things are by their scent, feel, taste and sound, with different mystery sets of 25 items each for each of the four senses, as well as a section on color, to be comprehensive and address all five senses.

We are including in our kit a science component on different breeds of horses.

We are also including in our kit a literature component where the students will be describing an object only with sensory description, and the other students will have to figure out what they are describing.  This will be put into a class poetry book.  We will also be labeling the entire print book in clear tape with Braille.

We will also select a series of vocabulary words that we will be providing cards with directions for their sign language equivalents, as well as cards with the French, German, Italian and Spanish translations.

We will include a resource guide for local people who are willing to supplement the kit by coming in and giving presentations on white canes, guide dogs, Braille, competition horseback riding, etc.

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions.  Several people suggested this book in particular and it turned out to be an excellent fit for what we are doing.

We are also thinking of a game in which different kids will put in ear plugs, put on dark glasses, or not be able to talk, and they will be put into groups of three, with one each of the three simulated disabilities of deafness, blindness and muteness, and given a task to perform working together.

Thanks again for all of the help, this is going to be a fun project.”

Reading short fiction books together whose main characters are visually impaired:

• Inspires pride
• Illustrates O&M (Orientation & Mobility) concepts and techniques
• Can be used to demonstrate problem solving
• Can be used to educate peers, family, and staff
• Is fun to do together!

MANDY SUE DAY: Using her senses of taste, hearing, touch, and smell, a blind girl enjoys a special day on the farm.  Using rhythmic language, the author conveys the exuberance and excitement of Mandy’s day with her horse, Ben.

Grade 11–12 Education Class
Ms. Joanne L. Urban

“Embedded English in Early Childhood Education and Teaching Professions: Literacy Integration To Identify Picture Books That Include Characters With Disabilities”:

MANDY SUE DAY - This story tells about a blind girl who uses all of her other senses to enjoy a special day with her horse, Ben.

Kelly Denney and Mrs. Skopin
4th Grade Lesson Plan
“CENTRIFUGAL FORCE AND MANDY SUE DAY”:

References:

• Karim, Roberta. MANDY SUE DAY,
  printed in Signatures; Harcourt Brace: Orlando
• CAPtivating Science, part of Ohio Statewide Science Workshop; COSI: Ohio’s center of Science and Industry

Benchmarks:
SLC/GLI #: 4th grade: PS-4.

Objectives:

This lesson is a fun, interactive lesson to follow along with the story, MANDY SUE DAY, which is part of the 4th grade reading curriculum.  Centrifugal force is mentioned in this book, and as integrating science across the curriculum is one aim of the Columbus School District, Mrs. Skopin and I thought this would be a good way to do that.  Other objectives of the lesson involve helping students understand what a force is and teaching them to be aware of centrifugal force, since it is one that they invariably experience nearly every day of their life.  Thus, this lesson is great at helping students become aware of the continued presence of science in the common surroundings of every-day life.  Finally, it is also the objective of this lesson to help students learn analytic thinking and the scientific method of asking a question, conducting an experiment, and making observations to try to answer the question.

This lesson will begin with the demonstration of centrifugal force that was used in MANDY SUE DAY.  The students will then get to experiment with the same idea on a smaller scale, using bottle caps and confetti, instead of a bucket and water.  Next, the students will get a chance to feel centrifugal force for themselves, either on the merry-go-round or with a partner, spinning in circles, discussing safety first.  We will then discuss what they felt while doing this and ask some of the same questions as with the bottles caps, such as whether the speed matters.  Finally, we will talk at a basic level about what forces are, and that what they are experiencing is centrifugal force, just like the water in the bucket.

Materials:

• Bucket and rope
• Bottle caps
• String
• Scissors
• Tape
• Water
• Confetti
• Lots of space to spread out

Initial Demonstration:

The demonstration for the beginning of this lesson involves the bucket, rope, and water.  Tie the rope around the handle of the bucket.  Fill the bucket part way (1/4 – ½ full depending on personal preference).  Fill the bucket in front of students so they can actually see you put water in there.  Also, possibly walk around the room with bucket and slosh the water around so that the students can see that it could spill out.  Now, start asking the students questions about the water spilling out if you turn the bucket upside down, and if any of them know of a way to turn the bucket upside down or to the side without the water spilling.  Once they come up with inferences, actually spin the bucket in a circle, either upside down and/or straight out to the side.  Ask the students what they think is going on and why the water didn’t fall out.  Also relate it to driving in a car and the feeling they get when their parents turn a corner.  Include other experiences, if possible, such as amusement park rides, riding the merry-go-round, holding onto a friend’s hands and spinning, etc.

Target Observations:

• Students should notice that the water doesn’t fall out of the bucket if it’s spinning while it’s upside down, but it does fall out when you just tip it over.

Procedure:

1. Cut two pieces of string of the same length, at least 20 inches long.
2. Tape the center of each string to the flat side of a bottle cap so they form an X.
3. Tie all the ends of the strings into one knot, and hold so that the inside of the bottle cap faces the knot and the bottle cap is swinging from the string.  (If time constraints exist, bottle caps may be prepared as in steps 1-3 by teacher before lesson begins.)
4. Fill the bottle cap half way with confetti.
5. Whirl the bottle cap in a circle up over your head.
6. Compare quickly whirling the bottle cap in a circle to rocking it back and forth like a pendulum before or after you whirl it.
7. Try spinning it at different speeds.
8. Write down any observations and answer questions on worksheet.
9. Ask them how this relates to MANDY SUE DAY, and based on that do they know what this is called? Do they know what a force is?
10. Discuss idea of a force – a push or pull, and what centrifugal force is.

Target Observations:

• The students should notice that when whirling the confetti quickly over their head, none of it falls out of the bottle cap.
• If the students start the circular motion too slowly, or if they don’t spin it fast enough, the confetti will fall out.
• If you use the pendulum motion at the end, as they’re stopping the bottle cap, more of the confetti stays in the cap, as compared to just stopping outright.

Target Revised Model:

• Students should reach the conclusion that it is the act of spinning that causes the confetti or water not to fall out of the bottle cap
• They should also reach the conclusion (hopefully) that something is pushing/pulling the water/confetti against the bottom of the bottle cap.
• Finally, after force discussion, they should know that a force is a push or pull and that centrifugal force pushes the water/confetti outward against the bottom and walls of the bucket when it’s spinning, and that’s why it doesn’t spill.

Procedure:

If using merry-go-round:

1. Let a few students get on at a time.
2. Push them slowly, asking them what they feel.
3. Increase their speed, asking them what’s different about going faster.
4. Now ask them how this relates to MANDY SUE DAY.
5. See if they can relate what they feel to what happened with the water/confetti and bucket/bottle cap. Do they think the water was experiencing the same sensation?
6. Talk a little more about centrifugal force now that they had a chance to feel it.

If using partners spinning each other:

1. Have the students select partners, or put them in groups of two.
2. Discuss the safety and the importance of not letting go of each other while spinning.
3. Have the students hold hands with their partners while facing each other with their arms straight out in front of them.
4. Tell them to start spinning slowly, and ask them if they feel anything.
5. Tell them to speed up and see how that’s different.
6. See merry-go-round steps 4-6.

Target Observations:

• Students should notice that when they spin they feel like their being pushed outward.
• Students should also notice that the feeling is stronger when they’re moving faster.

Target Revised Model:

• They should reach the conclusion that something feels like it’s pushing them outward.
• They should also recognize that this is a feeling that they feel often in every day life, such as in the car.
• They should be able to tell you that this feeling of being pushed outward is being caused by centrifugal force.

Summary:

This lesson was created so that students could learn what centrifugal force is and to integrate science with the reading curriculum.  In this lesson, students will be able to recreate what Mandy Sue experienced in the story they read, and then experience the feel of centrifugal force themselves.  They should learn that a force is a push or pull and that centrifugal force is a force that they experience in everyday life (turning a corner in a car) and causes objects to be pushed outward when traveling in a circle (or part of a circle, as when making a turn in a car).  Although as a physicist, I know that centrifugal force is technically a fictitious force resulting from a combination of inertia and centripetal force in a rotating reference frame, if I teach it this way at that level, I believe I will only confuse the students.