Higgins Bend Song and Dance
Higgins Bend Song and Dance by Briggs Martin
Simon Henry is all business - fish business. He claims he can catch anything that swims, crawls, or floats. But when a wily old bait-stealing catfish named Oscar moves into the deep hole by Higgins Bend, folks begin to wonder if Simon Henry may have met his match. When Oscar steals the cranky fisherman's redworms and even his best five-day-old secret-recipe stinkbait, Simon Henry's skill is put to the test. And so begins the great battle between Simon Henry and the wily Oscar. Neighbors watch and wait . . . until the night Simon Henry comes up with his best bait yet and Oscar takes Simon and his old friend Potato Kelly on the ride of their lives. An original tall tale sure to elicit belly laughs from both young and old alike.
Why are we featuring this book?
Higgins Bend Song and Dance is a book featured in Five in a Row, a literature-based unit study curriculum. Many families use FIAR for all but the Grammar / Reading and Math, and others use it in conjunction with other resources. Below you will find information about the author and illustrator, story summaries, and links to lesson plans and websites that are great go-alongs for Higgins Bend Song and Dance. Please note that these resources are meant to complement, not replace, the Five in a Row units. The Five in a Row volumes are inexpensive and well worth the investment.
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Author page
Illustrator Page
Other books by Brad Sneed
Go-Alongs:
Online Units and Resources for Higgins Bend Song and Dance
Curriculum Connections for Higgins Bend Song and Dance
Higgins Bend Song and Dance is the tall-tale of a poor fisherman named Simon Henry who lives on the river by Higgins Bend and swears he can catch anything that "swims, crawls, or floats." His friend Potato Kelly, who owns the bait and chowder shop near Higgins Bend bets Simon Henry that he cannot catch the wily catfish, Oscar. When Oscar steals Simon Henry's doughballs, his fat redworms and his best five day old secret recipe stinkbait the contest is on and Simon Henry vows "to get up early, work late, and sleep in my boots" until that fish is caught. If you like fishing, like rivers, or just like to laugh, you will like this story. (Y)
Fish of the Great Lakes
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institutes website. (Y, M, O, T)
Go-alongs about
Counting Coins - Learning how to count, use, and identify coins is an important basic money skill to learn at an early age. These printable worksheets and teaching lessons will help your students master counting money with coins, whether they are just beginning to learn to count coins, or if they need additional practice. Worksheets are customizable for varying abilities and ages. Lessons include United States coins, Canadian coins (including dollar and two dollar coins the Loonie and Toonie), Euros, and British Currency. (Y, T)
Econ Ed Link - A premier source of classroom tested, Internet-based economic lesson materials for K-12 teachers and their students where you can search or browse money-related dozens of lessons by title, age level, or subject matter. (Y, M, O, T)
Free comic books from the Fed - The Federal Reserve System has 7 comic style publications available for free through their publications catalog. Titles include The Story of Money, The Story of Banks, Once Upon a Dime, The Story of Foreign Trade and Exchange, The Story of Consumer Credit. (Y, M, O, T)
FunBrain.com - Change maker - Get as much money in your piggy bank as possible, by figuring out the correct change. (Y)
Global Philanthropy - Investing in youth - From Merrilf Lynch PDF files. Charts and Posters to teach children about saving. (Y, M, O, T)
History of Colonial Money - (Y)
Money Curriculum Unit - The unit includes information on the face of U.S. currency, counterfeit protection, the history of money and a teacher's guide. (M,Y)
Practical Money Skills - Practical Money Skills is a comprehensive website which includes not only resources for budgeting and consumer math, but lesson plans for teachers divided by topic and age group. Look under For Educator for lessons for preschool through college. You must register (free) to use the lessons. From VISA (Y, M, O, T)
Revolutionary Money - Money Cut outs from each of the 13 colonies. From Smithsonian Education (Y, M, O, T)
To Market To Market - A Study of the Colonial Economy from 1600-1750 (Y, M, O, T)
US Coins - Money printables and worksheets from Enchanted Learning (Y, T)
Go-alongs about Floating
All Hands On Deck - The USS Constitution Museum has made their award-winning K-12 curriculum, All Hands on Deck: Learning Adventures Aboard "Old Ironsides", available for download from the Web at no cost. A vehicle to explore a wide range of disciplines including language arts, reading, math, science, art, and social studies. The content scope of the curriculum is wide and varied. Skills covered in the unit include critical thinking, making tables and diagrams, solving math problems and writing essays and poems. Life skills that stress the value of cooperation, persistence, creativity and ingenuity are also included. (Y, M, O, T)
Follow the Fleet - Follow the Fleet was set up to encourage and develop children's interest in the maritime world. It is designed to be used as a teaching aid and is targeted at 7 to 10 year olds learning geography, history, science and environmental studies. A unique aspect of Follow The Fleet is that it has a satellite tracking system where the children can see where the ships are and follow their movements. The children also receive e-mail bulletins from the sea captains on the vessels. From the Irish Maritime Development Office (Y, M, O, T)
Interactive Titanic - Click on one of the silhouettes and follow the path of an actual passenger who traveled on the Titanic. You won't know who you are or if you survive until the fateful night.
(Y, M, O, T)
It Floats - We don't usually stop to wonder why a big cruise ship can float as well as a feather; this activity helps to explain.
(Y, M, O, T)
Naval Historical Center - Comprehensive government site with extensive information on naval history (Y, M, O, T)
Pontoons - From Infoplease.com, an explanation of how pontoons are used to raise sunken ships and support bridges
(Y, M, O, T)
Go-alongs about Insects
Amber - Freezing Gold - Free lapbook, notebook & unit resources for homeschoolers from Dynamic 2 Moms. (Y, M, O, T)
antARK - antARk is an introduction to Myrmecology: the study of ants. This site aims to introduce and uncover the impossibly large world of ants. (Y, M, O, T)
Hands-On Science: Butterflies and Bugs - Although this site is geared toward selling caterpillars and other insects (which can be a fun science integration), it also has fact sheets and printables available for free. If you have elementary-aged children and have never raised butterflies, consider doing so. Kids love watching the transformation. (Y)
Honey Unit Study - This unit includes recommended reading as well as the history, science, and home economics of honey and bees. (Y, M)
Insect Crafts - Insect crafts uses household items and is rated for Ages 3 through 6. (Y)
Monarchs & Migration. - Teachers, students, and families across the country are exploring Monarchs, butterflies, and the mystery of migration. You're invited to join us. (Y, M, O, T)
Myrm's Ant Nest - Life cycles, origins, anatomy, ant jelly, how do ants communicate… if you need ant answers, this is the place! (Y, M, O, T)
Go-alongs about Rivers
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary - Activity booklets to help kids learn about estuaries. (Y, M)
Photos of the Yangtze River - A collection of varied photos of life on the Yangtze River (Y, M, O, T)
Go-alongs about Astronomy
A Solar System Coloring Book--Beginner - (Y)
A Trip Through Our Solar System An Internet Scavenger Hunt - (Y, M)
A Trip Through the Solar System - PPT presentation from Mrs. Frederick's 6th Grade Class in 2004 (Y, M)
Amazing Space - Web-based space activities for classroom use. This site is full of excellent lesson plans and activities, but be aware this site does present the Big Bang Theory in an understated way. (Y, M, O, T)
Apollo 11 - From NASA. (Y, M, O, T)
Astronomy Picture of the Day - Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. (Y, M, O, T)
Astronomy Picture of the Day - Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. (Y, M, O, T)
Astronomy: Our Place in Space - From Ology - American Museum of Natural History. (Y, M, O, T)
Auroras - Find out more about the mysterious phenomenon also called the Northern Lights. Beautiful photography and a teacher's guide with a few ideas for using the site in the classroom. (Y, M, O, T)
Blast Off Boutique - (Y)
Build your own comet - From the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Active Learning Exercises in Planetary and Solar Astronomy for grades K-3. (Y)
Discovering Uranus - from thinkquest.org (Y, M, O, T)
Earth science & Astronomy science projects - (Y, M)
Exploring Planets in the Classroom - Hands on activity guide introduces scientific concepts involving space. (Y, M, O, T)
Interplanetary Virtual Tour - This is an awesome collection of almost 100 pages of photos and information that can be explored systematically through the tour or overviewed through the "Express Tour". The images of the planets and their satellites will entertain the youngest students (Y, M, O, T)
Journey Through the Solar System - A ThinkQuest Junior project. (Y)
Make a comet - From the Lunar and Planetary Institute. This activity introduces kids to the structure of comets and the interactions between comets and our Sun. Activity for space unit. (Y,M) (Y,M)
NASA Kids Club - Space science for kids! (Y M)
Nasa News for Kids - Science fun, Games, Art & Stories, Activities and Kids club. (Y, M, O, T)
Nasa Quest - Connection K-12 classrooms with people, research and science through mission based interactions and activities. (Y, M, O, T)
NASA's Kids Science News Network™ - (Y, M, O, T)
National Science Foundation - NSF - Where discoveries begin. (Y, M, O, T)
On the Moon Activity Guide - Six activities that bring engineering and NASA's moon missions to life. Two activities--Launch It and Touchdown--are for grades 3-8 (and work well at events). Three activities--Roving on the Moon, Heavy Lifting, and On Target--are for grades 6-12. One activity--Feel the Heat--is for grades 9-12. (Y, O, M, T)
Outer Space Crafts - Great hands on crafts for younger students studying space. (Y,M)
Solar System Wordsearch - From ABC.teach (Y, M, O, T)
Space Science Institute - The Space Science Institute (SSI) is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation formed in 1992. Our purpose is to create and maintain an environment where scientific research and education programs can flourish in an integrated fashion. (Y, M, O, T)
Space Shuttle Launch Simulation - From NASA; this simulation requires students to complete pre-launch steps in order to actually launch the space shuttle. If an error message occurs, the all systems will shut down and the student must restart the launch process. Good practice for real life. (Y, M, O, T)
Space Weather Center - With games, Activities and E-Cards. (Y, M, O, T)
SpaceWeather.com - For the skywatchers among us, SpaceWeather.com is a wonderful site for predicting space events such as meteor showers, auroras (northern lights), falling asteroids, and more. (Y, M, O, T)
Star Journey - This site from National Geographic contains star charts, start attractions, and views from the Hubble telescope. (Y, M, O, T)
StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers - The StarChild site is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Alan Smale (Director), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA. (Y M)
Styrofoam Planets - You guessed it: make styrofoam planets. (Y,M)
The Animated Virtual Planetarium - (Y, M, O, T)
The Aurora Page - A source for Information, links and images about the "Northern Lights" on-line since the Web began (Y, M, O, T)
The Nine Planetss - A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System: one star, eight planets, and more (Y, M, O, T)
The Space Place - Games, animations, projects, and fun facts about Earth, space and technology. (Y)
The Virtual Sun - (Y, M, O, T)
Trip Through the Solar System - Language Arts Grade Level - 1 (Y)
Uranus - from solarviews.com (Y, M, O, T)
Uranus - from EnchantedLearning.com (Y, M, O, T)
Who discovered Uranus? - from coolcosmos (Y, M, O, T)
WorldWide Telescope - WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope. (Y, M, O, T)
Zoom Astronomy - A comprehensive on-line site about space and astronomy (Y)
