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__Building Background Knowledge: Belle Prater's Boy __


__**Grade:**__ 6

__**Introduction**:__ You will soon be reading the novel, **//Belle Prater’s Boy//**, by Ruth White. This novel is set in the Appalachian region of the United States in the 1950’s. Your teacher wants you to learn about the region and the time period before you read this book so that you will understand and enjoy the book as much as possible. We can’t time travel and we can’t take a field trip to the mountains, but we can do some research. You will be working in groups to discover Belle Prater’s world. Group topics will include:
 * Appalachia - Geographical features, economy, history, plant/animal life
 * 1950's technology, inventions, medicine
 * 1950's American Popular Culture - fashion, music, movies, fads
 * America and World Politics in the 1950's
 * Coal Mining in the Eastern United States

Your group will need to find and use at least four sources of information with one being a print source. You and your group members will need to work together to find the information and then create a poster for presentation to your class and teacher. The poster must include **at least four illustrations with captions** and your group must be ready to elaborate on the information presented by the poster. All group members will be expected to share information during the presentation. You will need to cite your sources of information in MLA format. You may consult the link listed below or use the handout provided by your teacher. If you have any questions about this, check with Ms Pearson or your teacher for help.

[|Citation Help]

Possible Search Terms/Keywords:

 * Appalachia/Appalachian Mountains
 * Virginia
 * West Virginia
 * Coal Mining
 * 1950
 * Music
 * Technology
 * Medicine
 * Cold War
 * Fashion
 * Entertainment
 * Politics

RMS Library Print Resources:
Indiana Univeristy Press, 1982. Print. ||  || //Customs, Corn Shuckin's, Wagon Making and More Affairs of Plain Living.// New York: Anchor Books/ Doubleday, 1973. Print. Cook, Chris, and Inc Facts on File. //The Facts on File World Political Almanac.// New York: Facts on File, 1992. Print. Cook, Mark. //Popular Science: Science Year by Year: Discoveries and Inventions from the Last Centrury That Shape// //Our Lives.// New York; Scholastic Reference, 2001. Print. Taylor, Charles E. //Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia.// New York: Kingfisher, 2000. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Association, Readers D. //Reader's Digest Book of Facts//. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Association, 1995. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Aylesworth, Thomas G., and Virginia L. Aylesworth. //Atlantic : District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia.// New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Baker, Patricia. //Fashions of a Decade. The 1950s.// New York: Facts on File, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Barmeier, Jim. //Manners and Customs.// New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1997. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Bender, Lionel. //Invention.// New York: Knopf, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Berger, Melvin. //The Story of Folk Music.// New York: S. G. Phillips, 1976. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Bisacre, Michael e.a. //The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Technology.// New York: Exeter Books, 1978. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Books, Time-Life. //Communications.// Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1986. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Books, Time-Life. //Events That Shaped the Century.// Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1998. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Books, Time-Life. //Rock & Roll Generation : Teen Life in the 50s.// Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1998. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Duden, Jane. //1950s.// New York : Crestwood House, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Endacott, G. W. //Discovery & Inventions.// New York: Viking, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Farley, Karin C. //Harry S. Truman : The Man from Independence.// Englewood Cliffs, NJ : J. Messner, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Foster, Leila M. //The Story of the Cold War.// Chicago: Childrens Press, 1990. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Fradin, Dennis B. //Medicine : Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.// Chicago: Childrens Press, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Hancock, Sibyl. //Famous Firsts of Black Americans.// Gretna, LA : Pelican Publishing Co., 1983. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Hanmer, Trudy J. //Living in the Mountains.// New York; F. Watts, 1988. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Heath, David. //The Presidency of the United States.// Mankato, MN : Capstone High/Low Books, 1999. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Hirsch, E. D., William G. Rowland, and Michael Stanford. //A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy : What Our Children// //Need to Know.// Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Jacobs, William J. //Search for Peace : The Story of the United Nations.// New York ; Charles Scribner's Sons. 1994. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Jennings, Peter, and Todd Brewster. //The Century.// New York: Doubleday, 1998. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Kallen, Stuart A. //The 1950s.// San Diego, CA : Greenhaven Press, 2000. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Kerby, Mona. //Yearbooks in Science-1950-1959.// New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1995. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Lambert, Mark. //Energy Technology.// New York: Bookwright Press, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Lomask, Milton. //Invention and Technology.// New York: Atheneum Books for Young Reader, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Lorie, Peter, and Sidd Murray-Clark. //History of the Future: a Chronology.// New York: Doubleday, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * McNair, Sylvia. //America the Beautiful: Virginia.// Chicago: Childrens Press, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * O'Donnol, Shirley M. //American Costume, 1915-1970: A Source Boof for the Stage Costumer.// Bloomington:
 * || * Pimlott, John, //The Cold War.// New York: Franklin Watts, 1987. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Platt, Richard. //Film.// New York: Knopf, 1992. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Reynolds, Helen. //The 40s & 50s: Utility to New Look.// Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Publishers, 2000. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Rooney, Anne. //Computers.// Norht Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media, 2006. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Rowland-Warne, L. //Costume.// New York: Knopf/Random House, 1992. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Ruby, Jennifer. //The 1940s and 1950s.// London: Batsford, 1989. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Rylant, Cynthia. //Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds.// San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Schroeder, Alan. //Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella.// New York: Dial Bookds for Young Readers,1997. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Sirvaitis, Karen. //Virginia.// Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co., 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Smith, C.C. //Presidents in a Time or Change: A Sorucebook on the U.S. Presidency.// Brookfield, CT : Millbrook Press, 1993. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Smith, C.C. //Presidents of a World Power : A Sorucebook on the U.S. Presidency.// Brookfield, CT : Millbrook Press, 1993. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Stein, R. C. //America the Beautiful: West Virginia.// Chicago: Childrens Press, 1991. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Szatmary, David P. //Rockin'in time: A Social History of Rock-and-Roll.// Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Thompson, Kathleen. //Virginia.// Milwaukee: Raintree, 1986. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Thompson, Kathleen. //West Virginia.// Milwaukee: Raintree, 1988. Print. ||  ||
 * || * Wigginton, Eliot. //Foxfire 2: Ghost Stories, Spring Wild Plant Foods, Spinning and Weaving, Midwifing, Burial//
 * Wigginton, Eliot. //The Foxfire Book : Hog Dressing; Log Cabin Building; Mountain Crafts and Foods; Planting by the Signs; Snake Lore, Hunting Tales, Faith Healing; Moons.// New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1972. Print. ||  ||
 * __Reference Books:__** ||  ||
 * __Reference Books:__** ||  ||
 * || ==Databases:﻿==
 * || ==Databases:﻿==

[|UDLib Search Databases]﻿﻿﻿ ||  ||
 * GREENR - Information about coal mining today
 * Britannica Online School Edition
 * History Resource Center - United States

**__WebPath Express:__**

 * || * "A Pictoral History of Kentucky Coal Mining." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "A Pictorial Walk Through the 20th Century 'Honoring the US Miner'." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Appalachian Mountains." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Appalachian Mountains." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Appalachian Mountains." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Bill Levitt and the American Dream." 26 July 2010 []. ||
 * || * "Campaign Chronologies of the United States Marine Corps: Marines in the Korean War 1950-1953." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Inside the Coal Mines." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Kentucky Coal Museum." 26 July 2010. [].
 * || * "Bill Levitt and the American Dream." 26 July 2010 []. ||
 * || * "Campaign Chronologies of the United States Marine Corps: Marines in the Korean War 1950-1953." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Inside the Coal Mines." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Kentucky Coal Museum." 26 July 2010. [].
 * || * "Inside the Coal Mines." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || * "Kentucky Coal Museum." 26 July 2010. [].
 * || * "Kentucky Coal Museum." 26 July 2010. [].
 * || * "Kentucky Coal Museum." 26 July 2010. [].


 * "MSHA's Kid's Page." 26 July 2010. [].


 * "Origins of the Cold War." 26 July 2010. [].


 * The Appalachians." 26 July 2010. [].


 * "The Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy." 26 July 2010. [].


 * "Virginia: Economy." 26 July 2010. []. ||
 * || ===Additional Online Resources:=== ||
 * || * [|InfoPlease 1954] -Information on Brown vs The Board of Education, Haley and the Comets, population, economics, etc. || * * ||
 * || * [|Fifties Web] -Links to technology, inventions, politics, etc. || * * ||
 * || * [|PaperPast.com 1954] -Links to fashion, furniture, cars, etc. || * * ||
 * || * [|Coutureallure] -Links to fashion and food of the 1950's || * * ||
 * || * [|The Peoples History] -Links to technology and world events
 * || * [|Fifties Web] -Links to technology, inventions, politics, etc. || * * ||
 * || * [|PaperPast.com 1954] -Links to fashion, furniture, cars, etc. || * * ||
 * || * [|Coutureallure] -Links to fashion and food of the 1950's || * * ||
 * || * [|The Peoples History] -Links to technology and world events


 * [|Let's Explore Coal] Information about coal ||  ||

__Multimedia Resources:__
[|YouTube video - Poverty in Appalachia]

[|YouTube - Appalachia, Kingdom of Coal]

[|YouTube-AppalachianVoices: Mountain Top Removal Movie]

__**Community Resources:**__
[|Delaware Library Catalog]

[|Louis L. Redding Middle School Library Catalog]