City Across Time

By: Peter Kent
Kingfisher, 2010
Reading Level: 4.5 (Accelerated Reader)
Independent Read


Book Description: Non-Fiction, Reference, Timeline

From the Stone Age to the 21st century, Peter Kent's City Across Time highlights key events throughout human history.  Listed in sequential order, this pictorial timeline offers brief descriptions of key historical events in an easy-to-read fashion.  Each page contains side boxes which offer additional information and key terms are highlighted throughout the book.  This book is an interesting introduction to world history for younger students.

*Teacher Resources for City Across Time

Supporting Electronic Sources:
ProTeacher
This online chat room is available for teachers to both post and learn about timeline activities.  Since City Across Time is essentially a timeline, this website can be useful for introduction and extension activities.
History Channel
The History Channel website is a great after-reading source that can be used in conjunction with City Across Time.  Students have the opportunity to further research topics that interested them from the book and can explore articles, pictures, videos, and interactive games.

Vocabulary:
archaeology, barbarian, catacomb, pagan, persecute, plague, pyre, thatched, urn, winch

Teaching Suggestions:
-Use this book as an introduction to world history
-Review the different parts of non-fiction texts such as glossaries, side bars, etc.
-Focus on content specific vocabulary

Comprehension Strategies:
Before Reading- Preview the book and talk about the setup of non-fiction texts.  Look at the glossary, index, headings, pictures, side bars, and so on.  Since informational texts are very different from fiction texts, discuss how to approach reading City Across Time.
During Reading- Create a graphic organizer that sequences each event in the story.  Also, write a brief description of the event so that students can see both the order and the main idea of what the event was.

Writing Activity:
Have students work informational texts using research from the internet.  Ask them to select a historical topic from the book and have them research the topic on the History Channel website.  Ask them to write an informative piece that summarizes the event (where, when, key points, etc.)