Kids Wings Literature Guide for Soar by Joan Bauer

You can purchase the Kids' Wings' 71-page Literature Guide PLUS
an interactive Jeopardy-type game with 53 slides for SOAR, for only $19.95!
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from Kids Wings at Teachers Pay Teachers

SOAR
by Joan Bauer
Kids Wings Award
2017-2018 Texas Bluebonnet^SM Book
An Illinois 2018 Bluestem Award Nominee
Winner of The Christopher Award
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Booklist, starred review

As a baby, Jeremiah was abandoned in the snack room of Walt Lopper's computer business. In his little hand he held an eagle stuffie, his mother's only gift, one that would define his character as he grew. Eagles have strong hearts, good eyesight, and are fierce fighters, you know. If she had wished for Walt to adopt Jeremiah, she got her wish. Walt had never even been married, but he knew by the determination in the little guy's eyes that there was power and genius inside him. Walt adopted Jeremiah, and they became a team.

Would Walt be a good father for Jeremiah?
Would a good father take his baby boy to baseball games?
Would he tell his little son how a batter could psych out the pitcher with the look in his eye?
Would he read coaching books and stories about baseball heroes to Jeremiah?
Would he talk baseball strategies with Jeremiah?
Would Walt show Jeremiah how to build robots?
Would Walt encourage Jeremiah to love baseball and robots?
Of course. They were a team.

Walt was all those things to Jeremiah. He built robots with Jeremiah. He coached him and cheered for him as he began to play baseball in first and second grades. Jeremiah's goal was to become a professional baseball player.

And, then, when Jeremiah began to have trouble running, Walt was there to try to support him and look for doctors who could diagnose his problem. As Jeremiah got weaker, the problem was pinpointed by a cardiolgist. A virus had attacked Jeremiah's heart muscle. It was dying.

What could the two baseball fanatics do? Walt pointed out the ways that Jeremiah was a winner in his resolve, positive attitude, courage, love of baseball, and genius abilities. Jeremiah's character grew stronger, even as his heart continued to weaken. Walt assured Jeremiah that they would overcome the obstacles ahead of them.

The doctors said he would need a heart transplant.

Jeremiah hoped that a heart transplant would make him strong enough to play baseball again. For 18 long months, they waited for a heart to become available. Would he be able to hold on long enough for him to realize his goal, become a professional baseball player, to soar?

Was Jeremiah's heart transplant successful? Would he be strong enough to pursue his goal? Or would he have to change direction and tweak his goal? Would the picture of an eagle flying through a storm continue to inspire him? Is it possible that Jeremiah, the middle school boy with a heart transplant would be the one who could save the town whose heart was dying because of Performance Enhancing Drugs?

Would Jeremiah help share his knowledge of baseball with discouraged boys on his middle school team? Would he help a younger boy with Autism to discover his baseball genius? Of course. They were a team.

Soar is a story of a boy with the heart of an eagle who never gives up. You will find his positive attitude, love of baseball, coaching, and teamwork contagious. You will cheer as he makes friends, cares for others, and applies the knowledge he has learned from Walt, books, and life to help him overcome the struggles ahead of him and strengthen hearts around him.

------------------ Active Baseball Games Built into This Literature Study -------------------

For the first time, Kids Wings has brought active baseball, an award-winning novel, and crucial comprehension skills together as part of a literature study! We have organized the 43 Chapters into 7 Groups or Innings! All you need is a small soft Nerf ball and our Kids Wings page of Questions- and-Answers for a group of chapters. About 30 questions-and-answers are provided for each chapter group.

After student-players have read and completed activities for a group of chapters, they take their places on each side of the classroom for a review baseball game. One team takes the field. (They can just stand among the desks.) The teacher or designated pitcher delivers the first pitch with a Nerf ball-and-question Q provided in the Kids' Wings' unit:
1. Q: Why wasn’t Jeremiah sure about what his birthday was? A: He was abandoned as a baby.
The batter answers the question and tosses the ball back to the pitcher. If "CORRECT!" the batter proceeds to 1st base. If incorrect, the pitcher calls "POP-UP" and tosses the ball-and-question to one of the players in the field. If the fielding player answers correctly, the pitcher calls the batter "OUT!" If the fielding player also answers incorrectly, the batter gets on first base on an "ERROR." After a team bats around or gets 3 outs, the other team is up to bat. The faster the teacher "pitches the ball-and-question" the faster the game moves for the most fun reviews ever. Strong rules and high expectations will demand decorum during the games.

Research Links for
SOAR
by Joan Bauer

Author Joan Bauer
Book Trailer

Exploratorium's Science of Baseball
Math Baseball
Baseball Reference
Legends of the Game
TABOO BASEBALL--Vocabulary Building Game

Literature Connections, Award-winning Baseball Books:
"Casey at the Bat" Aaron Shephard's Readers' Theater

One-handed Catch by M. J. Auch- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Shoeless Joe and Black Betsy by Phil Bildner
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
GIRLS' SOFTBALL : A Season of Comebacks by Kathy Mackel Download here
BASEBALL HEROES includes 4 literature guides for these picture books:
Honus and Me;
Home Run, The Story of Babe Ruth;
Shoeless Joe and Black Betsy, and
Lou Gehrig, the Luckiest Man

The Kids Wings literature guide PLUS interactive Jeopardy-type game, perfect for lesson plans, handouts, or projection on your SmartBoard, is now available!

This Kids Wings Activity Guide Contains 71 Pages:

Pre-reading Activities
Get Ready! Get Set! Discuss! Pre-reading Discussion Cards
Anticipation Guide
Preparing Your Intellectual Tools
Map Study: Where in the World Are Ohio and Missouri?
Walt and Jeremiah, A 3-page Readers’ Theater Introduction to Soar for 2 Voices
Character Studies
Chart the Story’s Progress
Vocabulary List by Chapters
Vocabulary Tic-Tac-Toe

7-Chapter Guides Including:
Vocabulary List for 6 Chapters
Quick Writes for Each Chapter
Chapter Questions for Predicting and Confirming
Comprehension Check-ups
Visualizing the Text
Puzzles
30 Baseball Game Questions-and-Answers for one chapter group

How to Play Classroom Baseball
Active Baseball Game Questions and Answers to Conclude Each Chapter Group

The Research Song for Defining Big6 Skills
Research Magellan
Research Autism
Research Performance Enhancing Drugs

Listening for the Point of View in a Story
The Meanings of Names
Plotting the Plot in Soar

PLUS a 53-slide interactive Jeopardy-type game:

Sample Thumbnails for the Kids Wings' activity pages:

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Other BASEBALL Books with Kids Wings Literature Guides:

Other Sports Books with Kids Wings Literature Guides

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^SMDisclaimer: Texas Bluebonnet Award^SM is a service mark of the Texas Library Association, which is in no way affiliated with Kids' Wings or Suzy Red. Use of the Texas Bluebonnet Award mark in these materials does not imply any endorsement of any kind on behalf of the Texas Library Association. The Texas Bluebonnet Book Master List^SM was selected by the Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee of the Texas Library Association.