Author: katrinaj

Jason Chin

It can be hard to get students interested in non-fiction texts, but Jason Chin has come to save the day through his widely acclaimed books Redwoods and Coral Reefs. Chin’s books are filled with accurate, factual information on various science topics. The information he provides is brilliantly complimented by his stunning illustrations, which are the real key to Chin’s books. The words on the page talk about the science topic at hand while the pictures themselves not only illustrate the facts but also tell their own narrative story of how one can get lost in a book and learn so much in the process. Not only are his books likely to hook a variety of readers, but they can also be used to help reinforce the ideas of plant life cycles and the complexity of ecosystems.

Douglas Florian: Poet and Illustrator Extraordinaire

Above is a quick author presentation that introduces the wonderful work of Douglas Florian. He is a wonderful poet. I find is work valuable for a variety of purposes, but I would like to highlight how useful his works could be when paired with science. His work could be used to help enrich content about insects, seasons, size, space, and more. Specifically his work could be used in connection to a variety of Texas science TEKS: 10c in grade 2 and 5, 8A grade 1,2,and 5, size in all grades, and earth and space TEK 7 and 8 all grades. These are only a few of the obvious connection to our state standards.

I would also like to thank Angie Zapata for allowing me to borrow, steal, adapt, and add to her original work on Douglas Florian. I am grateful.

Snippet: Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women (link to book)

By Catherine Thimmesh and Melissa Sweet

This fabulous little book is well written and full of enticing stories. Each little segment, is full of critical information that illustrates how so many women have helped to change the world, for the better. Share this book with students to help with construct powerful and important ideas about gender, science, creativity, and problem solving. These stories illustrate how women used scientific reasoning to discover and create wonderful inventions (TEK connection: A. 3 all grades). These short biographies are worth sharing!

Here is a little snippet to entice you and your students to pick up this book!

“In the beginning. . .

With a push you are free–bursting into the world scrunched up and screaming. ‘It’s a girl!’ the doctor announces. Or ‘It’s a boy! And so your life began. And with those very first breaths, and in those very first moments, your health and well-being were evaluated through the eyes of an ingenious inventor: Dr. Virgina Apgar. Dr. Apgar developed the Newborn Scoring System–or Apgar Score–to measure five crucial aspects of a baby’s health:color, pulse, reflexes, activity, and respiration. She recognized the urgency of identifying the those newborns in need of emergency attention, and because of her innovation, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved (p4).”

“The horses were tired; they were hungry. Time to grab a bite on the journey from Boston to New Bedford: a little hay, maybe some oats. After all, the busy Toll House on Route 18 in Whitman Massachusetts, was a rest stop for horses. But in time, that would change. Hay and oats would give way to salads and soups and chicken in white house. And as luck would have it, chocolate chip cookies.

It was an accident. A simple mistake. A last minute effort to save time. A just-toss-it-in-and-it-will-work-out sot of gesture that led to Ruth Wakefield’s creation of the crunchy, chewy, oh-so-delicious chocolate chip cookie. (p.8)”

Special thanks to Mrs. Meads, a fabulous seventh grade teacher, who shared the idea of snippets with me!

Blogs and Websites

Included are a list of blogs and websites that my students and I have found useful in helping us search for great texts.

Blogs:

http://professornana.livejournal.com/

Teri Lessense, the goddess of YA literarture, is always useful to me when I am seeking on some new books.  I have long enjoyed her books and porfessional presentations. She posts about a wide variety of genres, and is always so current.

http://zero-to-eight.blogspot.com

I really liked the Young Readers Blog because of its easy to read format. The author styles each post with the title, length, and book overview at the beginning so you can know right away if you are interested in a review of the book. She also scores the book’s writing and illustrations.

http://bookends.booklistonline.com/

I chose the Bookends blog because I liked how you get two different perspectives about each book. Also I liked how on the left side bar there are so many different categories that you can click and it will bring up all posts in that category (which include grade levels/ages, genres, topics and characteristics like bedtime stories or girl power).

The Story Hour (http://ilovechildrensbooks.wordpress.com/)

I chose this book blog because it is written by a children’s librarian and that seems like a really credible source to get book ideas from. 🙂

http://greatkidbooks.blogspot.com/

Great Kid Books seems to be a valuable resource for finding age appropriate books for students. Mary Ann Scheuer, author of the blog, gives a detailed summary of each book, where it can be purchased, and the appropriate age level. The blog is helpful because it is updated regularly and includes books that will keep your students’ attention. Scheuer also is extremely knowledgeable in book selection as she is a librarian at a public elementary school. She also includes relevant read alouds, ipad apps, and podcasts on her site.

http://kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/dogeared/

I chose this website because it includes comments and opinions about children’s books from the perspective of children. I think that this is important given that it allows educators and parents to get a review from the main audience of these books. Similarly, I like the fact that it is adequately organized by categories and lets the user search for a specific book within the website.

http://kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/ The blog I picked has personal meaning to me. For years I had given my godson subscriptions to National Geographic for Kids and he LOVED these magazines. National Geographic has a few blog sites for kids, but I liked this one because the kids can submit books they liked as well as pictures and descriptions of placed they have traveled to. I think this blog would not only help students with literacy but geography and history too.

http://bookends.booklistonline.com/

The reason I chose this blog is because it is interesting to hear from two different people and their opinions on the books they post about! Its different than most blogs because you get two librarians opinions instead of just one persons opinion on the book!

http://babbleabout.co.uk/

I found the book log “babbleabout,” it is written by Yvonne with help from her two daughters. It is not only about book but also about interviews, illustrations and she even includes ideas to help children like reading. She has links in which you can search by authors, illustrator, and the age of the child. She also has phonics activities, as well as for writing and numbers. I also like that she makes projects up for her daughters to work together during the summer. She creates activities with them that connect to the book they are reading

http://www.best4future.com/blog/best4future-first-spanish-english-bilingual-children-books

I chose this blog because it is bilingual, and it shows a lot of diversity. I like that it focuses in different languages other than English and Spanish

http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://incultureparent.com/category/reviews/ I liked this blog because it reviewed and featured multicultural books.

http://www.bottomshelfbooks.net/

This is a book blog that keeps you up to date on a lot of books including children’s picture books. Also if it’s around a certain time of the year, these books pop up on top with great ideas! I really liked it and might even order some of these books.

http://hiplibrariansbookblog.wordpress.com/

I chose the Hip Librarian Blog over the others because it is much more in-depth as far as information about the books and what they were about. It wasn’t just a review but about why she chose that book and what it meant to read it. I think students would like it more than just reading a blog with a few sentences. You are able to see her emotions about the book rather than just a straight forward review.

http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/

-has a large variety of books (different reading levels, different genres)  -gives a snippet of each book featured & then a brief summary & commentary  -it might be hard for younger elementary school students to read this blog’s summary and commentary independently; however, the  younger students could still read the snippets of each book and that could spark their interest.  I think that the commentary on  the books would definitely help spark the older student’s interests as well.

This is my book blog for kids. I like this site because it was created by a librarian who retired and has decades of experience. This site is updated daily with one new book. It not only gives a brief summary but provides quotes from the books and the suggested grade recommended for each book.

This blog, which includes reviews of books for a variety of ages, is written by a retired elementary librarian.  It would be a great resource to use within the classroom and among teachers to pick and choose appropriate books for units or reading circles. I chose this blog because it is very readable, informative, and includes a wide variety of books.

http://asuen.com/blog/

Booktalking is a children’s book blog that provides short book talks and “snippets” to use with a variety of recommended texts.  Keeping up with Booktalking will be a great source of information when completing assignments this semester and choosing texts/giving booktalks as a future teacher.  I appreciated that the entries were sorted by category as many of the blogs I viewed were interesting but did not seem very practical for a specific search. It is also incredibly convenient that some of the texts are available for free viewing online and others are linked to amazon.com for purchase.

http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress/

Websites:

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal/belprepast

The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking ( REFORMA), an ALA affiliate.

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants

-Lists 10+ awards given to books  -Lists the winner of the award and the runners up  -Gives pictures and short summaries of each book listed

http://www.ala.org/alsc/

This is my website on books for kids. I like this site because it has a section that provides award winning books. Not only for the elementary level but for secondary as well.

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/quickpicks/2012 2012 quick picks for reluctant young readers I picked this web source first because it is a division of the American Library Association, but also because this 2012 list of books is intended to spark the interest of young readers by having topics that might interest students (Comics, ghosts, famous criminals).  I also liked one of their book selections about chalk artists, these 3D artists are amazing!

(http://www.wegivebooks.org/books)

I chose this website because it has a pretty cool digital library of children’s books that I could use in my future classroom.

http://www.kidsreads.com

I liked all the features this website offers from reviews and author interviews to commentary on “Books on Screen.” I feel the variety and organization of this website allows it to be useful to both students and teachers. Finally, I liked that this site is updated frequently and is interactive with weekly polling and periodic contests.

http://www.txla.org/TBA

I chose the Texas Bluebonnet Award website because I think we here a lot about awards such as the Caldecott, Newberry, Corretta King, and Pura Belpre, but we do not here that much about the Texas Bluebonnet Award, which is a list of 20 books that are chosen by Librarians from the Texas Library Association and a new list is released each year in October during the Texas Book Festival.

http://www.scholastic.com/resources/booklist/mighty-math-books/ (website)

The scholastic website provided a comprehensive list of books appropriate for an elementary classroom. This website would be useful to create enthusiasm and motivation about math content. Incorporating exciting books relating to math may provide extra support for my math lessons. The website also includes links to different books about numbers and other topics for the classroom.

http://www.teachingbooks.net/show.cgi?f=awards2012

I chose this website because it includes a great selection of children’s books that I can see myself using in my future classroom. For instance, the books featured in this website are recent Newberry and Caldecott awards which demonstrated quality literature to integrate in lessons. Similarly, the website not only provides a list of books but also allows the user to listen, watch, and explore a variety of teaching resources to use in the classroom.

http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

The website I chose is the International Children’s Digital Library. It is a free service that allows children to read books online. You can download the site to a iPhone or iPad for easier accessibility. The website also has a collection of activities submitted by members of the community.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site This book website gives a variety of options for just about anyone looking for information on books. I chose to look at the children’s books section because this is what I am interested in!

http://www.readkiddoread.com/

Read Kiddo Read is a great website. I really liked that they have tabs that include ages 0-8, 6&up, 8&up, 10&up, when you click on them it takes you to a page full of books that are appropriate for that age. Once you pick a book it opens up a different page in which it has a summary about the book reviewed by parents and by an educator. It also includes links to where you can buy the books, as well as a list of other books just like the one you chose that you might enjoy as well. It also includes a little paragraph on what critics have said about the book.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

I chose Barnes and Noble because it is very universal, and it is a website that children can actually go visit in person by going to a near by store.

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/

I like the Harper Collins website because it has resources for kids, parents, teachers, and librarians. The teachers page also has book suggestions by month. For example, if you click on October, a lot of Halloween books pop up.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?category_id=925854

This is a website of children’s history books. I absolutely loathe history and these books all looked interesting to me because of the animations and cover page. History should be in the form of a story and these books looks like they would appeal to children.

http://www.yabookscentral.com/

I chose the website Young Adult book central because it is interactive for students and readers of all ages that enjoys young adult books. They allow readers to do their own review, have a profile, and exchange thoughts about the books and the character, plots, settings, etc. I think it is more interesting than your average book website and does a lot more for students than others I have seen!

http://www.bookwink.com/index.html

This websites mission is to inspire kids to read.  Every month they upload a podcast or video called a booktalk that discusses a different topic. For example, this month’s booktalk is on time travel.  Bookwink also allows teachers, students, and parents the ability to find and discover books by looking them up by either subject, grade level, author, or title. This would be a great website to utilize within the classroom when student’s have a specific interest or topic that they wish to learn more about. Additionally, teacher’s could use Bookwink when looking for books that connect to a unit, idea, or topic that is being discussed in the classroom.

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Giggle poetry is a poetry website that features kids poetry to read and rate and is focused on having fun with poetry.  I could see myself using this website simply because it provides such an extensive amount of material that is free and easy to use.  Printing out a fun poem to read with my class could be a spontaneous way to end the day or the basis for a lesson on poetry.  I think the poetry theatre section of the site would also be a great resource for improving reading fluency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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