Chapter 9 Nonfiction

When I think about nonfiction I normally think of biographies and journals. I never knew that reference books such as dictoinaries and encyclopedias, were considered nonfiction I thought they were in a category by themselves.

All types of nonfiction texts can be helpful in teaching social studies and sciene. I found a website on an author named April Pulley Sayre who has written over fifty natural history books for children and adults. http://www.aprilsayre.com/ On her site there are links that offer storytime plans that help ideas of how to incorporate some of her nonfiction books into teaching social studies.

I also found a website for John Malam http://www.johnmalam.co.uk/ where it has a link to help explain to children how a nonfiction book is made and all the jobs and responsibilities people have to create the book.
Through the site you can also arrange school visits and John Malam offers workshops where older kids in grades 5-9 can make nonfiction books themselves.

Author Site

I found a neat website on the author Judy Blume that I think young students would be interested in.
http://www.judyblume.com/kids.php

Fiction Books

How Oliver Olson Changed The World

by Claudia Mills
ISBN: 0374334870

In this chapter book Oliver Olson is a third grader who has overprotective parents who do his homework for him and won't let him go to sleepovers or ride his bike down the street. For their science project he gets paired with Crystal to make a diorama of the solar system. Crystal helps Oliver stand up for himself and even though he might not have made a significant change to the world, he made a big change in his life.

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Being Teddy Roosevelt

By Claudia Mills

ISBN: 0374306575

Riley O' Rourke is a third grader who wants to learn to play the saxophone in the school band. His mother is hesitant because he is already struggling with his school work and with her being a single mom she doesn't have the extra money for the instrument rental. For a school assignment he is required to read a biography on Teddy Roosevelt and he grows to admire Teddy's attitude. He says to himself "If Teddy Roosevelt had wanted a saxophone, he would have gotten himself a saxophone. Somehow." So Riley went to the band director and explained his situation. The band director understood his dilemma and provides him with a free used instrument to use so he can join the band.

Picture Books

Math Curse

by Jon Sciezka

ISBN 06070861944

Math curse is a good book to incorporate during math lessons. It is about a girl waking up one day with a "curse" that every decision she makes is a math problem. Some of the math problems are common questions but others are silly for example, "does tuna fish + tuna fish = fourna fish?" The book shows the need for math in a fun way.

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Mailing May

by Ted Rand

ISBN 0064437248

Mailing May is about a five year old girl named Charlotte May who lives in 1914 and wants to go visit her grandma very badly however he parents can't afford all the money it costs for her to travel on the train to her grandma's house. Instead they decide to send her as a package because it is much cheaper and her cousin works in the mail car so he can ensure she gets there safely. Her father takes her to the post office and sticks stamps onto the back of May's coat and sends her on her way. Students will enjoy this story because while it is somewhat silly it is a true story that really happened.

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Firehorse Max

By Sara London

Firehorse Max is about Grandpa Lev who has a horse who is to old to pull his wagon. Since he is a peddler he needs his wagon and buys a horse from the firehouse auction. Since this horse previously pulled the firewagon he rushes to the fire as soon as he hears the fire bell go off. This becomes a problem for Grandpa Lev because he is unable to sell his items when Max runs after fires. After discovering Max's love for music he plays the violin to calm Max down when the fire bells go off.

Ch 7- Picture Books

The definition of picture books is pretty self explanitory, they are books composed of mostly pictures. Most picture books are relatively short (about 32 pages) and contain limited text. Much of the emotion and story is told through the illustrations. They are available for all ageas and content areas. Picture books also help with reading comprehension and visual learners.

Illustrated stories started out in ancient times with drawings on the walls of caves. Over a great deal of time it has developed into the picture books we now have today.

Illustrators today use a variety of materials to make the intricate images in a picture book. Some of the media is made using collages, charcoal, scratchboard or woodcuts. Each medium provides the illustrator with a different final product that can best represent the author's story.

Picture books should be a part of every teachers classroom library because they are an easy form of literature to make a connection with.

I also found this neat website about picture books that could be helpful for choosing books for students: http://childrenspicturebooks.info/

Traditional Literature Books

Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About A Giant Woman With A Great Big Heart

by Pat Mora

ISBN: 0375823379

Grades K-3rd

This is a tall tale about a giant girl named Dona who is able to talk to animals. She is a kind girl who does favors for the children of the town. When the town is being haunted by an animals howling Dona questions the animals around town to find what is making the noise. To everyone's suprise it turns out to be an upset Puma and Dona soothes the puma by speaking with him and returns peace to her village.

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All The Way to Lhasa: A Tale From Tibet

by Barbara Helen Berger

ISBN: 0399233873

An elderly lady sitting on the side of the rode is approached by a man on a horse who asks how far is Lhasa and she tells him that he won't make it there before dark. Soon another person comes up but this time it is a boy walking with his yak. He asks the same question and she answers that he will get there before dark. The boy is determined to get to Lhasa so he paces himself and passes up the horse rider who has used all his energy trying to hurry up and get there quickly. This is a really good book for young readers about determination and being able to pace yourself instead of rushing through every task.

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Little Gold Star: A Spanish American Cinderella Tale

by Robert D. San Souci

ISBN: 0688147801

Grades 1-4

This Cinderella Tale is about a girl named Teresa who lives alone with her father in New Mexico. Her father marries a widow in town and Teresa inherits two stepsisters. Teresa's father gives her a lamb as a gift but her jelous stepmother kills it and sends Teresa to the river to clean its fleece. Teresa goes to the river crying and a fish steals the fleece. While she is crying a beautiful woman pops up and promises to get her back the fleece if she helps an old man and child in a home on the hill. She helps them and as her reward the beautiful woman gives her a gold star on her forhead. When she gets home her stepmothers once again gets jealous and send Teresa's stepsisters to get a gold star as well but because they mistreat the mand and the baby they are given donkey ears and horns instead. Teresa goes to a ball given by Don Miguel and they fall in love at the ball and he asker for her hand in marriage. She refuses to marry him without the permission of her stepmother. When she asks for her stepmother's permission the stepmother gives her a series of impossible tasks but Teresa is able to complete them and her and Don Miguel are married. After they are wed the stepsisters lose their horns and donkey ears and them and the stepmother change to become nicer people.

This story is a good variation to the classic Cinderella story that most children know and could be read with other versions of Cinderella as a comparisson assignment to see the differences.

Maya Angelou

I appreciated watching the Maya Angelou video in class. She is an amazing individual and there is so much we can learn from her. You can tell she is very passionate about literature because her face lights up when she talks about her favorite works and how they have affected her.
Watching video of Maya Angelou could help students develop a better appreciation of poetry and literature in general because she is such an inspiring person.