Greetings!
I received a question this week from a reader asking if there was a preferred way to catalog the books of Ellen G. White. I think the easiest way to do this is to use a ‘W’ on the top line and then the abbreviation for the particular book. For example, you would catalog The Acts of the Apostles like this:
W
AA
I found in the Index to the Writings of Ellen G. White a list of her books and the abbreviations for many of them. If you would like this list, check in the first few pages of your index to find them. If you don’t have an index and would like a copy, let me know and I will send you a copy. There are other books that aren’t listed there, but you can follow the general pattern and catalog them accordingly.
I found an idea in a library journal that you might like to use to encourage reading over the holidays. One librarian used the song “The 12 Days of Christmas” as her start and then selected 12 recently published books to recommend to the students. She called it her “12 Books of Christmas” reading list and posted this in the school library, in the newsletter, as a bulletin board display, and made a bookmark for the list. I might not use recently published books, but would choose books that I wanted the students to read or books that were favorites of mine. The point of the reading list is to keep books and reading on their minds through the holidays. Try it out and see if you like it.
Encourage books as gifts and consider starting a stash of books that you can use for gifts. When I have a book fair, I use my points to get books from the fair and put them in a separate cupboard to use for gifts.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Authors and Books
Greetings!
I want to share some authors and their books with you this week.
It is difficult to find books that span the ages of our children in grades 1 – 8, but Jerry Pallotta is able to do this easily. He writes alphabet books. I know that sound childish, but his books also include a lot of information about the subjects he is writing about. If you aren’t familiar with his books, I highly recommend them. I know of teachers that have their students make similar books for class projects and use these as a guide. Some of his titles are ‘The Underwater Alphabet Book, The Spice Alphabet Book, The Bird Alphabet Book, The Desert Alphabet Book, The Flower Alphabet Book, The Ocean Alphabet Book, and The Icky Bug Alphabet Book.’ He also has some math books that kids enjoy such as the “Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Fractions Book.” The fractions are shown using a Hershey’s chocolate bar.
Gail Gibbons writes and illustrates informational books for younger children. She researches her subject and simplifies it for her readers. She has many, many books out and you can find them online and choose the subject or subjects you can use best in your school. I like the one about apples and the one about berries, but the one about monarch butterflies is good, and the one about bees is great. You can see how much I like her books, can’t you. I really like the one about pottery. It is called ‘The Pottery Place’ and she has even made the endpapers look like splatters of clay slip. Gail describes the process of making things out of clay and the firing and glazing process. In her book ‘Stargazers’ we learn about stars, constellations, astronomers, telescopes and more. All that in 32 pages! There are many more books of hers, but you get the idea.
Aliki also has many books that she writes. She, like Gail Gibbons, researches, writes and illustrates her books. The first book I noticed of hers was ‘A Medieval Feast’. I love the descriptions of the preparations needed for a feast for a king and the illustrations are so colorful. There is a simple text for the story, but further information is included in the illustrations. In her book ‘How a Book Is Made’, she goes through the entire process of writing a book, the editing process, the publishing and the printing until finally the book is done and ready to read. ‘Corn is Maize’ tells the history of corn and how we use it today. At the end of the book she describes how to make a corn husk doll and corn husk wreath.
Beverly Cleary wrote the Ramona Quimby books and I hope you all have heard of them and even have them already in your libraries. If you don’t, it would be a good collection to have. The Beezus and Ramona movie that came out recently spurred a new interest in the books. They are also great read aloud books. Anyway, most people know about those books, but she wrote four books for young children about twins Janet and Jimmy which are wonderful. The Growing-up Feet, Two Dog Biscuits, The Real Hole, and Janet’s Thing-a-ma-jigs are all so good I could not tell you my favorite. Beverly Cleary has the ability to write exactly what a child would think and feel so the stories are very real. Other books of hers are about Henry and his dog Ribsy, and ‘Dear Mr. Henshaw’ with the sequel ‘Strider’. She wrote a few books that stand alone such as ‘Socks’, ‘Muggie Maggie’, ‘The Mouse and the Motorcycle’, ’Mitch and Amy’, ‘Ellen Tebbits’, ‘Emily’s Runaway Imagination’, ‘The Luckiest Girl’ and ‘Fifteen’. The last two books are about girls in their teens. I believe that you can’t go wrong with a Beverly Cleary book.
One last author that can span the grade levels is Peter Spier. His books are often wordless or nearly so and filled with pictures. Everyone will enjoy looking at the books and little ones learning to read will be able to ‘read’ the story for themselves. I am showing his book ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ which has the lyrics to our national anthem illustrated in great detail. However, my favorites include ‘Noah’s Ark’ (look for the comical end when many rabbits leave the ark), ‘Rain’ (somehow he makes the beginning of the book look a bit dustier than the end when the rain has cleaned it all up), ‘Christmas’, and ‘Jonah’. There are more, but these are good ones to start on.
I hope this information has been helpful to you and you got some good ideas of books to put in your library. I know I had a good time looking at these again.
Check out my blog at sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. All these weekly emails are archived there. I would be pleased for you to become a follower, too.
Have a great week!
Audrey
I want to share some authors and their books with you this week.
It is difficult to find books that span the ages of our children in grades 1 – 8, but Jerry Pallotta is able to do this easily. He writes alphabet books. I know that sound childish, but his books also include a lot of information about the subjects he is writing about. If you aren’t familiar with his books, I highly recommend them. I know of teachers that have their students make similar books for class projects and use these as a guide. Some of his titles are ‘The Underwater Alphabet Book, The Spice Alphabet Book, The Bird Alphabet Book, The Desert Alphabet Book, The Flower Alphabet Book, The Ocean Alphabet Book, and The Icky Bug Alphabet Book.’ He also has some math books that kids enjoy such as the “Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Fractions Book.” The fractions are shown using a Hershey’s chocolate bar.
Gail Gibbons writes and illustrates informational books for younger children. She researches her subject and simplifies it for her readers. She has many, many books out and you can find them online and choose the subject or subjects you can use best in your school. I like the one about apples and the one about berries, but the one about monarch butterflies is good, and the one about bees is great. You can see how much I like her books, can’t you. I really like the one about pottery. It is called ‘The Pottery Place’ and she has even made the endpapers look like splatters of clay slip. Gail describes the process of making things out of clay and the firing and glazing process. In her book ‘Stargazers’ we learn about stars, constellations, astronomers, telescopes and more. All that in 32 pages! There are many more books of hers, but you get the idea.
Aliki also has many books that she writes. She, like Gail Gibbons, researches, writes and illustrates her books. The first book I noticed of hers was ‘A Medieval Feast’. I love the descriptions of the preparations needed for a feast for a king and the illustrations are so colorful. There is a simple text for the story, but further information is included in the illustrations. In her book ‘How a Book Is Made’, she goes through the entire process of writing a book, the editing process, the publishing and the printing until finally the book is done and ready to read. ‘Corn is Maize’ tells the history of corn and how we use it today. At the end of the book she describes how to make a corn husk doll and corn husk wreath.
Beverly Cleary wrote the Ramona Quimby books and I hope you all have heard of them and even have them already in your libraries. If you don’t, it would be a good collection to have. The Beezus and Ramona movie that came out recently spurred a new interest in the books. They are also great read aloud books. Anyway, most people know about those books, but she wrote four books for young children about twins Janet and Jimmy which are wonderful. The Growing-up Feet, Two Dog Biscuits, The Real Hole, and Janet’s Thing-a-ma-jigs are all so good I could not tell you my favorite. Beverly Cleary has the ability to write exactly what a child would think and feel so the stories are very real. Other books of hers are about Henry and his dog Ribsy, and ‘Dear Mr. Henshaw’ with the sequel ‘Strider’. She wrote a few books that stand alone such as ‘Socks’, ‘Muggie Maggie’, ‘The Mouse and the Motorcycle’, ’Mitch and Amy’, ‘Ellen Tebbits’, ‘Emily’s Runaway Imagination’, ‘The Luckiest Girl’ and ‘Fifteen’. The last two books are about girls in their teens. I believe that you can’t go wrong with a Beverly Cleary book.
One last author that can span the grade levels is Peter Spier. His books are often wordless or nearly so and filled with pictures. Everyone will enjoy looking at the books and little ones learning to read will be able to ‘read’ the story for themselves. I am showing his book ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ which has the lyrics to our national anthem illustrated in great detail. However, my favorites include ‘Noah’s Ark’ (look for the comical end when many rabbits leave the ark), ‘Rain’ (somehow he makes the beginning of the book look a bit dustier than the end when the rain has cleaned it all up), ‘Christmas’, and ‘Jonah’. There are more, but these are good ones to start on.
I hope this information has been helpful to you and you got some good ideas of books to put in your library. I know I had a good time looking at these again.
Check out my blog at sdalibrarian.blogspot.com. All these weekly emails are archived there. I would be pleased for you to become a follower, too.
Have a great week!
Audrey
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Making of a Good Reader
Greetings!
We all want our students to be good readers. You can buy all the programs, incentives and other gizmos you want, but as far as I am concerned, there is one best way to become a good reader. That is to READ. Since most of us don’t have extra money to throw away, there is a great FREE way to accomplish this. Sustained Silent Reading. Drop Everything and Read. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Daily silent reading will do it.
There are some important steps or rules to follow. These are NOT for the students as much as for the teacher to follow. I personally guarantee that if you follow the rules I am about to give you, you will have a 98% success rate and have increased your students reading levels by nearly two grade levels in reading over the course of the school year.
First, you need to make time in your daily schedule for silent reading. This could be part of the reading class or after lunch or anytime that works, but it needs to be scheduled just like you do for all the other subjects. If you decide to use part of the reading time, still schedule it along with a time slot. Write it on the schedule so you and the children will see it every day. Do your ultimate best to never miss a day. These actions will visibly show the students that this is important to you. It is important enough that we do this every day, not just when we feel like it or if we happen to have enough time, then we will have silent reading. We do this every day.
Second, let students choose what they want to read. The reading needs to be self-selected, not assigned. This is not the time to read the social studies assignment! Encourage students to gather enough reading material to last for the period so they won’t be getting up and walking around and distract others. Young children may need 10 – 15 books or magazines at arm’s reach. Older ones may only choose to have a chapter book. You may need to decide if you will allow students to bring reading material from home or not.
Third, YOU NEED TO READ TOO. If you grade papers or work on lesson plans and don’t read during this time, you send a very loud message that even though you SAY reading is important, you don’t really believe it. Find a book that you have been wanting to read and pull it out and read every day. You are the model for these kids. If you are afraid you will go overtime if you start reading, I totally understand. I kept a timer handy and set the timer for the specified time every day so I could read in peace and not continually have to be watching the clock. I waited until everyone was settled, and then set the timer and we all started reading.
If you haven’t done this yet, I would recommend starting with 5 minutes for grades 1 – 3 and 10 minutes for grades 4 – up. After a week or so, increase the time until you are reading for 15 – 20 minutes every day for grades 3 – up. First and second graders may not all be able to read for that long, but you know what your students are capable of doing.
This is not Reading Buddies where older students read to younger ones. That is also a great program, but completely separate from this. If you have a variety of grades that includes students too young to read for the extended time slot, you may need to be a bit creative with them. Maybe a parent or volunteer can take them out of the classroom and read aloud to them during this time. Maybe this can be nap time. Maybe you set a silent reading period for 10 minutes, and then take the younger ones for a quiet class while older ones who wish to continue reading silently can do so.
A quick recap:
1. Schedule daily silent reading time and write it on the schedule.
2. Let students choose their own reading material.
3. The teacher must model and read during the time slot.
4. Read daily without fail.
If you follow these guidelines, you will turn out a classroom full of readers for FREE!
I hope you decide to have a silent reading period in your classrooms if you aren’t doing it already. It amazes me that many teachers do not seem to think this is important enough to schedule in daily. I taught third grade for 11 years and at the end of each year my third graders would leave my classroom with nearly all of them reading on a fifth grade reading level or close to it. The only thing I did that other teachers did not do was to have silent reading time every day. I loved that time of peace and quiet. It really helped lower stress levels in our classroom, mine included. After reading, we were all calm and would then continue our school day.
Have a great and peaceful week!
Audrey
We all want our students to be good readers. You can buy all the programs, incentives and other gizmos you want, but as far as I am concerned, there is one best way to become a good reader. That is to READ. Since most of us don’t have extra money to throw away, there is a great FREE way to accomplish this. Sustained Silent Reading. Drop Everything and Read. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Daily silent reading will do it.
There are some important steps or rules to follow. These are NOT for the students as much as for the teacher to follow. I personally guarantee that if you follow the rules I am about to give you, you will have a 98% success rate and have increased your students reading levels by nearly two grade levels in reading over the course of the school year.
First, you need to make time in your daily schedule for silent reading. This could be part of the reading class or after lunch or anytime that works, but it needs to be scheduled just like you do for all the other subjects. If you decide to use part of the reading time, still schedule it along with a time slot. Write it on the schedule so you and the children will see it every day. Do your ultimate best to never miss a day. These actions will visibly show the students that this is important to you. It is important enough that we do this every day, not just when we feel like it or if we happen to have enough time, then we will have silent reading. We do this every day.
Second, let students choose what they want to read. The reading needs to be self-selected, not assigned. This is not the time to read the social studies assignment! Encourage students to gather enough reading material to last for the period so they won’t be getting up and walking around and distract others. Young children may need 10 – 15 books or magazines at arm’s reach. Older ones may only choose to have a chapter book. You may need to decide if you will allow students to bring reading material from home or not.
Third, YOU NEED TO READ TOO. If you grade papers or work on lesson plans and don’t read during this time, you send a very loud message that even though you SAY reading is important, you don’t really believe it. Find a book that you have been wanting to read and pull it out and read every day. You are the model for these kids. If you are afraid you will go overtime if you start reading, I totally understand. I kept a timer handy and set the timer for the specified time every day so I could read in peace and not continually have to be watching the clock. I waited until everyone was settled, and then set the timer and we all started reading.
If you haven’t done this yet, I would recommend starting with 5 minutes for grades 1 – 3 and 10 minutes for grades 4 – up. After a week or so, increase the time until you are reading for 15 – 20 minutes every day for grades 3 – up. First and second graders may not all be able to read for that long, but you know what your students are capable of doing.
This is not Reading Buddies where older students read to younger ones. That is also a great program, but completely separate from this. If you have a variety of grades that includes students too young to read for the extended time slot, you may need to be a bit creative with them. Maybe a parent or volunteer can take them out of the classroom and read aloud to them during this time. Maybe this can be nap time. Maybe you set a silent reading period for 10 minutes, and then take the younger ones for a quiet class while older ones who wish to continue reading silently can do so.
A quick recap:
1. Schedule daily silent reading time and write it on the schedule.
2. Let students choose their own reading material.
3. The teacher must model and read during the time slot.
4. Read daily without fail.
If you follow these guidelines, you will turn out a classroom full of readers for FREE!
I hope you decide to have a silent reading period in your classrooms if you aren’t doing it already. It amazes me that many teachers do not seem to think this is important enough to schedule in daily. I taught third grade for 11 years and at the end of each year my third graders would leave my classroom with nearly all of them reading on a fifth grade reading level or close to it. The only thing I did that other teachers did not do was to have silent reading time every day. I loved that time of peace and quiet. It really helped lower stress levels in our classroom, mine included. After reading, we were all calm and would then continue our school day.
Have a great and peaceful week!
Audrey
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Greetings!
Many times we find books that need some repair. I have found that most of the repairs just need a little glue. I will demo a few basic gluing repairs and hope that you will be inspired to do some of these yourselves.
I recommend buying glue for book repair rather than trying to use something like Elmer’s glue. It just does a better job and lasts quite a long time. Check with a library supply for book glue. I buy it in a large size and decant it into a small Ziploc plastic container. The glue doesn’t stick to the container and if it does dry on the sides, it peels right off. If you keep the container closed, it will not dry out for a long time.
When the text part comes away from the cover of a paperback book, it is an easy fix. Just take a paintbrush and paint the glue along the back of the spine.
Then press it firmly back in place and hold it in place with rubber bands.
I also stack the books as I repair them using boards and a weight. The boards I use are from a piece of smooth plywood that I had cut into pieces (9” x 12”) at Home Depot. They cut the boards for free, so my cost was the sheet of plywood and two bricks. I think I paid less than $5.00 for all of it. I wrapped the two bricks in butcher paper and duct tape to keep them from scratching the books.
At this point, if I have more books to repair, I will take the first books from the bottom and set them aside. All they need now is to dry. I usually let them dry overnight, but if you are in a hurry, it should be OK in a couple of hours. I just warn others to be gentle with it for a while.
Sometimes we have an area that needs to be glued, but we just can’t get a paintbrush in the area. This next book needs to be glued along the edge next to the spine. Here’s a trick I learned. Dip a knitting needle in the glue and insert it into the area that needs to be glued. You may need to dip a few times, but the area will be glued, and the glue on the needle will wash off easily.
Set aside either with rubber bands or under a weight to dry. This particular book also needs more work on the upper and lower spine. When the book is dry, I will use repair wings and repair corners to reinforce the spine and corners.
The supplies I used today were from Highsmith library supply and other sources. Book-Saver Liquid Plastic repair hinge is available in three sizes: 8-oz, quart, and gallon; Ziploc container from my house, and knitting needle, rubber bands, and paintbrush from any craft store. Boards and bricks were from Home Depot. Highsmith also has a book care and repair guide for under $10.00 which will guide you through basic repairs.
I hope this has been helpful to you. I know when I see something it makes much more sense. Have a great week.
Audrey
Many times we find books that need some repair. I have found that most of the repairs just need a little glue. I will demo a few basic gluing repairs and hope that you will be inspired to do some of these yourselves.
I recommend buying glue for book repair rather than trying to use something like Elmer’s glue. It just does a better job and lasts quite a long time. Check with a library supply for book glue. I buy it in a large size and decant it into a small Ziploc plastic container. The glue doesn’t stick to the container and if it does dry on the sides, it peels right off. If you keep the container closed, it will not dry out for a long time.
When the text part comes away from the cover of a paperback book, it is an easy fix. Just take a paintbrush and paint the glue along the back of the spine.
Then press it firmly back in place and hold it in place with rubber bands.
I also stack the books as I repair them using boards and a weight. The boards I use are from a piece of smooth plywood that I had cut into pieces (9” x 12”) at Home Depot. They cut the boards for free, so my cost was the sheet of plywood and two bricks. I think I paid less than $5.00 for all of it. I wrapped the two bricks in butcher paper and duct tape to keep them from scratching the books.
At this point, if I have more books to repair, I will take the first books from the bottom and set them aside. All they need now is to dry. I usually let them dry overnight, but if you are in a hurry, it should be OK in a couple of hours. I just warn others to be gentle with it for a while.
Sometimes we have an area that needs to be glued, but we just can’t get a paintbrush in the area. This next book needs to be glued along the edge next to the spine. Here’s a trick I learned. Dip a knitting needle in the glue and insert it into the area that needs to be glued. You may need to dip a few times, but the area will be glued, and the glue on the needle will wash off easily.
Set aside either with rubber bands or under a weight to dry. This particular book also needs more work on the upper and lower spine. When the book is dry, I will use repair wings and repair corners to reinforce the spine and corners.
The supplies I used today were from Highsmith library supply and other sources. Book-Saver Liquid Plastic repair hinge is available in three sizes: 8-oz, quart, and gallon; Ziploc container from my house, and knitting needle, rubber bands, and paintbrush from any craft store. Boards and bricks were from Home Depot. Highsmith also has a book care and repair guide for under $10.00 which will guide you through basic repairs.
I hope this has been helpful to you. I know when I see something it makes much more sense. Have a great week.
Audrey
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Copyright and more
Greetings!
At this time of year our students are into the routine of school and are likely beginning to work on bigger projects. I notice more of these happening at our school. As children are beginning to learn research skills, let’s add copyright lessons. These are easy to incorporate as you present the parameters of the assignment. If students are old enough to read and learn information whether from print sources or the internet, then they are old enough to tell where the information came from. My May 11, 2011 post was on copyright and I encourage you to go to my blog and reread it to remind yourself of the simple basics of copyright. In the blog post I also have a link to a website that was created for teacher education on copyright for Henrico county schools. The great thing is that anyone can take the quiz to learn, but we don’t get graded on it!
There are a couple of pet peeves of mine regarding copyright issues. First, Google is NOT a source. Students often cite as their source “Google.com”. If your students do this, have them type in “google.com” and see what comes up. This should clue them in to the fact that Google is NOT a source.
Second, “Fair Use” does NOT mean that teachers can automatically use whatever they want without citing their source. I mention a couple of examples in the May 2010 blog post about what is fair use and what is not.
If you want to do some fun lessons on copyright with your students, check out the free educational program called “B4U Copy”. www.b4ucopy.com There is an Elementary school guide and a Middle School guide. I have used this guide in library lessons and we just discuss the lessons, rather than use them as worksheets. The kids like it and there are some wonderful teaching moments. This free program is part of the website www.ymiteacher.com site. Take a look at that site and you’ll find other free units already prepared for you to use. But make sure you cite your source!
I hope you take a look at the May 11, 2010 post and while you are there, peek at a few others. You might be surprised what you see.
Have a great week!
Audrey
At this time of year our students are into the routine of school and are likely beginning to work on bigger projects. I notice more of these happening at our school. As children are beginning to learn research skills, let’s add copyright lessons. These are easy to incorporate as you present the parameters of the assignment. If students are old enough to read and learn information whether from print sources or the internet, then they are old enough to tell where the information came from. My May 11, 2011 post was on copyright and I encourage you to go to my blog and reread it to remind yourself of the simple basics of copyright. In the blog post I also have a link to a website that was created for teacher education on copyright for Henrico county schools. The great thing is that anyone can take the quiz to learn, but we don’t get graded on it!
There are a couple of pet peeves of mine regarding copyright issues. First, Google is NOT a source. Students often cite as their source “Google.com”. If your students do this, have them type in “google.com” and see what comes up. This should clue them in to the fact that Google is NOT a source.
Second, “Fair Use” does NOT mean that teachers can automatically use whatever they want without citing their source. I mention a couple of examples in the May 2010 blog post about what is fair use and what is not.
If you want to do some fun lessons on copyright with your students, check out the free educational program called “B4U Copy”. www.b4ucopy.com There is an Elementary school guide and a Middle School guide. I have used this guide in library lessons and we just discuss the lessons, rather than use them as worksheets. The kids like it and there are some wonderful teaching moments. This free program is part of the website www.ymiteacher.com site. Take a look at that site and you’ll find other free units already prepared for you to use. But make sure you cite your source!
I hope you take a look at the May 11, 2010 post and while you are there, peek at a few others. You might be surprised what you see.
Have a great week!
Audrey
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Inappropriate Books Brought From Home
Greetings,
I am revisiting an old question that was asked in 2009 regarding inappropriate books that students bring from home. One teacher wanted to know how other teachers handled this issue. This is a good question because we all have had this happen. What should we as SDA teachers do?
This issue is more common in the upper grades than the lower grades. I believe that if a student needs to do a book report, the book should be approved by the teacher first. If the book does not appear to meet SDA standards, then I would tell the student to choose another book for the report. For example, you as the teacher have not read the book, but the cover and illustrations indicate that it is a fantasy novel, then the student likely should choose another book to read.
Some teachers avoid this problem by assigning certain genre for each book report. This month students need to report on a historical event, or a book of poetry, or a science book, or a biography. One advantage of this is that you can help students read other material that they might not otherwise be exposed to. You could also have students read across the Dewey numbers choosing a book from each of the Dewey numbers each month. Some teachers avoid the problem by having a class discussion about the kinds of books that will be acceptable and what is not acceptable. This will also make your expectations clear without causing embarrassment to a student.
As a teacher, when I saw a book that was inappropriate I would speak privately to the student and let them know that I thought it was wonderful that they enjoyed reading so much. Then I would explain that the book they had is not one that many of the other parents would like for their children to read and request that the student take that book home and read it there and choose a different one for school. I seldom had a problem.
I would like to hear from you about how you have handled this issue in the past and would be interested in sharing ideas in the near future. I will just use the ideas, not names.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
I am revisiting an old question that was asked in 2009 regarding inappropriate books that students bring from home. One teacher wanted to know how other teachers handled this issue. This is a good question because we all have had this happen. What should we as SDA teachers do?
This issue is more common in the upper grades than the lower grades. I believe that if a student needs to do a book report, the book should be approved by the teacher first. If the book does not appear to meet SDA standards, then I would tell the student to choose another book for the report. For example, you as the teacher have not read the book, but the cover and illustrations indicate that it is a fantasy novel, then the student likely should choose another book to read.
Some teachers avoid this problem by assigning certain genre for each book report. This month students need to report on a historical event, or a book of poetry, or a science book, or a biography. One advantage of this is that you can help students read other material that they might not otherwise be exposed to. You could also have students read across the Dewey numbers choosing a book from each of the Dewey numbers each month. Some teachers avoid the problem by having a class discussion about the kinds of books that will be acceptable and what is not acceptable. This will also make your expectations clear without causing embarrassment to a student.
As a teacher, when I saw a book that was inappropriate I would speak privately to the student and let them know that I thought it was wonderful that they enjoyed reading so much. Then I would explain that the book they had is not one that many of the other parents would like for their children to read and request that the student take that book home and read it there and choose a different one for school. I seldom had a problem.
I would like to hear from you about how you have handled this issue in the past and would be interested in sharing ideas in the near future. I will just use the ideas, not names.
I hope you have a great week.
Audrey
Monday, October 3, 2011
New Titles
Greetings!
This week I am in the midst of the fall book fair from Scholastic and my library is full of cases of new books. What a wonderful thing for a librarian! I have found some wonderful titles that I would like to share with you. These are not in any order, just listing them as I find them.
The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah with Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. $16.99 hardcover. Which is better for lunch? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a hummus and pita sandwich? Lily and Salma are best friends but the sandwiches they each bring look strange to the other. An argument turns into a food fight which turns into a school-wide international foods picnic. This is a good story to help teach diversity and tolerance for the customs of others.
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Laura Regan. $4.99 paperback. There is a penguin at the San Francisco California Academy of Sciences museum who skipped molting for a few years. His feathers grew brittle and broke off leaving him nearly featherless. Without feathers, he was too cold and would not get in the water. The aquatic biologist worked with the vet and others and to make a tiny wetsuit for Pierre so he would be warm enough. Soon his feathers did grow back and he recovered. Questions and answers are at the back of the book along with a website to view the penguins online via a webcam. I have visited this and seen the penguins and also saw pictures of Pierre. Very cool! No pun intended.
Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby. $$16.99 hardcover. On Johanna’s family’s farm, a pig had a litter of piglets one of which was premature. They brought him inside and one of the dachshunds became mother to the piglet. She had one puppy of her own, plus being foster mom to other puppies. She took care of the pink piglet aptly named “Pink” until he was old enough to return to the barn. Photographs of the animals are the illustrations.
Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships by Catherine Thimmesh. $16.99 hardcover. One page shows a photograph of an unusual animal friendship while a short paragraph tells the story of the two friends. One picture shows a darling baby macaque that had been abandoned hugging a white pigeon and the story behind it.
With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney. $12.99 hardcover. This is the newest of the Dear America series telling the story of what it was like for a young black girl to attend an all-white school in Hadley, Virginia in 1954 after the court rules in favor of desegration due to Brown vs. Board of Education. If your school does not have any of these Dear America books, you might take a look at them to see if this is something you would like to begin adding to your library. They are all written in diary format about an event in history. This is a good way to introduce history or to supplement a unit.
If your school has a Scholastic Book Fair, you will find these books there. If you don’t have a fair, consider a trip to a Scholastic warehouse or attend a book fair at the local public school.
Hope you a have a great week.
Audrey
This week I am in the midst of the fall book fair from Scholastic and my library is full of cases of new books. What a wonderful thing for a librarian! I have found some wonderful titles that I would like to share with you. These are not in any order, just listing them as I find them.
The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah with Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. $16.99 hardcover. Which is better for lunch? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a hummus and pita sandwich? Lily and Salma are best friends but the sandwiches they each bring look strange to the other. An argument turns into a food fight which turns into a school-wide international foods picnic. This is a good story to help teach diversity and tolerance for the customs of others.
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Laura Regan. $4.99 paperback. There is a penguin at the San Francisco California Academy of Sciences museum who skipped molting for a few years. His feathers grew brittle and broke off leaving him nearly featherless. Without feathers, he was too cold and would not get in the water. The aquatic biologist worked with the vet and others and to make a tiny wetsuit for Pierre so he would be warm enough. Soon his feathers did grow back and he recovered. Questions and answers are at the back of the book along with a website to view the penguins online via a webcam. I have visited this and seen the penguins and also saw pictures of Pierre. Very cool! No pun intended.
Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby. $$16.99 hardcover. On Johanna’s family’s farm, a pig had a litter of piglets one of which was premature. They brought him inside and one of the dachshunds became mother to the piglet. She had one puppy of her own, plus being foster mom to other puppies. She took care of the pink piglet aptly named “Pink” until he was old enough to return to the barn. Photographs of the animals are the illustrations.
Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships by Catherine Thimmesh. $16.99 hardcover. One page shows a photograph of an unusual animal friendship while a short paragraph tells the story of the two friends. One picture shows a darling baby macaque that had been abandoned hugging a white pigeon and the story behind it.
With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney. $12.99 hardcover. This is the newest of the Dear America series telling the story of what it was like for a young black girl to attend an all-white school in Hadley, Virginia in 1954 after the court rules in favor of desegration due to Brown vs. Board of Education. If your school does not have any of these Dear America books, you might take a look at them to see if this is something you would like to begin adding to your library. They are all written in diary format about an event in history. This is a good way to introduce history or to supplement a unit.
If your school has a Scholastic Book Fair, you will find these books there. If you don’t have a fair, consider a trip to a Scholastic warehouse or attend a book fair at the local public school.
Hope you a have a great week.
Audrey
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