At the end of last week, I got to read Jennifer Holm's latest, The Fourteenth Goldfish, and loved it! I love the message of "believe in the possible" that occurs frequently throughout the story. Somehow Holm manages to mesh the realistic fiction genre with the science fiction genre in a very believable way. It was done so well, I never found myself questioning the unrealistic elements. I had to believe in the possible as well. This is a must have book!!The other part of this post is what I will be reading -- the blogs Great Kid Books, The Show Me Librarian, Kid Lit Frenzy, and The Nonfiction Detectives. I recently saw on Google+ where MaryAnn Scheuer and her librarian colleagues have begun to help gather nonfiction titles around a high-interest topic, and then find books that gradually increase in text complexity. This process has produced book lists that will be wonderful resources for teachers, librarians, and parents as they help connect students with texts on a favorite topic, let them build some background knowledge, and then possibly move up in text complexity over time.
The category I just saw dealt with baseball. The books have been divvied up at different blogs based on text complexity:
- beginning readers (grades K - 2)
- read aloud picture books (grades K - 3)
- middle grade readers (grades 3 - 4)
- older middle grade readers (grades 5 - 6)
I am so excited about this resource and can't wait to check out more of their collections! This is something teachers do on their own all the time, but what a wonderful starting point for all of us.
Check out what everyone else is reading at Teach Mentor Texts. Thanks to Jen and Kellee for hosting the kidlit version of this meme.
Thanks Karen for the shout out for our Common Core IRL series. It's a lot of fun to do. Also, if you ever want more nonfiction recommendations I (Kid Lit Frenzy) do a Wednesday challenge for nonfiction picture books and other teachers/librarians link up. Lots of good resources there too. Stop by when you can.
ReplyDeleteThe collections sound so helpful, I agree, Karen. National Geographic is doing some of that with their "Ladders" series too.I need to look for the Holm book. It sounds good!
ReplyDeleteMy comment disappeared, so don't know if you'll receive two! Thanks for sharing about the series. Nat'l Geographic is doing some of that with their "Ladders" series. And thanks for sharing about the Holm book. It sounds good!
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