Selecting Books – Nonfiction Awards

This week we are talking about the Sibert  Informational  Award .  We talked about what nonfiction meant (contain facts and information, true stories) and where they are located in our library.  Just like the fiction books, nonfiction or informational books also are given awards.  The award we talked about was the Sibert Award.   I read   What to do about Alice? , an award winning biography about Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter  Alice.  I put other Sibert Award books out on display.  In our library, the Sibert Award books have yellow spine labels which make them easier to find on the shelf.

Additional Resources:   Sibert Award, President’s Children

Selecting Books – Fiction Awards

We are continuing our series of  How to Select Books.

This past week we talked about Fiction Award winning books. The children’s fiction book awards which we talked about were the Caldecott,  Geisel  and  Newbery Awards.  We talked about what each of these are, showed examples for each award, and demonstrated how to find them in our library.  In our library, the award winning books have stickers on their spines.  We have posters showing the medal (first place) award winners. They can also be found by searching the catalog by the award name.  Currently they are on display in the library as well.

We then read an award winning book.  The first graders heard Josh Schneider’s Tales of a Picky Eaters (Geisel Award 2012) and second graders listened to Grandpa Green (Caldecott  Honor Award 2012).

   

Additional Resources:

Tales for Very Picky Eaters

Grandpa Green

Selecting Books – Using Lists

We are continuing our series of  How to Select Books. This week we are talking about choosing books from a list. I showed them several books with list including Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children and Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook.

               

I also talked about lists that can be downloaded from the internet including Amazon’s Best Children’s Books and  NEA ‘s Teacher’s Top 100 List.  We then read a book from the Teacher’s Top 100 List – Harold and the Purple Crayon .

Activity –  Video – Harold and the Purple Crayon

Book Display – Books from Teacher’s Top 100 List.

Selecting Books – Favorite Series

This week we continued talking about ways to select books to read.  One way is to start a series and continue reading additional books in the series.  We talked about what a series is.  Series books are groups of books which have several things in common.  Frequently, we are written by the same author, have the same characters and are the same type of book (funny, mystery, etc.) Some series that we talked about were Curious George, Martha Speaks and Black Lagoon.  We then read a beginning reader series Joe and Sparky.

Check out  resources about the series – Joe and Sparky

For list of other series, check out – Booklist – Series

Selecting Books – Favorite Authors

We started talking about ways to select books to read. This week we talked about selecting books by our favorite authors.  After reading a book that we like, find out if the author has written any other books and check them out.  I showed them books by Jan Brett, Eric Carle and Kevin Henkes.  I then read Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch.

Check out resources for this book – Stephanie’s Ponytail.

For more information about these authors and more, check out Authors – Picture Books