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Third grade is a funny transition period between picture books (“baby books”) and chapter books (“big kid books”). Personally, I think there is much to say about a great picture book, but my students tend to balk at the idea of reading them; they want long books with as many chapters as possible. I think what my students are really searching for is more challenging content, but not all students are ready to enter the realm of the chapter book or even a very complex picture book (meaning fonts, vocabulary, and overall visual structure). So I try to encourage students toward picture books that are meant to be more academic or informative, and relatively straightforward. Here are two of my many favorites.
Michelle by Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by AG Ford
When I was working for AmeriCorps, my nonprofit purchased this book as a Christmas gift to all its student participants. My students were enthralled by this book because of its subject, Michelle Obama. The book’s text was complex but straightforward enough that it was accessible. It narrated her story without over-fantasizing, and told my students that by working hard, anything was possible. The pictures helped with the comprehension but what shone was Michelle’s values and strength of character. Because of the population I was working with (low income, racially diverse community), I think Michelle continues to be a relevant role model and the reason why the book remained so dear to my students.
Redwoods written and illustrated by Jason Chin
Another great find while working for AmeriCorps, I wanted my students to grasp the height and girth of a redwood tree without ever visiting one. I read this book aloud because the text was sometimes too long and detailed, and needed summarizing or simplifying. This is probably more appropriate for an older grade, but my students enjoyed this nonfiction picture book nonetheless. Jason Chin also wrote and illustrated two other nonfiction books (Coral Reefs and Island: Story of the Galapagos), but I found this one to be the simplest for 3rd grade.
I know what you’re thinking: what about graphic novels for 3rd grade? That’s another blog post in the making. Until then, what picture books have you found that are both engaging and academic?
The post Third grade transitional books appeared first on The Horn Book.
This year, I’ve been fortunate to work in a school where the kids love to read for fun. Throughout the year, I’ve noticed a couple of standout books, the kind of book where there is waitlist for reading; the kind of book where if they can’t find a new book to read, they’ll reread one that they liked before; the kind of book that the students will hide in their desks so that no one else can have them. Intrigued, I snuck off with a couple copies and read them, noticing that all of them are part of a series.
Here’s what my 3rd graders are reading.
Geronimo Stilton series (Scholastic)
The main character, Geronimo Stilton, is a smart and cautious rat, surrounded by a various cast of characters. It lays out exactly what a 2nd/3rd grader would like to read — mostly plot and minimal (funny) dialogue. There are graphics on every page: colors are dominant throughout, the font changes to emphasize certain words, and pictures of characters and maps are scattered among the chapters. Though I understand why my students like it, I found the graphics and colors overwhelming. I prefer the Bad Kitty and Diary of A Wimpy Kid series, which is the same concept of a strong mix of graphic and text (and humor), but the layout is less jarring.
Who was… series (Grosset & Dunlap)
Though the covers are cartoonish, the content and graphics inside are not. This nonfiction biography series clearly outlines the childhood, adult life, and successes of a famous historical person. I enjoyed reading this because the content was rich without oversimplifying. The graphics support the text well, and there’s even a timeline comparing the person’s life with the overarching historic events of the time. My students also eventually used these for their biography book reports, providing that rare mix of useful teaching tool and pleasure reading.
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (Bloomsbury)
Can anyone deny the power of this series? I’m not sure if it’s quite at their reading level, but I recommend the spinoff books (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; Quidditch Through the Ages; The Tales of Beedle the Bard) as a good alternative for those looking for a “right fit.”
World’s Worst Monsters and Villains: Scary Creatures of Myth, Folklore, and Fiction by Kieron Connolly (Scholastic)
This isn’t a bestseller book. However, it hasn’t been on the library shelf for months. Whenever I walk by a student reading it, the pictures are so vivid that even I will stop to read over their shoulder! The book is divided into mythical monsters, classic folk tales, literary monsters, and gods and monsters. It then takes on a faux-scientific format, providing drawn diagrams dissecting physical characteristics, a short history of the monster, and size comparisons. What this book does well is that it is graphically pleasing and easy to read, and provides interesting myth and folklore about worldwide monsters. Though not meant to be a series, there are companion books (Mythical Monsters: Legendary, Fearsome Creatures and Dragons: Fearsome Monsters of Myth and Fiction) that follow the same format and some overlapping content.
By no means is this list supposed to be a list of quality “teachable” books. We have those already. We teach good literature all year. What can be more difficult to achieve are books that are the “right fit” and are fun to read. I hope this short list offers some more books to add to your library, and to help hook your students into reading for pleasure!
The post Third Grade Reads…a lot of series! appeared first on The Horn Book.
“That sounds just like my dad!” one of my students exclaimed. “That must be a grown-up saying that!” offered another. We were in the midst of reading Antoinette Portis’s Not a Box and my second graders were bursting with excited insights about just who the off-page narrator might be.
On its surface, Not a Box seems simple — a young rabbit repeatedly advocates for imagination by reiterating that no, his box is not a box, but whatever he wants or dreams it to be. The seeming simplicity of Not a Box, however, is extremely deceptive.
As a teacher interested in cultivating curiosity and creativity in my students, I am always on the lookout for books that deviate from the standard idea of “book” that my students hold. Due to its intriguing off-page narrator and its clever illustrations, Not a Box certainly differs from the usual elementary school fare.
The off-page narrator, whom we never see, drives the book with constant interrogation about what the rabbit is doing with the box. My students knew right away that the questions were not coming from the character they saw on the page, but from a source outside the book. They also knew that the rebuttals were coming from the rabbit and cheered its increasingly adamant responses to the off-page narrator.
My students’ insights and understanding of the book spilled over into the illustrations, which are also outside-the-box and pull a lot of weight for this word-sparse text.
On each page where an inquiry is made about what the main character intends to do with the box, the illustrations show what a narrator (presumably an adult) sees: a boring, old box.
With each increasingly incensed rebuttal, the illustrations mutate slightly to show what that box can become with just a little bit of imagination. Due to the relative simplicity of the illustrations, my second graders had no trouble catching on to how they worked and what they were trying to convey.
The spontaneous and sophisticated understandings that my students demonstrated surprised me; I had actually selected the book not to analyze its structure, but rather to discuss its message — that childhood curiosity is both valid and exhilarating, even if adults don’t understand it. And, that the book resonated so strongly with many of my students highlights that they do, perhaps, feel like adults don’t understand their imaginings.
Nicole’s students are inspired by Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Following the reading of the book, my students channeled their creativity to make their own “not-a-box”-es. Their ideas ranged from body armor to a laptop to a castle. Clearly, Not a Box inspired my students to think outside the box. I can only hope that it will also inspire them to keep thinking innovatively, even as a culture of standardization and testing in schools threatens to undermine creativity. Now more than ever, it is essential that teachers seek out books that showcase the wonder and joy of thinking outside of the box.
Readers, if you know of a creativity-sparking book, please mention it in a comment!
The post A book outside the box appeared first on The Horn Book.
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on 5/7/2014
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My school uses a play-based approach to teaching math, which is advantageous because as an early childhood teacher, my students still love math and they love to play games. They enjoy learning and working with numbers and I can build on this through math games.
For me, teaching math is often challenging because my own mathematical background emphasized “doing” math over understanding with drills, formulas, and math algorithms rather than reinforcing why we use specific math procedures. Add to this the new Common Core Math Standard’s focus on conceptual understanding, fluency, and application and you get a recipe for highly reflective lesson planning!
One way to bridge this gap between doing and understanding math is with picture books. They provide purposeful ways to ground students intuitive use of math and easily get them using and talking about the most effective strategies.
There are so many wonderful math concept and picture books out there, yet selecting books that effectively support mini lessons and launch play requires a bit more searching. The books need to interest students, embed rather than simply present math concepts, lend themselves well to differentiated extension activities, and of course, be fun!
Some books I’ve successfully used and that meet these criteria are:
I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean — This is a Kevin Sherry’s story about a giant squid who thinks he’s bigger than everything in the ocean. He’s very big, but is he the biggest? This book is great for introducing relative size, comparisons. This is an alternative text for introducing standard measurements as well as scale when students are challenged to rank by size or to think of reliable ways to determine how much bigger he might be than other animals.
Rooster’s Off to See the World — This classic Eric Carle book can help launch math activities about number sets. In the book, Rooster seeks company as he travels around the world. Along the way, he encounters different types of animals and invites them along. The best part of this book is that every time he meets a new animal, the number of them increases. It’s a great way to introduce students to counting in groups and helps students to distinguish between total numbers and sets of numbers. With this book, students played sorting games and counted number sets.
Pigs Will be Pigs — This is the hilarious tale of a family of pigs who need to find enough money to pay for dinner at a restaurant. The author Amy Axelrod wrote this book to teach explicitly about money and she does a fabulous job. I especially love this story because it can also be used across the curriculum. I’m connecting this to a social studies unit on access to healthful food. Grocery store or restaurant math games using coins are natural extension activities with this book.
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday — Judith Viorst’s Alexander tales normalize my students’ every day experiences and emotions. This one is no different. Alexander has just spent every cent of the money his grandparents gave him. As he recounts how he spent it, students add up how much he spends or can subtract from the initial total. I love this one because a few of the items have prices that some students might find awkward to work with. As with Pigs Will be Pigs, it also lends itself well to cross-curricular connections, especially the basic economic principle of scarcity: Alexander had to learn the hard way about saving versus spending his limited income. For this book, a game to help Alexander save is also a next step for money.
When using picture books to teach math, pre- and post-assessment of student understanding can easily get lost. Talking to students about the math concepts in the books before sending them off to play math extension games can give you a sense of their thinking. For post-assessment, reviewing student work and requiring them to either to write or share out their strategies for success on the games lets them talk about their math knowledge and provides natural entry points for correcting misconceptions or pushing learning.
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