We know that a big part of the CCSS is to include more informational texts into ourstudents' reading. I quickly discovered I had a "gap" in my reading diet - the genre of informational texts! To help me fill the gap this year, I am going to participate in Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays! This is a great link-up hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy. Please visit this website to see other educator's link-ups. My goal is to read at least one informational text each week and post information on the blog. The more books and subjects I read, the more I can encourage (my #OLW for 2014) other teachers to use in their classroom!
Using Accessible Text Series in Kindergarten and 1st grade: Part 2
I think nonfiction/informational text materials are crucial for much of the science and social studies learning that young children need to do, but finding appropriate leveled texts can be hard. Last week's post showed you a new series called Seedlings that has a variety of texts in the themes of animals and machines that can be used in kg and 1st grade. This week, I am going to show you a series by National Geographic Kids that is published by Scholastic.
I really enjoy the many National Geographic Kids books that are out there. It seems that there is a set for every level of reader. I'm really excited about this series because I feel that it gives more information than the level 1 series, but it still has accessible text that will give our young readers new information. So far I have only seen this series available through Scholastic.
The books are more limited in their scope of topic - for example, in A Den is a Bed for a Bear, the topic is restricted to dens of bears instead of having a wider scope, such as all about bears. The text highlights specific vocabulary words for students to remember. There are photographs, as well as basic, child-friendly illustrations that make the book seem more like a picture book for young readers. Each page has one important sentence, then captions that give additional information. There are also labels and other little comments about the photographs. The books do not have a glossary, index or any source notes. There are additional ideas about the topic and activities kids can do.
These books would be great to use in a kindergarten or 1st grade classroom. They could be used as read alouds, or texts students use to get information.
These look good, too, Michele. I've been able to grab quite a few samples of the Ladders series at the conferences I've attended. As you wrote, they're good because of the levels. Thanks for sharing these too! And thanks for the caring words about my grandson. You are so thoughtful!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see these lower level books. Up to now our kindergarten students have been housed together in one building and starting next year I will have kinders in my building so I will need to add more lower level non-fiction. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYay for nonfiction in K-1!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these! I like how they aren't too generalized in terms of topic.
ReplyDeleteExposure to good non-fiction texts at an early level is important. Kids seem to love it also!
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to see more of this bite-sized information packaged so well for younger readers. :)
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