By Joyce
Melton Pagés, Ed.D.
Mother of two children, President of KidBibs
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The KidBibs
Virtual Bookstore! For the convenience of our readers, and in association with Amazon.com, KidBibs offers the following related resources for secure on-line purchase: |
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Weather (National
Geographic Action Book) |
If You Lived
at the Time of Martin Luther King ("If you..."
series) |
Boring. Too many words. Hard to read. These are some of the words that children sometimes use to describe textbooks. At the same time, many teachers and homeschooling parents use textbooks as the primary resource for delivering information to students. The child's ability to learn the information often depends on their success with the textbook.
Textbooks have changed in recent years. Publishers have sought to improve their textbooks by refining writing, providing more interesting illustrations and photographs to support the information/content, using anecdotes to communicate to students the relevance of the information to their lives, and introducing professions and jobs that relate to the information being explained. Many children, however, still experience difficulty learning information from textbooks.
There are a number of reasons why children experience difficulty with textbooks. In the first place, textbooks contain expository text---informational-style writing. Expository writing differs greatly from narrative writing---stories. Stories have characters to whom children can relate. Characters have problems and encounter situations that children may have experienced. The plot of the story tells how the character handles his/her problem or situation. Many young children have had stories read to them before they start kindergarten; most have not had informational writing read to them. As a result, they have a schema, or mental idea, of how stories are written---this helps them comprehend stories. Since expository writing does not have characters or a plot and few preschoolers have had it read to them, children often do not understand how informational text is organized. This, and the following other factors, make the comprehension of informational writing very difficult for some children:
the extensive use of graphic aids--Textbooks routinely use tables, maps, graphs, diagrams, etc. to explain information. The child must be able to read these graphic aids and integrate the information with the content explained in the writing.
technical vocabulary-- These words are often unknown to students because they are specific to the content/information (i.e., evaporation, condensation, photosynthesis, etc.). These are the words science words, mathematics words, etc. that are not used in everyday speech.
specialized vocabulary--These are the words that words that have general use and specialized use. The students may have heard these words in their everyday living, but these same words mean something entirely different in the context of the content/information being explained (i.e., matter: "What's the matter?" and "We have studies the three states of matter: gas, liquid, and solid."
heavy concept load--When a piece of writing has a heavy concept load, it has a lot of information explained with little context and no examples. In many textbooks, several concepts are included in a single paragraph. When this occurs, children are sometimes faced with using a concept that is not known to learn another concept that is not known. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for children to learn the information.
parts of the book and parts of the chapter--Success with textbooks requires students to understand and use the textbook's organization to support their learning.
This LearningTip article will focus on general strategies which parents, teachers, and homeschoolers can use to help children experience success with expository style writing.
Teacher Tips Parent Tips Homeschooling Tips
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1. Include a wide variety of expository tradebooks in your classroom library. Tradebooks are the books that are available to everyone; they are found in libraries and sold in bookstores. They are often better written and illustrated than textbooks; children are often more interested in reading these books and are better able to learn the content/information than from textbooks. Tradebooks can help children develop a love of learning to go with their love of literature! A list of excellent tradebooks follows the Tips sections. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 4- to 8- year-olds. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 9 to 12-year-olds. 2. Read information to children. Many teachers routinely read excellent children's fiction to their students. It is very important for them to continue to do this. In addition, a few minutes spent reading interesting expository writing to children in relation to instructional units, specific lessons, etc. can motivate independent reading, build vocabulary, and strengthen the child's understanding of how expository text communicates information. 3. Use tradebooks to supplement textbooks. Tradebooks often provide well-written, interesting selections with beautiful photographs and illustrations. These selections can reinforce and enrich the students' understanding of the content beyond what a textbook can provide. 4. Use tradebooks instead of textbooks. Many teachers use class sets of children's fiction to teach reading and writing. Consider purchasing class sets of well-written expository tradebooks to use in relation to science, social studies, health, and mathematics instruction. 5. Implement research groups. Provide or help children obtain resources to use in researching topics and questions. These resources can include their textbook, tradebooks, encyclopedias, and children's magazines. An ocean animal unit could have separate groups researching, for example, the killer whale, dolphin, shark, octopus, seahorse, jellyfish, stingray, and squid. Encourage the students to ask questions that will guide their reading of the information. 6. Subscribe to a children's magazine for your classroom library. There are numerous excellent children's magazines being published on a wide variety of topics. |
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1. Read to young children from informational children's books. Children are very curious and they ask a lot of questions. Take advantage of this. Use encyclopedias and children's nonfiction books to find the information together. Read the answer to the child. This communicates to the child that informational books answer questions and deliver information. In addition, this helps the child start to develop a schema for informational style writing. Further, it enriches vocabulary. 2. Use children's informational tradebooks to support and reinforce school textbook learning. Tradebooks are the books that are available to everyone; they are found in libraries and sold in bookstores. They are often better written and illustrated than textbooks; children are often more interested in reading these books and are better able to learn the content/information than from textbooks. A list of excellent tradebooks follows the Tips sections. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 4- to 8- year-olds. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 9 to 12-year-olds. 3. Encourage your child to read about topics of interest to him/her. Whether the child is interested in horses, dinosaurs. dolphins, race cars, or something else, s/he is reading expository style writing when she wants to learn more about his/her interest or hobby. Once again, this helps the child develop the schema and strategies for reading expository text. 4. Subscribe to a magazine for your child. Children's nature magazines often include excellent expository selections about topics of interest to children. 5. Encourage children to read sections of the newspaper related to their interests. Have your child start a scrapbook on a sports team, country, famous person, etc. When s/he finds an article s/he may read it, cut it out, and mount it in his/her scrapbook for that topic. In addition, any large newspapers have a children's section that is likely to include expository selections. 6. Provide
your child with a small reference library that includes a single-volume
encyclopedia, an almanac, and an atlas. These references
build a child's experience with expository writing and stimulate a
genuine interest in learning about a wide variety of topics.
LearningTips #13 includes some
excellent references for your childs' library. |
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1. Read to young children from informational children's books. Children are very curious and they ask a lot of questions. Take advantage of this. Use encyclopedias and children's nonfiction books to find the information together. Read the answer to the child until s/he is able to read it. This communicates to the child that informational books answer questions and deliver information. In addition, this helps the child start to develop a schema, or mental idea, for how informational style writing is written. Further, it enriches vocabulary. 2. Use tradebooks to supplement textbooks. Tradebooks are the books that are available to everyone; they are found in libraries and sold in bookstores. They are often better written and illustrated than textbooks; children are often more interested in reading these books and are better able to learn the content/information than from textbooks. A list of excellent tradebooks follows the Tips sections. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 4- to 8- year-olds. Click here to go to the list of Expository Tradebooks for 9 to 12-year-olds. 3. Use tradebooks instead of textbooks. Examine the list of tradebooks in this article. Peruse the shelves of libraries and bookstores. Find tradebooks that do a good job of explaining the content/information to children. Use them to teach science, social studies, health, and mathematics. 4. Encourage your child to research a topic related to the content/information being studied. Provide or help the child obtain resources to use in researching his/her questions about the topic. These resources can include their textbook, tradebooks, encyclopedias, and children's magazines. 5. Subscribe to a magazine for your child. Children's nature magazines often include excellent expository selections about topics of interest to children. 6. Provide your child with a small reference library that includes a single volume encyclopedia, an almanac, and an atlas. These references build a child's experience with expository writing and stimulate a genuine interest in learning about a wide variety of topics. LearningTips #13 includes some excellent references for your childs' library. 7. Encourage your child to read about topics of interest to him/her. Whether the child is interested in horses, dinosaurs. dolphins, race cars, or something else, s/he is reading expository style writing when she wants to learn more about his/her interest or hobby. Once again, this helps the child develop the schema and strategies for reading expository text. 8. Encourage children to read sections of the newspaper related to their interests. Have your child start a scrapbook on a sports team, country, famous person, etc. When s/he finds an article s/he may read it, cut it out, and mount it in his/her scrapbook for that topic. In addition, any large newspapers have a children's section that is likely to include expository selections. |
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The following books have been selected as excellent informational tradebooks for children. All of these books are available for purchase from the secure web site of Amazon.com.
Expository Tradebooks for Children Ages 4-8
Poke and Look Learning Books are 8 1/2" by 10" spiral bound board books about science for very young children. Cutouts are used to highlight features and show processes. Colorful illustrations and text are designed to engage young children in discussion. Children in the elementary grades will enjoy reading these books
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Scholastic's First Discovery Books are written for young children (up to the age of 8). Clear, simple, color illustrations with plastic overlays complement brief passages. Children enjoy layering the plastic overlays to see what happens when yellow and blue are layered/combined (in the Colors book), to see what happens when a bird lays an egg (in The Egg), and numerous other concepts throughout the series
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The nonfiction books of Gail Gibbons provide clear, concise, well-written information with bright, labeled illustrations. These books are typically written on a first or second grade level, include a lot of content/information, and are very interesting to children.
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Catch the Wind!: All About Kites Check it Out! The Book About Libraries |
The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves |
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National Geographic Action Books are published by the National Geographic Society. These books include absolutely beautiful pop-ups (tornadoes, animals, plants, bolts of lightning, etc.), flaps, pull-tabs and other movable parts that support the child's understanding of the information. While most of these books are written at a third grade reading level, children of all ages will love them. These books are most appropriate for a home setting---the pull-tabs are too fragile for use with multiple children in classrooms and libraries
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Expository Tradebooks for Children Ages 9-12
The following books by Kate Waters provide "a day in the life" view of children in history. Photographs show children dressed in attire of the era and placed in a settings which reflect the time period. Text is written in first person as the children describe their lives, chores, etc
On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and A Passenger Girl
Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl
Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy
Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times
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Scholastic's "If you..." series uses illustrations and detailed text to explain historical events and the context around those events. These books are written on a third grade level but would provide interesting reading for students studying history in grades three through seven.
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
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The numerous science oriented books of Seymour Simon contain incredible large, detailed, illustrations and photographs. These books also include well-written, fascinating information for children in fourth grade and higher. Younger children enjoy looking at the beautiful, highly informative pictures in the books.
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Autumn Across America (Seasons Across America) Bones: Our Skeletal System (Human Body) Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids |
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The One Small Square science series shows what one 3-dimensional square of a specific place would look like. Through beautiful illustrations and text written for fourth graders and above, these books show how the creatures that live in that "square" interrelate. These books suggest things for the child to observe, experiments for the child to do, and things for the child to note in his/her observation notebook
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Scholastic's Voyages of Discovery books use beautiful, bright, close-up photographs, fold-outs, content-oriented stickers, plastic overlays, and many other special features to complement the interesting writing. These books also use headings, subheadings, bold face type, captions, and other typographical aids to support student learning. These science/natural history books are written for children nine-years-old and up, but young children enjoy perusing the interesting pages.
Wind and Weather: Climates, Clouds, Snow, Tornadoes, and How Weather is Predicted
Insects: Mosquitoes, Butterflies, Bees, and Termites: The Fantastic World of Insects