I have written many times about how important I think it is to have students to have books in their environment – books that they can interact with, books to read, books that are read to them and books to look at from across the room and think, “Hmm, I’d really like to read that!”
Nonfiction titles are especially wonderful because they spark curiosity, are the perfect thing to enhance and inspire learning on various topics and can be picked up and put down when there are a few minutes here and there to read.
I decided to do a little bit of a nonfiction book tour of my room and sneak in a few favourite titles here and there. Nonfiction books everywhere you look!
For starters, I have a vast personal collection of titles that I read aloud, pull out when we are studying specific topics and use for reference texts to support certain students who have specific questions about their world.
There are four bins of books here like this one below 🙂 I have organized these by theme for easy access (like Ecology, Mammals, Science Concepts, Water, etc)
A few favourites that I have recently added to these bins:
Water is Water written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Jason Chin
Wandering Whale Sharks by Susumu Shingu
Weeds Find a Way written by Cindy Jenson-Elliott and illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
In this same area I have a bin of picture book biographies.
I love to share biographies with my class. One title I plan to read early in the year is Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah written by Laurie Ann Thompson and illustrated by Sean Qualls
On another book shelf I have other reference material – both nonfiction and fiction.
In the wonder/nature section are titles like these.
When we are in the full swing of things, the “recently read/booktalked nonfiction shelf” might look like this:
And always, climbing up our walls are book jackets and relevant vocabulary.
In one corner by the sinks is a bin of interesting fact and reference books that I change up every month or so. There is empty counter space here to open up the books and begin reading.
I just pulled some titles out of the nonfiction section of the library so that it reflects the reading and interest levels of the new students coming in – younger readers than last year. If I am wrong, I have some texts in bins ready to pull back out.
We have lots of nonfiction readers.
And a large collection of titles for independent and buddy reading
In some bins, dividers help students who are looking for a particular topic.
Hugely popular series in these bins include:
Creepy Creatures titles by Valerie Bodden
The Grow with Me series
Scholastic Discover More titles
That was a mini tour of the nonfiction in my room. Where can nonfiction titles be found in your classroom/library?
Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2015. Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction books you need to read!
There's a Book for That 
I’m happy to see “all” these ways of organization Carrie, and know how much you share with students which is terrific. Have a wonderful beginning to your year! FYI-in my ‘older’ classroom last year I had a bin of n-f books, picture and chapter, like Sheinkin’s books and Boys In A Boat, and many PB biographies which the older readers loved too. It helped them realize how much more interesting their own ‘reports’ could be if illustrated.
Thank you Linda. Great to hear that students were inspired by NF titles in various formats.
Love the way the books have been organized. So great to have so many choices and of good books too!
I agree – so important to have lots of wonderful texts available!
I love the book cover/ vocab display. Very easy to adapt for older kids too.
Yes – it all comes from our discussions as we read.
This post makes me happy for so many reasons. Thanks, Carrie! =D
So pleased that it does 🙂
A classroom that looks fantastic! You go, girl, Carrie!
Thanks so much!
I also was taken by the book jacket/vocab display, and it made me wonder what process you use to generate the words. Is it entirely kid-driven? Do you pose questions? Do you read it first, and then harvest unfamiliar words during a second reading or cull words first time through as you go?
On a related note, I have a bunch of 6-8 year olds who love Jack Prelutsky’s Scranimals. They enjoyed making their own scranimals (combining animal cut-outs from the ever abundant stack of old National Geographics) and writing their own poems. I loved compiling lists of words around a theme, such as “words that describe movement” that kids listened for during repeated read-alouds of the poems. A variation on your display would be excellent … and readily available for additions.
What lucky kids you have!
Hi Gail – Re the vocabulary – yes, it comes out of our discussions and questions as we read. I keep a larger size sticky note on the inside of the book cover and note down key words as we read and talk. When the book is finished, we post the jacket and all of the words. These titles take multiple read aloud sessions to complete because our discussions and related writing, talk, etc is so rich.Love the Scranimals activity! What fun. Thanks for sharing.
My favorite book is, of course, Emmanuel’s Dream!
I love the book jacket and vocabulary wall. I remember you showed it before and I thought it was so clever!
A bin I’m going to start this year is picture book biographies, but of people who you might not have heard of before. So no George Washington, Walt Disney. I’m thinking Swan, Marvelous Cornelius, Emmanuel’s Dream… something like that!
Oh – sounds awesome! And so important. Great idea!
Love all the pictures–and especially the vocabulary words. My wheels are spinning on how I could incorporate that in my library…
Carrie – Such a great post and so thoughtful about how you surround children with books to support reading and writing. I can’t wait to share this with teachers.
As always, thank you for sharing. I hope that is is helpful.
Fantastic organization, quite inspiring, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Inspiring! Wow, thank you.
What a wonderful curation of nonfiction titles as always, Carrie. Always so thoughtful and so well-considered. 🙂
Thank you Myra.
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