Creepy Creatures series | There's a Book for That

This week, instead of profiling any of my recent nonfiction reading or highlighting a book, I decided to share the responses in my Grade 3/4 classroom when I asked this question:

“Look around our classroom library. What nonfiction title do you want to read next & why?”

This was a very useful exercise. In about 20 minutes, I learned a lot. Which books are popular? What topics are students interested in? How are book choices being made?

It also helped me to think about things like:

student purposes for reading
books to book talk
our nonfiction library (organization, display, etc.)
future book purchases
exposure to specific genres

There are many nonfiction titles in our classroom – both books that I read aloud and titles that the students choose to read independently that are kept in our nonfiction bins. These titles below were chosen from the bins.

Answers under each photo answer the question: What nonfiction title do you want to read next & why?

“I’ve read all of the books in this series. When you book talked this one today, I wanted to read it because I like all of these creepy creatures.”

“It looks interesting from the cover. I want to know more about which animals hibernate. I don’t think I know them all.”

“I want to know what all of these feet are. I like the cover.”

“I like gorillas. They are really cute. And after we read about Ivan, I want to know more.”

“I want to know more about how animals might get dehydrated and how to save animals. The cover has a really great close up photo.”

“I like baby animals a lot. They’re so cute. I’ve read this series before. I like all of the photographs and that it tells me more about animals.”

“I want to learn about dirt. The picture looks like it shows what’s inside of it.”

“I want to know more about pandas. I know this series and I like the photos.”

“Because I’m scared of crickets. If I read it, I’ll get used to crickets. I read this series before and I like it because it’s easy to read and it tells about the life cycle and stuff.”

“I think it’s going to show lots of details about sharks. I know some things about a tiger shark already.”

“I love this series. I like reading about the animals that I don’t know lots of things about. Yet.”

“I like the photographs and the close up pictures. I want to learn more about mantises.”

“I want to find out more about how different animals eat. I like this photo on the cover a lot.”

A few themes seemed to emerge in terms of book choices:

Students were choosing to read books that might

help them to answer specific questions
be similar to other books they had read and enjoyed (similar series, author, topic)
have connections to their background knowledge
have connections to other learning we have done during the year
be like a book they have had success with in the past

Some choices are being made purely based on the cover. Engaging full colour photographs are appealing. Other choices have more to do with a sense of the inside content. Students are also choosing books that will be a good fit in terms of reading level. A wide variety of texts at different difficulty levelss in essential. Series in nonfiction are popular just like series in fiction.

What books do your students gravitate to? What trends do you notice?

And, now I am thinking/confirming . . .

Book talk. Book talk. Book talk. Lots of exposure to what we know and love and new titles, genres, topics.
Make sure I know student interest. I need to keep asking these questions about preferences and picks. It will help me with supporting a variety of book choices and topics for future read alouds.
The more I read aloud from the extensive nonfiction collection I have amassed, the more wonder, curiosity and knowledge I will help build. This will lead students to a wider variety of book choices for independent reading.

How I love nonfiction picture books! 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!

Thanks also to Alyson for all of the wonderful conversations about nonfiction reading and teaching with nonfiction books. A conversation with her inspired me to start thinking about what draws my students to certain books. I am so very glad that I asked this question this week.

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

So often, I discover amazing nonfiction that I just can’t wait to read aloud. But it is equally exciting to find titles that will become part of our class nonfiction collection. Some Wednesdays, I’ve decided to share some titles that I will be adding to our nonfiction bins and some of the features I will highlight when I share them with the students.

I think our guiding questions and the information we point out when introducing books really helps our students have more success when reading the texts independently.

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014. Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction books you need to read!

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 95/65 complete!

The Worm by Elise Gravel (published 2014)

This Disgusting Critters series is something I am very excited to share with my students this fall. There is guaranteed kid appeal in the humour, the yucky facts and the conversational narration. Lots of bold text, speech bubbles and silly pictures. But, this is not a nonfiction title where you will find the features we often expect in a nonfiction title. There is no table of contents, glossary or index to organize facts. In fact the facts are found within the text – sometimes with bolded words and sometimes with diagrams that illustrate a point. No guarantees. A sample of the text:

“An earthworm is basically a long digestive tract with inside a muscle tube. It’s that muscle tube that’s slimy and disgusting.”

This is what I would highlight when I book talked this title:

Notice that some of the new vocabulary is in bold
Discover new facts by asking yourself at the end of the page, “Did I just learn something new?” “Was there a fact I could note on this page?”
Appreciate the amusing way that the author communicates new information
Choose another book on the same topic for further reading

I would pair Worms (part of the Creepy Creatures series) by Valerie Bodden with this book. This series is very popular in my classroom and the ideal reading level for primary students.

Wild about Bears by Jeannie Brett (published 2014)

This book highlights information about each of the eight species of bears on earth today. Can you name the specific eight? I couldn’t! There are some things that I really like about this title but a few things that might make it a little challenging for children to navigate. I would highlight each of these things in sharing this book.

Check out the main headings on each two page spread that introduce us to one of the eight bear species. The common name is also included and may be the name you know. For example, Moon bears (the term I was familiar with) are actually part of the Asiatic Black Bears species. The weight range of each bear is also included here.
Notice the habitat glossary in the back of the book that gives more information about the habitats where each bear species lives
Refer often to the colour coded world map in the back to see where you can find each bear species
Make sure you read some of the smaller text next to the diagrams for more information. Be aware though that these are not all captions – just additional information about each of the bear species. You might not see what the text is talking about in the picture.
How do we learn new vocabulary in nonfiction text? Often our learning is reinforced and enhanced through bolded words, a glossary and an index. Notice that these things are missing in this text so you may need to look specific words up in other sources for more information.
Would you have appreciated colour photographs of the bears – maybe in the back of the book to see what they looked like in the wild? Where could you go to find real life photographs of each species in their habitats?