Why Your Child Should Read Nonfiction

When my oldest daughter was about five years old, she told me she wanted a book about dinosaurs. Utilizing my keen reference interview skills I asked her if she wanted a made-up story about dinosaurs or a book that contained facts about dinosaurs.  "Mommy," she said, using her hands to punctuate each word, "I want information!"

It has been my observation in the intervening years that most children prefer informational texts to the stories most adults choose to read to them.  Children are naturally curious about the world they inhabit and want to learn as much as they can about multiple topics.  We all should support them in their quests to be self-directed, lifelong learners, especially as reading for information is essential to life in a post k-12 environment.  National assessments have indicated that students in the United States are particularly weak in understanding informational texts.

The Common Core Standards, which have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, will be fully implemented by the state of West Virginia in the next few years.  These standards recognize and address documented deficiencies in reading comprehension, particularly in the realm of informational sources. The text below outlines the expectations for students in grades k-12 according to these standards.

• The standards establish a “staircase” of increasing complexity in what students must be able to read so that all students are ready for the demands of college- and career-level reading no later than the end of high school. The standards also require the progressive development of reading comprehension so that students advancing through the grades are able to gain more from whatever they read.
• Through reading a diverse array of classic and contemporary literature as well as challenging informational texts in a range of subjects, students are expected to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspective. Because the standards are building blocks for successful classrooms, but recognize that teachers, school districts and states need to decide on appropriate curriculum, they intentionally do not offer a reading list. Instead, they offer numerous sample texts to help teachers prepare for the school year and allow parents and students to know what to expect at the beginning of the year.
• The standards mandate certain critical types of content for all students, including classic myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, seminal works of American literature, and the writings of Shakespeare. The standards appropriately defer the many remaining decisions about what and how to teach to states, districts, and schools.

(Source:  Common Core State Standards Initiative: Key Points in English Language Arts,  accessed February 27, 2011.

Recommendations suggest that as children are younger, they will read more narrative (fiction) texts than informational texts.  However by the time children are in fourth grade the ratio on informational to fiction texts should be about 50-50.  By the time students are in high school, the ratio should should shift to 70 percent informational texts to 30 percent fiction.

For our library program, this means that informational texts will need to be provided on a wide spectrum of interest and reading levels.  The challenge will be to find books on dinosaurs that are developmentally appropriate and on varying levels of complexity for all students, grades pre-K to 5.  This is a challenge I can fully embrace!

The Fall Book Fair Starts Today!

The Fall Book Fair begins today!  I am always so excited for this event to come around each year.  Not only is it a wonderful opportunity to raise extra money to support our library program, it is also a wonderful time to meet parents and catch up with old friends.  I hope to see you there!

Book Fair Hours are:

Monday, October 24:  8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

Tuesday, October 25:  8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m

Wednesday, October 26:  8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

Thursday, October 27:  8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m

Friday, October 28:  8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m 

 

 

 

Fall Book Fair Schedule

Time Monday    Tuesday Wednesday     Thursday

9:15 to 9:45	Glowacky	Ribas
9:50 to 10:30	Fifth Grade	Fifth Grade	Fifth Grade
10:35 to 11:15	Weigand	Robinson	DeLawder
11: 20 to 12:00	Forbes	Messich	Hatfield
12:30 to 1:10	Broskey	Culpepper
1:10 to 1:50	Barnes	Pisegna	Lillard	Haney
1:55 to 2:35	Elkins	Ruscello	Unger
2:40 to 3:20	Bragg	Brehm	Chuby	Cline

Making the Change from Accelerated Reader to Reading Counts

This year Brookhaven Elementary joined the rest of Monongalia County Schools in using Scholastic Reading Counts as its reading incentive program.  For the past 17 years Brookhaven pioneered the use of this type of program using Accelerated Reader.  Although Mon County adopted Reading Counts as a countywide reading incentive program around 2007, Brookhaven was not required to change until this year, when curriculum changes dictated that all schools use the assessment software that included Reading Counts.


I think our transition to Reading Counts has been well-received by the teachers and the students.  Clearly, Reading Counts has some advantages over Accelerated Reader;

• the teacher and student interfaces are easy to use;
• the program is integrated with other assessment programs, which allows students to only use one user name and password to access all products;
• the students receive visually attractive reinforcements when the pass their tests.

I see some disadvantaged to Reading Counts as well.

Call me a librarian, but the indexing inconsistencies in Reading Counts are driving me nuts.  There does not appear to be a common set of rules for user to apply when searching for books by title.  Here's an example of what I mean:

Johnny wants to take a test on Henry and Mudge and the Happy Cat.  He types the title into the search bar exactly as it appears on the title page.  He can't find the title, so he does an author search for Rylant, scrolls through a list of her books and finds the title.  He notices that the title is written as Henry & Mudge & the Happy Cat, using ampersands in place of the work 'and.'  Johnny is a clever kid, so the next time he is looking for a Henry and Mudge book, he automatically uses the ampersand, looking for Henry & Mudge & the Starry Night.  Good plan, Johnny, except this time the title is recorded  as Henry & Mudge & Starry Night.  When Johnny types the word 'the' in the title, he cannot find the test.

Other indexing anomalies exist with author searches.  Sometimes the author who is credited for a book may be someone who is the orginator of a series but not necessarily the author of the book.  An example might be the Curious George books.  Reading Counts list H.A. and Margret Rey as the authors of all these books, even though the title pages list different authors.  

Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year

I am so glad to finally have the library up and running after a long summer of inactivity.  For those of you who may not be familiar with me and my family, let me share that this summer has been extremely busy and personally rewarding.  My first grandchild, Eowyn Grace Smith, was born on June 1 to my daughter Christina and her husband, Brian.  Ten days later, my daughter Lora married Josh in a ceremony held in Clarksburg.   With all that was going on in my personal life, along with the construction and painting in our school that took place over the summer, Mrs. Burks and I elected not to have open library during the summer vacation period.  


When school did resume last month, the library played host to our fourth kindergarten class until last week's move freed up a permanent room for them.  Consequently the opening of the library was delayed.  During this time I was able to complete many tasks that needed performed, but let me tell you, I missed my kids!  The library opened the Tuesday after Labor Day and has been busy and bustling ever since.  Hallelujah!  Here is a snapshot of the last few days' activities:

Total Circulation:      846

Holds Placed by Students:  8

Items Loaned to Other Schools:   3

Not bad for four days' business!  I look forward to continuing this level of service to our students, teachers and parents as the year progresses.  Our first Open Library Night will be held on Monday, September 12 from 4:00 to 7:00.  Parents are invited to bring their children to find new books and to investigate our new reading incentive program, Reading  Counts, which has replaced Accelerated Reader.  I hope to see you in the library for Open Library Nights!

 

Suzie Martin, MLIS, NBCT

Changes to Accelerated Reader

Effective immediately, parent access to Accelerated Reader has changed.  Now parents may request an individual login to Accelerated Reader, which will allow one-stop access to all your children's AR records.  Parents may also request automatic email updates when their children take quizzes.


The deadline for earning points for the first bowling trip is December 15.  The point requirements are as follows:
     Kindergarten - 5 points
     1st grade -     10 points
     2nd grade -    15 points
     3rd grade -     20 points
     4th grade -     25 points
     5th grade -     25 points


Points for the second trip may be earned beginning December 16.  Any points earned before December 16 will not count toward the second bowling trip.  The point requirements will be the same.


If you have any questions, email me!

Fourth Grade Book Club in Progress

I am having a lot of fun with the Fourth Grade book club.  Its members are Peyton V., Emily F., Tyler M., Destiney W., Maya C., and Meagan G.  We are reading Debbie Dadey's Cherokee Sister, a historical fiction novel about two girls who are forced to walk the Trail of Tears.


To provide background information about the Trail of Tears, I showed the children a video clip from United Streaming called The Trail of Tears: The Cherokees Leave Their Homeland.  After viewing the video, the children decided that they did not want to read this book, because it was sad.  I presevered, because I think this is an important book. Now that we are at the point where the girls have embarked on their forced journey, I think the children have become personally invested in the story.


Each meeting of the club begins with a snack and a recap of the previous session.  The sessions conclude with some free time to allow the children to log on to the Destiny Quest accounts and send book reviews to friends.

The Trail of Tears: The Cherokee Leave Their Homeland.
Discovery Education, 1996. Video Segment.
8 November 2010. .