Patrick and Mantzicopoulos (educational psychology, Purdue U.) show practicing and preservice teachers how to engage young children with informational books in English language arts and reading, as well as subject areas. They note the current concerns that children who do not read nonfiction lack the skills to comprehend informational texts and are deficient in analysis, synthesis, and argumentation skills, and that there is a shortage of workers in science, technology, engineering, and math. They describe core instructional strategies aligned with the Common Core State Standards emphasis on explicit preparation to read informational text, reading materials that are linked to content areas, the use of more academic or technical vocabulary, and more informational writing. They discuss the characteristics of narrative and fictional texts and the reasons for the predominance of fiction, what children learn from informational texts and the consequences of only focusing on fiction, and educator arguments that children learn more easily from narrative. They provide evidence against these arguments and show that children do find informational texts interesting, then detail criteria for deciding which books to use. They describe the evidence on the role of shared reading in literacy development and research-based strategies to promote literacy, how to pair informational texts in subject-area disciplines with writing, and how to improve children's access to and engagement with informational books at home. They use examples from science-related texts in kindergarten. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Because nonfiction and young readers are a natural fit!
Common Core or not, providing our youngest readers with a thorough grounding in nonfiction is just good teaching. Theres no better way to ensure our students acquire the background knowledge and vocabulary so essential to their understanding of subjects like science and social studies. Helen Patrick and Panayota Mantzicopoulos have written this book to assist you with this all-important effort.
Inside youll find:
- Criteria for choosing books
- Strategies for shared reading and reading aloud
- Informational writing activities
- Ways to guide parent involvement
- Real-life classroom success stories
This book offers an approach to and examples of integrating language arts and science. Each chapter contains one or more Windows into Practice - brief descriptions or accounts by teachers of events in their classrooms; teachers' narratives provide specific illustrations of principles or activities presented. The book also contains examples of teacher guides, children's work samples, and supplementary materials that can be used by family members or individuals who provide after-school activities.