"Celebrate Science
Welcome teachers, librarians, homeschoolers and nonfiction writers! This blog offers innovative resources for teaching science and tips for writing nonfiction."
"The world of children's literature contains a variety of genres, all of which have appeal to the diverse interests of children as well as potential for classroom teaching. In recent years, however, nonfiction or information books have emerged as a very a
Jennifer Bromman-Bender, librarian at Lincoln-Way West High School (New Lenox, IL) and author of several books on booktalking, including R&L's Booktalking Nonfiction: 200 Sure-Fire Winners for Middle and High School Readers (2013), spoke about how to present nonfiction books to middle- and high-school students. She also gave a presentation of some of her most popular booktalks. Katie Mediatore Stover of the Kansas City (MO) Public Library (and author of several ALA Editions RA titles) was up next, with a ton of practical advice on how to booktalk informally-while in the stacks, or out in the community. She also discussed how to pull out the best elements of a book in order to sell it to a reader. Kaite incorporated a lot of RA tips (talking about tone, mood, warning the reader what to expect) on how to do what she calls a "bookmercial." Becky Spratford, author of ALA Edition's Readers Advisory Guide to Horror (2012) and librarian at the Berwyn (IL) Public Library, gave advice on how to get your staff comfortable with booktalking, and why booktalking is so important. Becky then finished up with a selection of her favorite horror books for booktalking.
Renaissance Learning:
* The top 20 books most widely read in grades 1-12, overall and
by gender
* The top 20 books most widely read by low- and high-achieving students
* The top 10 nonfiction books and books for use across the curriculum
Downloadable report (pdf)
Abstract
Readers of fiction tend to have better abilities of empathy and theory of
mind (Mar et al., 2006). We present a study designed to replicate this
finding, rule out one possible explanation, and extend the assessment of
social outcomes. In order to rule out the role of personality, we first identified Openness as the most consistent correlate. This trait was then statistically controlled for, along with two other important individual differences: the tendency to be drawn into stories and gender. Even after accounting for these variables, fiction exposure still predicted performance on an empathy task. Extending these results, we also found that exposure to fiction was positively correlated with social support. Exposure to nonfiction, in contrast, was associated with loneliness, and negatively related to social support.
This is the best writing prompt I've ever read. How about a corner in the library where you post weekly news stories to inspire writing? Two cozy chairs and a small table with a light, a few notebooks, pencils.... Add a cat, even!
Science ebooks/magazine for early primary from National Gepgraphic. Great photos, text and audio with highlighted text. Great for the naturalist in the class.