Autobiography/ Biography

          An autobiography is a story about a person’s life written by that person. A biography is a story about a person’s life written by someone else.  Autobiographies and biographies serve as role models for students. These texts teach students about important people in our history. It gives students insight on how this person became famous. The first criterion I look at when selecting an autobiography/ biography is appropriateness. Making sure the person being discussed in the text is appropriate for the grade level. The text meets the learning goals that are set for your classroom. The second criterion I look for when selecting a autobiography/ biography is text features. The text includes different fonts to highlight key concepts of the text. Illustrations in the text correlate directly with what the text is talking about. The text has sidebars of information to help build the students prior knowledge.

          I will incorporate these texts into my classroom when discussing famous people in history. I will also have a wide range of these texts in my classroom library. Autobiographies and biographies can have a major influence on student’s lives. Exposing children to these texts will give them good role models to follow in the future and gives students motivation to follow their dreams. I will use autobiographies and biographies in my classroom for shared reading and read aloud. I will also have a wide variety of these text available in my classroom library for students to refer to on their own time.

Zeldis, Y., & Weber, J. (2005). Who was john f. kennedy? New York:. Grosset & Dunlap

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• Fourth grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

•  Third grade

 Who was JFK? This text discusses John's childhood and college years. It also talks about how he was a war hero and how he became president. This text is a short chapter book that would work great for students who are just starting to read chapter books. The illustrations correlate very well with text. The illustrations help visual learners understand what the text is talking about.  Important documents such as the Declaration of Independence is mentioned in the text. The documents are broken down into kid friendly terms. This helps students build prior knowledge and get a good understanding of the text. Students may need some assistance with complex vocabulary terms.  

Martin, J.,& Azarian, M. (1998). Snowflake bentley. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• Third grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

• Second  grade

This text talks about how photography has evolved over the years.    Snowflake Bentley discusses winter and how each snowflake is unique in its own way. The author included history sidebars throughout the book. If students did not have prior knowledge about some of the facts the side bar helps students make the connections. This book has also received the Caldecott Medal and would be a great text to incorporate into your classroom library. Students should also make connections of how much camera’s have evolved over the years. I feel that students will not need assistance when reading this text. 

Math

          Math is broad subject to cover, covering concepts from counting to being able to do operations and algebraic equations. Math texts explore many of these concepts and help students get a deeper understanding of these concepts. Math text also try to make math more appealing and fun for students while teaching students math facts. The first criterion I look for when selecting a math text is appeal. Math can be a dull topic to go over for some students. Making sure the book looks appealing for students will help get them focused to read the book. In order for a text to be appealing it should cover topics that students are interested in. The cover of the book should grab the attention of students with bold letters, pictures, and bright colors. The second criterion I look for when selecting a math text is purpose. Making sure the content pertains to what we are covering and also correlates with the standards. The content in the text needs to correlate also with the way you are teaching the material otherwise this could cause confusion with your students.
          When selecting math texts to be used with in the classroom its important to make sure the text aligns with Iowa Common Core Literacy standards. It is also important to make sure the text aligns with the specific subject in math that will be covered in class. In my classroom I will use math texts for read aloud and shared readings. I plan to have multiple math texts available in my classroom library for students to read on their own time. Lastly, I need to make sure the text is appealing to my students. Students are more likely to read a text if it is appealing. Math text will be integrated into my classroom when I am introducing a new topic to my students. This way I am exposing my students to that topic multiple times throughout the day. 

McGrath, B. (1994). The m&m’s counting book. Watertown: MA:. Charlesbridge Publishing.

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• First and second grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

• Kindergarten

The major themes discussed throughout this text is counting, colors, and grouping. This book would work great with younger students in the classroom.  The organizational structure of this text is beneficial for students because it is set up in sequential order.  The book starts by teaching basic math concepts and progressively getting harder for students. This set up helps students gain the prior knowledge to understand the difficult concepts demonstrated at the end of the text. This text has great appeal for students.  The text uses bright colors to grab the attention of students. The text also does a great job of using M&M's as manipulatives to demonstrate math functions to students. This book would be great resource for visual learners in the classroom. Students will need to know the basics of counting and number recognition in order to read this book independently.   

Leedy, L. (1995). 2x2=boo: A set of spooky multiplication stories. New York: Holiday House.

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• Second and third grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

• First and second grade

The major themes discussed throughout this text is basic multiplication facts. This book is a fun way to work on basic multiplication facts and rules with students.  The pictures imitate cartoons figuring out the multiplication facts. This text also has a table of contents and fact pages. The table of contents can be found at the beginning of the text and helps students with navigating throughout the text. The fact pages can be found in the back of the book. The fact pages gives students background information about the multiplication rules.  Students may need some assistance with understanding the multiplication facts. Some students may also need a assistance with navigating around the text since it is set up like a comic book.