These best 2018 nonfiction children's books --picture books, chapter books, and biographies-- merit reading and re-reading and buying for your home, classroom, or library as they are all high-quality with engaging writing that makes the book's information relevant, memorable, and interesting. Happy reading! Don't miss: Best Picture Books of 2018 Best Chapter Books of 2018 Best Nonfiction … [Read more...]
Outstanding Beginning Nonfiction Biographies for Ages 7 – 10
I want to highlight two excellent nonfiction biography series for beginning readers, ages 7 to 10, one called Little Guides to Great Lives and the other called The Story Of. Having taught this age group, I always struggled to find interesting nonfiction text for my students to read. Because, as you know, kids need to read both fiction and nonfiction (also called expository.) When I'd test a … [Read more...]
Summarizing with Thinking Maps
Summarizing doesn't come easily for most kids. Most kids are natural retellers. You know, those kids who tell you every last detail of a movie that they just watched? (Oh, the agony!) :) Which is why I want to tell you about using thinking maps (graphic organizers) to write summaries. The goal with summarizing, unlike retelling, is to only pull out the main idea and key details -- not retell … [Read more...]