Take a gander at these three featured bookshelf sets. Each bookshelf issue includes 8 to 12 books and Literary Links which offer some practical ways to use the books to engage children and extend their learning.
Word Wonder: Building Vocabulary with BooksListening to a story with beautiful language read aloud, discussing the story with peers, talking with family and friends, and asking and answering questions are all important ways to develop vocabulary with young children. Quality literature is rich with words and pictures that stimulate imagination and conversation. The books in this column include many stories with vocabulary specific to special topics and themes, books with die-cut pages and interesting visual perspectives which inspire conversation, a story that focuses on the written language of notes and postcards, and books that are filled with language so lovely that boys and girls won't want the story to end. Words have the power to fill young minds with wonder.
Books as Bridges to Many CulturesEveryday experiences of everyday life are the memories of childhood. Young boys and girls learn about themselves as they interact with family and friends and then as they move beyond their time at home to activities in play groups and preschool. They become aware of others who are alike and different from them in many ways. Quality literature provides images and words that connect youngsters to children who may live in other parts of the world or belong to different cultures or races. In this column, you’ll find the story of an Alaskan Inuit mother and daughter who share a guessing game about love, a book about a typical morning in a park in China, a story that explains what it’s like to celebrate a Korean New Year, and a beautifully illustrated picture biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Milestones Project, Celebrating Childhood Around the World (Dr. Richard Steckel and Michele Steckel; Tricycle Press, 2004) is a wonderful resource for teachers as they support children in their understanding of other cultures. It is filled with photographs of boys and girls from around the globe and includes small stories about the milestones in every child’s life, no matter where they live—birthdays, playtime, lost teeth, friends, haircuts, school, and pets. The authors of the text describe their vision in this way: "We aim to create a more peaceful world by encouraging the recognition that, beneath our beliefs or skin color, we are all the same; we are a single people, striving for joy and meaning in an unpredictable world."
Books Count!Books count, and books that include counting as a central theme of the story are an easy and inviting way to introduce young children to numbers and beginning mathematical processes. The books in this column are filled with numbers to recognize, objects to count, number words, number riddles, number rhymes, numbers to count backwards, and some simple addition exercises that are based on counting. The selections have few words but many colorful images that encourage boys and girls to use their minds as they encounter numbers and the corresponding objects that define them. So get ready to count, and count on these books to create an interest and enthusiasm for numbers.