Non-Fiction books in our classrooms

Children of all ages frefer reading stories that are nonfiction when given the opportunity to chose the book of thier chose. Yet for some reason teachers seem to limite the amount of non-fiction books that our students read. I think that teachers need to recognize the positive effects of non-fiction books have on our students. The book (The Joy of Children's Literature) gave six different resons why non-fiction books are benefitioal.
1. it offers a key to succes in later schooling
2. it is ubiquitious in the larger society.
3. it is the preferred reading material for some children.
4. it addresses chilfren's interests and questions.
5. it builds knowledge of the natural and social world.\
6. it includes many important text features.
I think that nonfiction books engage and moticates children's reading and interest in certain subjects in ways that textbooks can't. I myself like reading nonfiction books where the author is able to create and picece of literature of art work. Yet some people think that nonfiction is only a dry recitation of facts, that are badly reproduced photographs. The ways that us as teachers can use nonfiction books is by creating goals for our students. The book (The Joy of Children's Literature) stated goals for multicultural understanding with nonfiction books.
1. Contrubute to students' self-esteem and self-awareness.
2. Help children of diverse cultures appreciate the contribution of thier ancestors.
3. Contribute to the development of respect across cultures.
4. Enhance students' identifcation with members of diverse cultures.
5. Illustrate the history of various diverse cultures in this country and abroad.
6. Provide up-to-the-minute portrayals of everyday lives of youngsters from diverse cultures living today.
Not all non-fiction books are great for lessons and read aloud. You must select only quality nonfiction, select information from a varity of media, choose books that reflect children's interest, consider reading only a protion of the book so that they will want to read them by themselves, read aloud nonfiction with expression just as you would fiction, discuss unfamiliar words, stop to discuss the organization and features that the book provides, reread favorite nonfiction titles to make the books able to read independently.



 www.rif.org/educators/books/100_nonfiction.mspx

www. socialstudies.org/resources/notable

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/fiction-non-fiction-book-pairs-classroom-library