Annotated Bibliography

             I have compiled my own Annotated Bibliography for Children's Literature. In my research I have found that there are a lot of good books out there are already and they are very useful in the classroom. As a future teacher, I encourage you to all take a look at the books you are reading and record them for future reference, I am sure they will come in handy one day. For now, I have some of my favorites from my list that I would like to share with you. With each book comes the summary, my personal response, and a teacher connection to the classroom. Enjoy!

Annotated Bibliographies:

Summary: Dinosaurs are huge! We all know that they are but how big is big? O’Brien takes the dinosaurs and places them next to everyday objects we see today to show us just how big they truly are if they were to still be around today! Personal Response:

Gigantic! How Big were the Dinosaurs? By

Patrick O’Brien

Copyright 1999

# of pgs: 32                               

Historical Fiction 

   Grades 1-2

      This book gives us quite a realistic view to see how huge dinosaurs would be today. This makes it an         interesting read because it helps us to relate it to our own everyday life which I find fascinating. I’ve known that dinosaurs were big but I never imagined how big they might be and this book brings that alive to us.

    Teacher Connection:

      In a classroom setting, we could be talking about how dinosaurs used to be around and let the children know how big they must be! This book could be a great way to introduce them to this concept. I would have the students have a worksheet that has pictures of everyday objects. Next to the objects, there would be space for the students to draw. As a class, the students would be listening to the teacher read this book aloud. After everyone learns about how big one dinosaur is next to an object, the students will draw their own dinosaur next to the object on the picture on their worksheet. These objects will correlate the ones in the book so the dinosaur should correlate too.

 

     

Magic Tree House: Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne Copyright 2002 # of pgs: 73 Modern Fantasy Grades 3-4 Summary:       Annie and Jack have a secret tree house that magically appears when it wants to be found. In this episode, they were whisked away to the First Thanksgiving in 1621. They met the pilgrims and the Indian Squanto. They were found and must participate in helping prepare for the feast, the first Thanksgiving ever! In their time there, they recognized the hardship of the times and the amount of preparation needed in the village at the times. Jack and Annie learned about this great feast in a firsthand perspective. Personal Response:        I enjoyed this book very much because it really brought us to look at Thanksgiving from a different perspective. We tend to think of it as food time but back then, it was a celebration of the unity of the Indians and the pilgrims as they had to work together to survive in the first place. The children will be able to see the difference of the way children lived back then compared to today. It helps gain the necessary appreciation of the hardship they went through for us to be where we are today.    Teacher Connection:        In the classroom, the teacher could have a video about Thanksgiving to introduce the topic to them. Have them discuss what it means to them. Then, after they have read this book, have a class discussion about the differences they recognized between back then and today. Have a chart up front on the board; a column for the similarities and a column for the differences. After this is finished as a class, have the students think about ways they could help their parents at home with Thanksgiving. Once a list has been made, share the list with students to take home. When they come back from Thanksgiving, have the students write in a journal about what they did to help their families. Seven Natural Wonders of North America by Michael Woods & Mary B. Woods Copyright 2009 # of pgs: 70 Nonfiction Grades 5-6 Summary:      There are Seven Natural Wonders of North America alone and this book helps us to see it all in one book. It would be so much better to see in person but this gives us a sneak peek into the natural beauty that surrounds us each and every day! If we would only open our eyes! Personal Response:          I found this book to be simply amazing with the awesome pictures it gives of the natural beauty that surrounds us! All this time that I have lived here in Florida, North America, and all this has surrounded us! It intrigues me and reminds me that there is history to all these wonders and it is important to remember the history around us.  Teacher Connection:            In a classroom, this would be great for students to learn. Since there are seven wonders, I would divide the students into seven groups. Each group will be assigned a Wonder of the North America. This will become more of a project where they will be given a little bit of classroom time to work on it. They will conduct research on their wonder to find out how it might have been created. Such as if it was result of man’s actions or something that was created without any help. Together as a group, they will present their findings. Also, they would have created a model of the Wonder in any way they choose to display it.