Savannah Reynolds

September 29, 2015

Recourses for Childrens Literature

1) Identify at least five useful web sites with useful information about reading and/or teaching childrens
books
a.
i. Title: Teaching With Books
ii. URL: http://teacher.scholastic.com/read/teaching-with-books.htm
iii. Person, organization, corporation, or other entity responsible for site: This sites
owner is the Scholastic corporation.
iv. A paragraph describing what the site contains: This site contains many types of
information about Childrens Literature. There are interviews with authors, lesson
plans, student activities and resources. Many of these are book specific, but others are
more generic and could be used with a variety of titles. This site is helpful because it is
a one stop shopping location for teaching ideas.
v. Anything you want to add about what you like about this site: My favorite thing
about this site is the amount of resources that can be found on any given section. The
website not only gives lesson plans, but also provides discussion guides as well as
activities that the students can do based on books read in class.
b.
i. Title: Using Childrens Literature to Develop Classroom Community
ii. URL: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-childrenliterature-develop-908.html?tab=4#tabs
iii. Person, organization, corporation, or other entity responsible for site: This site is
operated by several advisors as well as several authors, professors, and teachers of
various school across the country. This is no real organization or corporation that runs
this site, it is more a group of people who submit their ideas and recourses to help
teachers and other mentors.
iv. A paragraph describing what the site contains: This site contains ideas for using
Childrens Literature as the foundation of Community Building activity. This would be
useful at the beginning of a school year when the teacher is trying to create a family
in their classroom. This site is helpful because it includes the state standards being
addressed, as well as a list of resources and a lesson plan. The activities are student
focused and engaging.
v. Anything you want to add about what you like about this site: My favorite thing
about this website is the way that is set up so that teachers can find lessons and
activities specifically based on their grade level. Also, this website connections reading
with writing which I think is very important especially with older readers who are
developing the concept of connecting ideas.
c.
i. Title: Poetry Lesson Plans
ii. URL: http://lesson-plans.theteacherscorner.net/writing/poetry/
iii. Person, organization, corporation, or other entity responsible for site: This site is
operated by Chad and Jennifer Jenson. Chad is the CEO of JensenWeb, LLC a

Savannah Reynolds
September 29, 2015
Recourses for Childrens Literature

company he created mainly for this website so that he and his wife could provide
teachers with resources and useful information.
iv. A paragraph describing what the site contains: This site contains ideas to make
poetry more accessible to students. There are ideas for having students read, analyze
and write poetry. Most of the ideas are geared toward upper elementary but could be
scaffolded for younger learners or enhanced to increase rigor.
v. Anything you want to add about what you like about this site: For this website, I
liked the addition of contains printable support resources for both teachers and
students. This adds another elements to the resources being provided and allows
teachers to have handouts that go along with the assignment being discussed.
d.
i. Title: Library of Congress: Literature
ii. URL: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/additionalresources/relatedresources/hum/lit.html
iii. Person, organization, corporation, or other entity responsible for site: This site is
mainy run by the Library of Congress and they are responsible for what is put on the
site.
iv. A paragraph describing what the site contains: This site contains a plethora of
information, ideas and resources. It contains complete lesson plans, links to primary
sources and resources of all descriptions. The site does a good job of tying historical
themes to specific pieces of Childrens Literature and would be useful for teachers
preparing a cross-curricular unit.
v. Anything you want to add about what you like about this site: My favorite thing
about the Library of Congress site is the amount of resources that are given for all
different grade levels. Also, there are resources available on this site for students to
find books that they are interested in along with videos and so much more.
e.
i. Title: ShelSilversteinBookss channel
ii. URL: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShelSilversteinBooks
iii. Person, organization, corporation, or other entity responsible for site: While this
page is part of Youtubes franchise, Shel Silverstein and his affiliates are responsible
for the development and content.
iv. A paragraph describing what the site contains: This cite is not directed at teachers
but could be used as a teaching resource. Particularly useful are the recordings of Shel
Silverstein reading his own poetry. This would be useful as a way of making poetry
more accessible to todays children who live in the age of animation and video. Having
the author voice his own words brings the poems to life in a way traditional reading
would not.
v. Anything you want to add about what you like about this site: I like everything
about this webpage and the videos that are included on it. My favorite thing is that it is
very different from many of the other resource focuses websites due to the fact that it is
full of videos. I think this site would be best used at the beginning of a section to open
up new topics and ideas.

Savannah Reynolds
September 29, 2015
Recourses for Childrens Literature

2) Identify at least three non-web sources that can help you learn more about reading and/or teaching
childrens literature.
a.
i. Book
author: Darcie Clark Frohardt
title: Teaching Art with Books Kids Love: Art Elements, Appreciation, and Design
with Award-Winning Books
city of publication: Golden, Colorado
publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
year of publication: 1999
and please note the number of pages: 192
b.
i. Book
author: Susan Van Zile, Mary Napoli
title: Teaching Literary Elements With Picture Books: Engaging, Standards-Based
Lessons and Strategies
city of publication: New York City, New York
publisher: Scholastic Teaching Resources
year of publication: 2009
and please note the number of pages: 80
c.
i. Book
author: Mary Jo Fresch, Peggy Harkins
title: Power of Picture Books: Using Content Area Literature in the Middle School
city of publication: Urbana, Illinois
publisher: National Council of Teachers of English
year of publication: 2009
and please note the number of pages: 147
3) Identify at least five characteristics of or ways of distinguishing reliable web sites
a. Look at the date the website was published or last updated. Chances are if the date is recent the
information will be more reliable than if the date is older.
i. Title: Eight Ways to Tell if a Website is Reliable
ii. URL: http://journalism.about.com/od/reporting/a/Eight-Ways-To-Tell-If-A-Website-IsReliable.htm
b. Look at the websites appearance. Overwhelming colors and hard to read fonts often mean the
person in charge of the website is more interested appearances than content.
i. Title: Eight Ways to Tell if a Website is Reliable
ii. URL: http://journalism.about.com/od/reporting/a/Eight-Ways-To-Tell-If-A-Website-IsReliable.htm
c. Beware of website bias. Oftentimes unreliable websites try to sell their audience on their own
ideas instead of giving out helpful and reliable information and resources. If it seems that the
author of the website adds a lot of opinion to their page, chances are it is not the best source.
i. Title: Eight Ways to Tell if a Website is Reliable

Savannah Reynolds
September 29, 2015
Recourses for Childrens Literature

ii. URL: http://journalism.about.com/od/reporting/a/Eight-Ways-To-Tell-If-A-Website-IsReliable.htm

d. Check the website creators authority and if their credentials relate to the topic being discussed
on the website. Often if the webpage is very reliable, the author's qualifications and credentials
will be somewhere on the page to show the readers that the source is good.
i. Title: Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources
ii. URL: http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm
e. The audience should check for a list of works cited, that references credible sources that are
discussed within the website. If no sources are given, then the author must show somewhere
that they are an expert at the topic discussed so the website can be seen as reliable.
i. Title: Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources
ii. URL: http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm