#nf10for10~ Nonfiction Picture Book Event!

#nf10for10…
                       Today's the day! 

Cathy of Reflect and Refine and Mandy of Enjoy and Embrace and Julie of Write at the Edge are hosting the first Nonfiction Picture Book Event #nf10for10!

This is a great opportunity to learn new nonfiction books! My class LOVES nonfiction and I am always on the hunt for new nonfiction titles that will support my young readers! 

I hope you'll find a few new titles for your collection! Just in writing this post I ordered 3 new books, I am bit scared about how many more I will be ordering as I read your post! 

Predators written by Steve Parker designed by Jo Ryan
This book is part of a series and sure to be a hit in our first grade classroom! (It was an instant hit with me when I saw these hard cover books sell for $9.99 each!)
The photo on the cover tells the reader right away they're in for an unclose view of deadly creatures!
Inside the pages are laid out in an engaging way with bold print, highlighted key words, large action shots of the predator, and a 'killer fact" on each page. The author shares the predators habitat, food source and how the animal uses it's body to hunt for prey. The predictability of the layout and information from page to page  will enable younger readers to locate key details and discover new learning.

Life Size Zoo by Kristin Earhart, Toyofumi Fukuda and Teruyuki Komiya
Reader's clamor for this book in our classroom! The life size fold out pages are highly engaging and kids love the facts that border the page.  The facts are shared in a cartoon like design and provide the readers with interesting facts. The unfamiliarity of these facts are a crowd favorite, like identifying different types of zebras by their patterns or a panda's bathroom habits.  Another  feature that keeps kids reading and wondering is the "Time for a Close Up." This section asks the reader to look more closely at the features of the animals. There are 4 Life Size titles; More Life Size Zoo, Life Size Aquarium, and Life Size Farm.

Puppies and Kittens by Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris
This is a new book in our nonfiction collection and I am eager to put it in the hands of my kids. The layout of this book is a typical nonfiction style complete with table of contents, index, glossary, headlines, captions and labels.
The information the author shares is easily relatable to young readers. Readers learn about eating, playing, learning and different breeds of puppies and kittens.
The large print, simple text, and photo support will make this a great match for the first grade readers in our room.
This book also offers a free digital book! The digital books shares more information on the care, health and grooming of puppies and kittens and even a few games!

I Wonder Why Spiders Spin Webs and other Questions About Creepy Crawlies
The titles in the I Wonder Why series are great for sparking wonder in the classroom. The kids love sharing their wonders about insects, trees, dinosaurs, or even space and then to search for answers in the pages of the I Wonder Why books.
The illustrations are interesting to the readers and the question answer format makes for great conversations between readers!

A Rainbow of Animals by Melissa Stewart
A Rainbow of Animals has been a long time favorite in our room. The kids are attracted by the colorful photographs and easy to read captions. Each caption tells the reader about the animals color, habitat and food. The kids love all the connections between survival and color!

Safari by Gail Tuchman
National Geographic Kids offers a variety of informational text at 4 different reading levels. This is the first level of the four. This book has beautiful photographs, patterned text, 1-2 lines of text per page and great picture text support. All readers can read this informational text with ease. Readers will see a variety of animals on an African safari, learn what the animals eat and how they play.

Frogs! by Elizabeth Carney
This is the second level of the National Geographic Kids. This book has more non-fiction text features, table of contents, labels, headlines, fun facts, and a glossary. The layout of the pages are very bright and exciting! Who would expect less from National Geographic? I found these National Geographic Kids at my local Target! I plan to add more to our collection, the readability and bright inviting pages will be a BIG hit with the readers in our room!

Time For Kids Magazine subscription
How could I share informational text without paying respect to Time For Kids Magazine (TFK)?  Our class subscribes to TFK and I am not sure I could teach without this resource. TFK provides relevant topics to the Common Core and the events in our lives. Parents have shared how they enjoy being able to talk about these events at home with their first grader. Imagine the dinner conversation when K shares what she read about President Obama in Time Magazine!
The magazines are organized with many non-fition features, easy to read text, headlines, captions, and photographs. My class loves seeing TFK in our day.

Time For Kids online resource

I have to be honest, I haven't used the TFK online resources yet… I have explored the site and see potential for lesson, blog post, and VoiceThreads that will allow the kids to work independently with the slide shows and video on the site. Maybe this should be a later post! If you've used this site (or one similar) I would love to hear more!

Washington, D.C. DK
This is a book I see in the hands of my kids ALL THE TIME! The kids love the double page spread map on the end pages and turning the book to see the double page spread of the Washington Monument. As they browse through the photographs I hear them share about their trips to D.C. and gasps when they see kids playing on the lawn of the White House!