Children+Literature

 ***CHILDREN LITERATURE***

__The Best Worst Brother by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen__ ** This is a beautiful and touching book about a little child with Down’s syndrome. I will use as a read aloud in the classroom because I think it is a great way to teach children about accepting others around us even if they may have a disability. It is also a good book to give confidence to kids who may suffer or have someone close to them with this condition. It is great to assure confidence and acceptation. In addition, it touches on the sign language theme which may look interesting for the students as well. I may prepare a short activity related to sign language to have students make some connections and be able to support one to each other along their learning experience. In addition, I will consider having this type of books in the classroom library for reference and availability for children to read or take home. This would be part of the quality variety of a classroom library. I think we need to make students aware of all situations they may face and different conditions they may see or have. It is important that students know that disabilities are just small obstacles that can be overcome, and we all are capable of learning and contributing in the classroom.  This is a great book to integrate dialog, questioning, and debating in the classroom. It answers common questions that children may have about disabilities. I think I may have a small discussion before reading the book. I may ask my students few questions, maybe having them predict or share their knowledge about the theme. I would also use some illustrations of children with different disabilities and ask them if they know about it. I will also have them shared their experiences if they have known someone with a disability. If I have a child with a disability I may have students interview him or her, always being respectful. And just before reading I would write key words on the board that we would either use for reference during or after the reading. Eventually I would read the book aloud and have discussions along the reading and of course after to review all that we have learned from the reading. I think this type of activities can be very beneficial since it promotes friendship and respect in the classroom and even the society. This book would definitely be a plus for a school or classroom library.
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 * __Don’t Call Me Special: A First Look at Disability by Pat Thomas__ **

**__We Can Do It! by Laura Dwight__** This is an excellent nonfiction book to teach students about text features at the same time they learn about different disabilities. It has beautiful pictures which are always a plus for our ESOL and exceptional children. I would use this book on a guided reading session because I can interact with students and have them discover different text features and explore through information as we all add ideas to the discussion. I think it is great that the book shows children with different disabilities participating in all kinds of activities. Again this book encourages children to learn and share their experiences as it promotes respect in the classroom. As well as all the quality literature I would include this book in my classroom library and have the kids read it or check them out if they would like to. Also I may consider using the book as an example to create a class book with our pictures and decoration; I think this could be very interesting and exciting at the same time. Students can learn a lot from themselves, as they all add their skills to one group project.

__Rolling Along: The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair by Jamee Riggio Heelan__

This is a great book to support our exceptional students, it is a beautiful story. I will use it to introduce biographies or even autobiographies. First, I would read it and discussed with my students and eventually encourage them to write things they do, thinks they find difficult to do, and what they do to be able to achieve everything they want. As another option they may write about someone they know or an imaginary character. This should be definitely an inspirational reading and students should be able to enjoy it. Maybe I will have them working on groups or taking pictures of themselves, or making creative collages as the ones used in the “story of Taylor”. Definitely a must have in the school and/or classroom library. In my opinion it is very important to expose students to all kinds of reading, so they know they are not boundaries.

__Since We’re Friends: An Autism Picture Book by Celeste Shally__ This is a good book to share with the class in a read aloud. It would be great to find it in a big book format or make big pictures of its illustrations to share with the students. It does not only include the theme of autism, but diversity as well. In my opinion it can create an interesting discussion among students as they learn to accept, understand, and be compassionated of each other. I can imagine this could be boys’ favorites since it involves friendship and basketball. This is also a cute story to have in the classroom library available for students. Children should know that even though that they may be different they are capable of enjoying the goodies of life.

__Special People, Special Ways by Arlene Maquire__ Excellent book to discuss disabilities in the classroom; it has beautiful illustrations are definitely a plus to do a read aloud with the students and have a discussion along the way. I will also use this book to introduce or review rhyming words and poems. I can certainly encourage students to add a different rhyming word and change the sentences along the story. Also I can have the students writing a short story about their knowledge on disabilities. Great support for all our exceptional students, this book can definitely be use for multiple purposes.