An opportunity for collaboration - "Better B" List
Help "B" become the Best It Can Be! - And Win An Autographed Book!
Here you will find a new list of CC enhanced exemplars, with annotations.Let's build this list together, discuss together, and craft together for everyone to use.
Each month we will post a collective list of all comments posted to share with everyone. The first "Better B" list will be posted the first full week of November.
Please use the following format:
Title:
Author:
Subjects:
Grades:
Publisher & Copyright Date:
Lexile Level:
Annotation:
Exemplar Rationale: You should review page 2 of the Exemplar B list to understand how your rationale should be worded. Just listing it is not good enough or it has won awards is not enough. Please be specific to help others understand why this book or resource should be considered an exemplar. Including how you use this resource would offer great insight for everyone!
During the first full week of the next month beginning in November - we will post the "Better B" list and award an autographed book to one lucky contributor of said months "Better B" list!
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Sample Entry
ReplyDeleteTitle:
Author:
Subjects:
Grades:
Lexile Level:
Annotation:
Exemplar Rationale:
Title: The Story of Salt
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Mark Kurlansky and S.D. Schindler
Subjects: Salt, salt history, salt industry and trade history, science, nature
Grades: 3-6
Lexile Level: 1110
Annotation: This book offers a historical perspective on the epic global journey of salt, a mineral which was once so prized it was responsible for building dynasties, forming allies as well as an organized black market. Learn about salt’s role in the formation of empires, its use in food preservation and how American roadways were designed in this engaging text.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range.
This text offers:
1. Complexity – I have used this text with students and can easily provide scaffolding of information for the grade band represented.
2. Quality: Note the following awards and positive reviews: Awarded ALA Notable Children’s Books 2007; School Library Journal Starred Review 10/1/2006; Horn Book Starred Review 4/1/2007; Book Links 11/1/2006; Booklist 7/1/2006; Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 10/1/2006; Kirkus Starred Review 8/1/2006; Wilson’s Children review 10/1/2010.
3. Range is clearly provided for this grade band.
Title: Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Bob Raczka; illustrated by Nancy Doniger
Subjects: American poetry
Grades: 3-6
Annotation: This book invites readers to play with words like infants play with food. Fun and sometimes messy word play engages its audience to look deeper and decode this book that turns poems into riddles, anagrams and rebuses for readers to solve. Try this book and you’ll be hooked on cracking the code and creating some of your own.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range. This text offers:
1. Complexity – This text offers readers a large range of wordplay possibilities.
2. Quality: Note the following awards and positive reviews: ALA Notable Children’s Books 2012; School Library Journal 5/1/11; Horn Book 10/1/2011; Booklist Starred Review 12/15/2010; Publishers Weekly 11/29/2010; Wilson’s Children 9/1/2011; Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 2/11/2011.
3. Range is clearly provided for this grade band.
Title: Frogs
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Nic Bishop
Subjects: Frogs, reptiles, amphibians
Grades: K-3
Lexile Level: 890
Annotation: This book titled simply Frogs, invites readers to delve into the deeps with a visually stunning visit into the realm of this favorite amphibian. Amazing facts will stun early elementary readers with tales of frogs that freeze partly solid and live to see spring, frogs that have see-through skin and even creatures that are so poisonous they can kill 10 people. Nic Bishops’s books offer readers an excellent entry into understanding a text through visual literacy.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range. This text offers:
1. Complexity – This text can easily provide differentiated activities for readers or listeners of this text for this age band. This book provides accessible and interesting material that students are motivated to learn more about.
2. Quality: Note the following awards and positive reviews: ALA Notable Children’s Book 2009; School Library Journal Starred review 2/1/2008; Horn Book Starred review 3/1/2008; Kirkus Starred review 12/15/2007; Library Media Connection Starred Review 4/1/2008; Booklist 1/1/2008; Book Links 1/1/2009; Wilson’s Children 10/1/2010 and Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 3/1/2008.
3. Range is clearly provided for this grade band.
Title: Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Loree Griffin Burns
Subjects: Science and nature, earth sciences, water, oceans, lakes, pollution, ocean currents
Grades: 5-8
Lexile Level: 1200
Annotation: Tracking Trash allows readers access to the world’s ocean in a way most have never viewed or even considered. This text urges readers to better understand the role of ocean currents and the impact of man-made garbage on our environment. This book brings to light objects like the Garbage Patch, a giant island the size of Alaska that is floating debris in the ocean. For a middle reader audience, this book offers a plethora of activities that can be used in the classroom setting including prediction, probability, computer modeling and environmental conservation.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range. This text offers:
1. Complexity – This book can provide an easy opening to a discussion on a wide range of complex topics. Instruction could easily be directed toward studying the ocean, environmental conservation and even current events since trash from a Japanese tsunami is now washing ashore and is also building up the Garbage Patch, according an article in the Guardian in May 2012.
2. Quality: Note the following awards and positive reviews: ALA Notable Children’s Book 2008; School Library Journal Starred review 3/1/2007; Horn Book Starred review 10/1/2007; New York Times 10/14/2007; Kirkus Starred review 3/1/2007; Booklist 4/1/2007; Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) starred 02/01/2007; Wilson’s Junior High School 1/9/2010; Wilson’s Children 10/1/2010; Book Links 3/1/2008; Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 5/1/2007.
3. Range is clearly provided for this grade band.
Fantastic idea! This will be an excellent resource that I will try to add to. I plan to share your address with the other district librarians. I would, however, like to see the copyright date of these books included.
ReplyDeleteCopyrights for above books:
ReplyDelete1. Story of Salt 2006
2. Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word - 2011
3. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion - 2010
4. Frogs - 2008
Oops - I forgot the publishers as well.
ReplyDelete1. Putnam Juvenile (September 7, 2006) - Story of Salt
2. Roaring Brook Press (March 15, 2011)- Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word
3.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion
4.Scholastic, Inc. - Frogs
Title: Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu with photographs by Peter Greste.
Publisher/Copyright: Scholastic Press (February 1, 2006)
Subjects: Hippopotamus, Aldabra tortoise, Arabic Language, Animals, Social behavior in animals, friendship.
Grades: K-3
Lexile Level: Adult Directed 920
Annotation: This nonfiction picture book is the remarkable story of a hippo baby named Owen and a 130-year old giant tortoise named Mzee who are engaged in an unforgettable friendship that captured the hearts of followers everywhere. The story, which would be a great elementary-level read aloud, puts an ancient tortoise in the position to lend a hand to a rescued juvenile hippo in dire need of companionship. This story has staying power for readers since they will get caught up in the comedic appeal as well as its heart-felt tale.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range. This text offers:
1. Complexity – This tale offers readers a look into an unusual relationship between different species of animals. It helps to inspire higher level questioning and provides insight into other world cultures.
2. Quality: Note the following awards: Nominated in 2007 for the Flicker Tale Children’s Book award and the Treasure State award.
3. Range is clearly provided for this grade band.
Title: The Tarantula Scientist
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Sy Montgomery
Subjects: Tarantulas, Scientists, French Guiana’s rainforests
Grades: 5-8
Publisher & Copyright Date: Houghton Mifflin, 2004
Lexile Level: 890
Annotation: Here you are invited to follow Sam Marshall, spider scientist extraordinaire (he's never been bitten), as he explores the dense rainforest of French Guiana, knocking on the doors of tarantula burrows, trying to get a closer look at these incredible creatures. You'll also visit the largest comparative spider laboratory in America, where close to five hundred live tarantulas sit in towers of stacked shoeboxes and plastic containers, waiting for their turn to dazzle and astound the scientists who study them.
Exemplar Rationale: Exemplar B selected texts require titles to have the following qualities: Complexity, quality and range. This text offers:
Complexity This book offers insight into the ways real life scientists research their subjects. The fascinating photographs will engage the most squeamish of students and it provides a wonderful introduction into the ways scientists ask and answer questions.
Awards
ALA Notable Children's Books 2005
Kirkus Reviews starred 02/15/04
Book Links 09/01/05
Kirkus Reviews starred 02/15/03
Booklist 03/15/04
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor 2005
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred 04/01/0
School Library Journal starred 05/01/04
Wilson's Children 10/01/10
Horn Book 07/01/04
Wilson's Junior High School 01/09/10