Improving Children's Literature

It is a teacher's dream to reach all of the students in her class to read and it is also fulfilling to get children involved with reading and to develop a passion for doing it. Many teachers know that it is not easy to capture all childrens' interests with books, but one way to start is by reading to them every day. They will begin to develop of liking for being read to and will eventually want to read on their own. The best way to hook a kid with books is to select something that is of interest to you. It should be a book written with quality and not just one that some author put together to make a buck. Some of the best children's books are nominated to receive awards for being well written, well thought out, and brilliantly illustrated. A few of the well known awards for children's books are The Corretta Scott King Award, The John Newberry Medal, The Caldecott Medal, and the Pura Belpre' Award. These awards can be found in libraries or on-line.

Accellerated Reader is a commonly used program that is being used in elementary schools to get students involved with reading. Students can select a book of their choice, read it, and take a short test on the computer about the book. They earn points for each book that they read and at the end of the month they can trade their points in for prizes. This use of technology is a win-win situation for teachers and students.

Compass Odyssey is a great program to help students with reading. Teachers can select stories for students to read to themselves or select the option to have stories read to them. This is great for some of the less fluent readers or for ESL students. This program allows students to be tested on grade level objectives or they can be tested on their ability level.