The Joke (Books) in Nonfiction

They are also underrated in that realm.  They are part of the 800's and can be a great way to get younger students into the Dewey Decimal.  In fact, the one series I find to be popular with 1st-5th grade is Michael Dahl's Read-It! Joke Books.  I have my 5th graders reading me jokes out of that book every couple of checkout days.  It never seems to matter to my kids how easy a book looks if it is funny.  You can get a preview of the books here.

Joke books are also a good way to teach partner work, fluency, and giving students think time.  When I was teaching the 3rd grade about the 818 section, I modeled reading aloud jokes and asking for students to guess what the answer could be.  This provided them with a safe environment to not have the correct answer because almost the whole class wanted to guess.  I then asked them to read jokes aloud to each other and they would wait for their classmates to come up with an answer if no answer was guessed right away. 

Image from capstonepub.com 

Seeing the Nook As an eReader

Part of the technology I get to introduce to my students is the Nook.  I improved upon my instruction of the Nook from last year (see previous posts). One class period is where the students practice using the most basic functions: turning it on and off, adjusting the volume, locating the library of books, opening books, swiping the pages of the books, going back to the beginning of a book, and finding the way back to the home screen.  

5 rules for the Nook:

1. Hold the Nook with two hands.

2. Always sit down when using the Nook.

3. Turn the Nook screen off when the teacher is talking.

4. Be gentle when tapping the screen.

5. Only use the book or app you have been asked to use.

They also view this video during the first training--

They are provided with some time at the end of the first training to read stories for 15 minutes and then access an app for 5 minutes.

The next step happens during the following class period--students partner up, select a story from the Nook, and answer questions based off their story.  This is to focus in on the Nook being an eReader first--a place for the students to find stories.  Students were really focused and into answering the questions. 

The questions I wanted them to work on answering were:

1. What is the title of this story?

2. Who is the author of this story?

3. Who is the illustrator/photographer of this book?

4. Where does this story take place?

5. What is the main idea of this story?

6. Looking just at the pictures, what other title would you give this story?

Next step is to train them on accessing book sites online so they can explore more reading options.


Video from BNstudio/youtube.com