Study IDENTIFIERS Trade Books

The trend in many schools is to move away from using the textbook exclusively in content area classrooms and move toward the integration of various pieces of children's literature, in many instances as a thematic unit. Using a thematic approach and incorporating trade books provides students with opportunities for cumulative learning and the discovery of connections between content-related subjects and diverse literary texts. Picture books, many of which are suitable for older children, can be used to teach content area material. Preservice teachers can begin to incorporate children's literature by using a trade book to support a specific lesson and then move on to develop thematic units of study around specific content area topics. A teacher educator who teaches both content area reading courses and children's literature courses has her students develop a variety of thematic units of study an