Kobe Bryant and STEM Friday

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What do Kobe Bryant and STEM Friday have in common? Well, it's Kobe's birthday today so in celebration of that we are going to mention two Kobe biographies, as well as a science book about the physics of sports.

The first biography is written for the elementary market. Read About Kobe Bryant, part of the I Like Sports Stars! series, is a photo-essay great for the emergent reader. This title has been correlated to the Common Core standards. Other athletes covered in this series are Alex Rodriguez, Carmelo Anthony, Derek Jeter, Drew Brees, and Eli Manning.

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Kobe Bryant: Champion Basketball Star is written for the middle school reader and is part of the Sports Star Champions series. The author highlights the career of this basketball star, and this book has also been correlated to the Common Core standards. Other athletes included in this series are Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Kevin Garnett, Peyton Manning, and Tim Duncan.

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Science plays a role in sports. Newton's First Law of Motion is used when dribbling a basketball. How is science used when making shots at the basketball hoop? The Physics of Sports Science Projects gives the reader step-by-step instructions on how physics is used in sports. This title has been correlated to the Common Core standards. Part of the Exploring Hands-On Science Projects, other topics covered in the series are plants, sound, solids, liquids, gases, toys, games, and magic.

All of these titles are available from your preferred vendor, enslow.com, your independent bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Does your family live on a farm?

These animals do!

Written for early elementary readers, these 24-page books inform readers about animals that live on the farm. Focusing on one family farm, each book covers one animal and shares how each of these animals are raised on the farm.

Click here to learn how these titles meet the Common Core State Standards

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STEM Friday

Today, we are the guest blogger over at STEM FRIDAY. Come join us as we talk about sports and how it relates to math!

Enslow Publishes McKissacks' Bio of Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson was born on this day in 1898. His life's journey is the subject of a recently published Enslow Publishers biography, Paul Robeson: A Voice for Change. This book, written by Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack, offers young readers an opportunity to gain an introduction to Robeson's controversial life, his remarkable achievements, and the social and political issues in which he was immersed.

This 24-page book, suitable for readers in Grades One and Two, is correlated to national Common Core State Standards as well as individual state curricular standards. The work, included in Enslow's "Famous African Americans" series, is available in print and e-book editions. When you order directly from Enslow, the library-bound edition is $15.95; that price represents a 25% discount from Enslow's list price. A paperback edition is available for $6.95. A school or library unit may purchase a multi-use e-book version directly from Enslow for the discounted price of $20.95; that price represents a 25% institutional discount from Enslow's list price.

The Robeson biography is also available from your preferred vendor, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Blue Wave Classroom Exhibits at NAEYC

Check out our new Blue Wave Classroom booth # 2152 at the NAEYC Conference in Atlanta. Stop by our booth to receive your free tote and see how you can you use informational text from our classroom books to fill your Common Core State Standards needs. Just look for the big red and white apple balloon!

FREE Stuff Friday

We thought we'd post some free stuff this Friday. So, here are three seasonal worksheets available for download from our Blue Wave Classroom website. Kids will enjoy writing their own acrostic poems and they look great displayed on bulletin boards. Just click on any worksheet to take you to page where you can download all three for FREE! If you enjoy these, let us know and we'll provide more in the future.

Great Elementary Non-Fiction for Thanksgiving (and you can win them!)

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and it's a great time for kids to learn about Thanksgiving while building their literacy skills. Enslow Publishers' non-fiction expert authors believe that reading informational texts should  be educational and fun.  With that in mind, here are three great, Common Core correlated, Thanksgiving books to make sure that young readers have an educational and fun Thanksgiving.  As a side note: if you like any of these books, be sure to check out our Pick-A-Page giveaway (details at the end of the post).

Thanksgivng Day, by Dorothy Goeller, is a delightfully silly reader for children just beginning to read. Featuring bright illustrations and simple text with one sentence per page, Thanksgiving Day is great for kids reading alone or with an adult. Common Core Correlations for Thanksgiving Day can be found here.

Storyteller Randel McGee's Paper Crafts for Thanksgiving shows young readers how to make their own Thanksgiving crafts while learning about the holiday.  Paper Crafts for Thanksgiving contains easy step-by-step instructions as well as reproducible templates for all of the crafts shown in the book.  Common Core Correlations for Paper Crafts for Thanksgiving can be found here.

What is Thanksgiving?, by Elaine Landau, introduces early readers to the traditions of Thanksgiving with beautiful photos and carefully crafted text.  To further engage the reader, What is Thanksgiving? features an activity where the reader constructs a "Thank-You" poster to give their thanks to the community for Thanksgiving. Common Core Correlations for What is Thanksgiving? can be found here.

Our Pick-A-Page Giveaway is still going on!  To enter the giveaway, go to our e-catalog and pick a page of titles you would like to receive for free. Like us on Facebook and leave a comment on Facebook, letting us know which page you would like to receive, and how those books would benefit your school/library. For everyone who enters, they will receive one book from the page they requested. One winner will be chosen at random at the end of the week, and that person will receive a copy of every book on that page. The winner will be announced on Facebook sometime next week!

More on the Common Core

There has been a lot of talk about the Common Core State Standards and how Appendix B applies. Many educators are using the list as a primary source for text.  The Common Core State Standards states as follows, with regards to appendix B:

Selecting Text Exemplars
"The following text samples primarily serve to exemplify the level of complexity and quality that the Standards require all students in a given grade band to engage with. Additionally, they are suggestive of the breadth of texts that students should encounter in the text types required by the Standards. The choices should serve as useful guideposts in helping educators select texts of similar complexity, quality, and range for their own classrooms. They expressly do not represent a partial or complete reading list."

There are many ways for educators to choose excellent books for their reading lists. Some of them include:

Recommendations from other teachers, librarians, and even parents!

Award Winners. You can find many award winning lists on the Internet.

Review committees and booksellers post their lists on their web sites.

How are you choosing your books for your reading list to use in conjunction with the Common Core State Standards? We would like to know!

Welcome to Blue Wave Classroom!

One of the main goals in the new CommonCore State Standards (CCSS) initiative is for students to read more informational texts. This means that student reading of nonfiction must increase dramatically. 

The mission of Enslow Publishers, Inc., is to publish high-quality educational nonfiction books for children and young adults. Blue Wave Classroom, extends this mission into school classrooms, in addition to school libraries and public libraries with our curriculum-aligned, leveled, nonfiction and historical fiction books for Pre-K to grade 12. 

Check out Blue Wave Classroom's special offer for new customers. Be sure like the Blue Wave Classroom facebook page for special offers and giveaways.