EDUC 417 Children's Literature: Awards: For the Classroom

The article addresses the use of children's literature to promote positive student behaviors in primary education. Topics include the importance of the classroom environment for children's psychological well-being, the language experience approach (LEA) for discussing children's literature, and the use of literature circles for discussion. The children's book "Chrysanthemum," by Kevin Henkes, is used as an example for the implementation of these strategies.

Teachers need a deeper understanding of the texts being discussed, in particular the various textual and visual aspects of picturebooks themselves, including the images, written text and design elements, to support how readers made sense of these texts. As teachers become familiar with aspects of literary criticism, art history, visual grammar, picturebook design, peritextual devices and narrative theories, they are better positioned to take full advantage of the discussions that occur in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents websites which offer various books made available for children. It states that the websites help children to enhance their awareness concerning the use of the Internet as well as improve the learning skills of children. Among the websites include the International Children's Digital Library, Light Up Your Brain and Sound Stories, Starfall and TumbleBook Library.