Karen+Edwards

Community Workers Children’s Fiction

Linn, Margot. 1988. **A Trip to the Dentist.** Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. 15 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is a very fun interactive book for young children. The book has questions and options the children can choose from to predict what will happen in the book. The book also has fold out pages so the child can open the page to find the answer. The illustrations are sweet and show the dentist, the little girl, and the mother all looking happy and comfortable. The book provides a thorough walk through of what a dentist does during a routine teeth cleaning, though the interactive quality of the book and the silly options for answers are anything but routine. While the book talks about the dentist counting teeth, this could be a fun way to incorporate the book into math. Students can count teeth, add teeth on the top and teeth on the bottom, and subtract numbers if teeth fall out. This book is also great for the reading standard of making predictions in a text. The book invites readers to make predictions about who will take care of each step of the dental process and what types of tools will be used.

Linn, Margot. 1988. **A Trip to the Doctor.** Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. 15 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

__A Trip to the Doctor__ is a great book for making doctors, and the trip to see them, seem very fun. The book is very interactive and let’s students guess at the correct tools a doctor would use. The wrong answers are often quite silly, and it’s a great book for a giggle. Children are able to use this book not only to see what types of tools a doctor uses, but also what he uses them for. The little boy going to the doctor is happy and calm the entire trip, which can help children feel more comfortable with going to the doctor. The book also has a nice repetition so children can say “the doctor!” along with the book. This book is great for a science unit on health and the human body. The class can learn about the different parts of the body that doctors check and how we can stay healthy so that we do not need to go to the doctor because we are sick. This book is also a great book to use in reading for making predictions. The story asks many questions about what children think will be in the office, who they think will perform certain tasks, and what kind of tools the children think will be used.

Zimmerman, Andrea & David Clemensha. 2003. **Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry!** Greenwillow Books. 29 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is a fun tale about the unpredictable life of a firefighter. While trying to sit down to dinner, the firefighters are constantly called out to save the town. The book makes the life of a firefighter seem heroic and exciting. The book is also great as it talks about the importance of the firefighters working as a team. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and colorful, giving students something to admire on every page. This book would be a great book for a seven-step vocabulary lesson in reading. The book uses the word suddenly quite often and would be a great book to introduce the meaning of the word. The book could also be used in a social studies unit about the importance of human interaction- would one person be able to put out the fire by themselves? Students can discuss the importance of doing things together, and how communities and organizations make it much easier for us to be able to accomplish big tasks.

Zimmerman, Andrea & David Clemensha. 1999. **Trashy Town.** Harper Collins Publishers. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is an adorable book that simply summarizes a trash collectors job in a fun way for students. The book has the potential for the students to be very involved in the reading as it has places where the students can reply “NO!” and parts that repeat over and over where students could easily join in. While the job of trash collector can be underappreciated, this book makes Mr. Gilly’s work seem important and fun. Mr. Gilly is always smiling and having fun, making any child aspire to be a trash collector after reading the book. The book is a great way to lead into a unit on transportation and its importance in our society. (What would we do without cars to transport our trash?!) A science unit on waste and recyclables could easily stem from this book. Students could have a class discussion about what is actually trash, what could be reused, and what could be put into a compost. Along with this unit, students could learn how trash damages the environment if it is not properly disposed of.

Children’s Non-Fiction

Deedrick, Tami. 1998. **Teachers.** Capstone Press. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book does a great job of not only explaining all the different jobs a teacher has, but also defining words commonly used when talking about school. Through reading this book, students also learn that not all teachers are the same, and that infact all teachers have different jobs. The book makes sure to mention that teachers take work home, which can spark a discussion with younger children about the fact that teachers do not live at school. The book has great pictures showing the diversity in how classrooms look. This book is also great as it has a page about other community workers that help teachers. As this book talks about school, it could easily fit into any curriculum area. At the end of the book, it encourages students to be able to teach a friend about something. In reading, students could learn a book well, and then retell it to a friend to teach them what the story was about. In math, to practice reinforcing a new idea, students could turn to a partner and reteach the idea to each other. If students are ready to begin multiplication, the woman holding the multiplication card on the cover of the book could be a great lead in.

Owen, Ann. 2004. **Caring for Your Pets: A Book About Veterinarians.** Picture Window Books. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

The book did a great job of telling not only what a vet does, but also of showing different types of jobs that vets can have. Children who are interested in learning to be a veterinarian can learn that they could care for small house pets, but that they can also learn to take care of farm animals, zoo animals, or even wild animals! This book is great in representing all types of animals as well as all types of people. The illustrations show veterinarians of all ages, genders, and races. This book could easily lend itself to a study on animals, and the different kinds. Students can learn about household animals, zoo animals, farm animals, and wild animals. Students can learn how animals are different from each other, and even how they are different from humans! While doing a study on animals, students could also learn about their different habitats. This social study unit could extend to include a discussion about what types of animals veterinarians from different parts of the world take care of.

Owen, Ann. 2004. **Delivering Your Mail: A Book About Mail Carriers.** Picture Window Books. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Librar

This book is great in making the job of mail carrier relevant to students. Many times the mailman is not of huge importance in children’s lives because he/she usually delivers bills. This book reminds us that mail carriers also deliver birthday presents and valentines! The book talks about all the different experiences mail carriers have- different types of weather, different parts of a town, and different modes of transportation. The illustrations in the book are great about including both men and women of many different races. As well as being used in a community workers unit, this book could be used in many other social studies units. This book would be a great way to talk about communication. The class could research how communication has changed over the years and how the improvement of communication methods has changed our society. The timeline in the back of the book is a great way to start this discussion and get students interested. This book could also be used in a science unit on weather and seasons. Though mail carriers work all throughout the year, students could learn how mail carriers adapt to the different weather conditions. The book could also be used in a transportation unit, as pg. 22 talks about the different types of transportation some mail carriers use to deliver the mail.

Owen, Ann. 2004. **Keeping You Healthy: A Book About Doctors.** Picture Window Books. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is wonderful for a classroom setting as it simultaneously informs children about the role of doctors and prepares them for what to expect when they go to the doctors office. Thought doctors can sometimes be seen as scary to young children, this book makes not only the doctors themselves but also the process of going to the doctor seem simple and fun. This book is great for providing role models to all types of children as the illustrations show doctors of both genders and of many different ethnicities. As the book shows a doctor using a chart to measure growth, this book could lend itself to the study of both measurement and of graphs. A great way to introduce measurement could be through the discussion about how doctors always measure height during appointments. This book would also obviously be a great way to involve a health unit in the children’s learning. Students can learn how to stay healthy to avoid having to go to the doctor because they are sick or hurt.

Owen, Ann. 2004. **Keeping You Safe: A Book About Police Officers.** Picture Window Books. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is great for explaining the role of police officers in various contexts. The book tells children the different vehicles a police officer could use, the different jobs a police officer has, and even the different working conditions (some police officers work with a human partner, others with a canine partner). The police officers in this book are portrayed as kind, trustworthy, smart, and brave. The book shows police officers helping those in need, stopping those who choose to break the law, and using problem solving to find clues. This book, as well as being used in social studies, could also lend itself to math. The idea of police officers as problem solvers could easily translate into students needing to be just like police officers looking for clues and trying to solve problems. This book could also be used to add a writing element into dramatic play. The book talks about police officers needing to take notes. A notebook could be included in a dramatic play area for police officers to be able to take notes.

Owen, Ann. 2004. **Protecting Your House: A Book About Firefighters.** Picture Window Books. 24 pages. Book obtained from Tempe Public Library.

This book is wonderful for explaining what firefighters do in a simple way, but with the added option of adding more complex information such as equipment and vocabulary on the last couple of pages. While firefighters can sometimes seem scary to young children, this book portrays firefighters as friendly and heroic. The firefighters are always smiling in the book and it shows interactions between firefighters teaching young children and saving animals. This book is also great for classroom use as it shows both men and women as firefighters. As well as being useful for use in social studies, this book could easily lend itself to a discussion about safety at home and in the classroom. Students could practice fire safety, such as lining up for a fire drill or stop, drop, rolling. This book could also be used in a science unit on fire. Students could learn the scientific process behind a fire and how to build up or put out fires. A unit on the forest, and how fire is actually good for the forest cycle, could also be a great way to use this book in a science curriculum.