Teresa Ritchie's Blog

Response to Integrating Instructional-Level Social Studies Trade Books for Struggling Readers in Upper Elementary Grades by Elizabeth M. Frye February 3, 2010

I thoroughly enjoyed this article and agree with it so very much.  I’ve always been a firm believer that many children in the upper grades are reading texts that are too difficult.  To have a low-achieving reader read a text such as this aloud in class, as Jon did in Ms. Green’s class, is ludicrous.  This is not helping him learn social studies, or other struggling readers like him.  What it is doing, on the contrary, is hurting his self-esteem and keeping him behind in reading. 

I love the idea of using social studies trade books in lieu of those nasty ol’ textbooks.  The Sign of the Beaver is a good book to have students read IF it is matched up with their reading level.  It was a poor match for Jon.  Trade books are more enjoyable for students to read – they tell a story and are not overwhelmingly filled with bland facts.  Additionally, social studies trade books are chock full of historical information and will be better remembered by the students.  Why?  Because they’re fun to read!  Finally, trade books can be suited to children’s reading level, a must for children to be able to read them in the first place.  The thing I find most magical about using trade books is this:  not all readers have to read the same book!  As a matter of fact, as teachers, we don’t want them to because there are different reading levels within the classroom.  I feel confident that there are plenty of stories pertaining to the same topic, say colonial life in America, in mult-reading levels.  I say we take advantage of that fact, cater to our students’ reading needs, and throw the textbook out the window.