Nonfiction+Books+&+Websites+(Russia)+-+Lori+McInnes

Nonfiction Books & Websites (Russia) - Lori McInnes


 * Explanation **

We will use these nonfiction books and websites in my third grade classroom during a social studies unit that integrates reading and writing. In reading workshop, we have spent a great deal of time learning about nonfiction text features. The students will now need to apply what they have learned to complete a research project about Russia. They will use text features to locate information, summarize information while taking notes, and create a pamphlet.


 * Books **

Arnold, H. (1996). //Postcards from russia//. Chicago, IL: Heinemann-Raintree. This book is from the series Postcards From… Russia is introduced to the reader via a series of postcards written by children. Each two-page section contains a color postcard and caption on one side. The opposite side has easy to read text. Included throughout the book are bold words that are defined at the end in the glossary. Lexile: 470.

Bartell, J. (2011). //Exploring countries: Russia//. (2011) Minneapolis, MN: Bellwether Media. This book contains a great deal of basic information about Russia along with many useful text features (table of contents, headings, glossary, index, and fun facts). Lexile: 840.

Berge, A. (2004). //Russia abcs//. Minneapolis, MN: Picture Window Books. This book would be a great read aloud. Each letter is assigned a person, place, or thing that deals with Russia. There is about a paragraph of text to go with each letter. The pictures are all illustrations, and some have captions. Lexile: 830.

Fontes, J. & Fontes, R. (2003). //A to z russia.// New York, NY: Children’s Press. This book contains more information than the previous ABC book. There are several paragraphs of text to accompany each alphabet letter. There are several photographs and captions to match with each item. Additionally, this book contains a table of contents, glossary, and index. Lexile: 770.

Frost, H. (2002). //A look at russia//. Mankato, MN: Pebble Books. This is a very easy to read book that contains basic information about Russia. Text features include a table of contents, photographs with some captions, glossary, and index. Lexile: 450.

Miles, H. (1999). //Look what came from russia//. New York, NY: Franklin Watts. This book contains many pictures to support the text. It discusses the many arts, inventions, sports, foods, animals, et cetera that come from the country of Russia. There are many text features such as a table of contents, photographs with captions, headings, bold words, glossary, and index. Lexile: 710.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ipcizade, C. (2009). //Russia in colors//. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This is an easier to read book. Each two-page section has an extremely large, detailed color picture. The opposite page has a shorter amount of text that describes one of the colors from the photograph. The text gives some basic information about Russia. There are a glossary and index at the back of this book. Lexile: 700.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Kendall, R. (1994). //Russian girl//. New York, NY: Scholastic. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This book shows what a typical day in the life a Russian girl is like. There are many color photographs to match the text. Lexile: 760.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Marquez, H. (2004). //Russia in pictures//. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Company. This is a challenging book. It goes into much more detail than the other books on this list. There is much more text than pictures. Text features include photographs with captions, maps, timeline, glossary, and index. Lexile: 1190.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Whyte, H. (1997). //Festivals of the world: Russia//. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This book provides a great deal of information about the various holidays that the Russians celebrate in their country. There are many large, colorful photographs to support the text. There are helpful headings with each section of text. Other text features include a table of contents, photographs with detailed captions, glossary, and index. Lexile: 860.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Websites **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This website contains basic information about Russia’s geography, nature, history, people, culture, government, and economy along with color photographs. There is also a short video about Russia’s landscape that focuses on volcanoes along with a map.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This website starts with basic information about Russia. It has several links for students to follow: Sightseeing Guide, History Timeline, Native Lingo, Challenge Quiz, and Day in the Life. There are many colorful photographs with each section of the site.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|http://school.eb.com/levels/elementary/article/345773#] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This website is from a link on our school library site to Britannica School. It is an encyclopedia entry that contains information about Russia’s geography, plants, animals, people, economy, and history. There are also color photographs, maps, a flag example, and “Did You Know?” text boxes with fun facts. The students can listen to the information from this site as they follow along with the text.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This website shows the Cyrillic alphabet that is used in Russia. It has the letter, a handwriting example, the name of the letter, a similar sound in English, and a sample word. Additionally, it has sound to go with the text. Information about the history of the Cyrillic alphabet is provided along with a Russian keyboard example.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This website is for more advanced readers. It contains more text than pictures. There is information about Russia’s geography along with history, art, and activities for each area of the country.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hi Lori,

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Here is a website to explain a very popular card game played in Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durak

Here is the Winnie Pooh cartoon too. It is quite different than the English version as the Russian translator made Pooh sneaky and a bit greedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdiEUp6s4E&list=PLttSu5joNAY1b2MSRAMea9hHgleYCuZ41

Here is one for the Moscow Cat Circus. I couldn't find a really good one of the one I saw when I lived there, but this must be a newer one. Enjoy! Russians love cats and the circus. They train stray cats for the shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOjI6vhxH5M

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Enjoy! Diane Baima