Curriculum Resource Center-How to Use

To find children's literature that supports content standards, here are some suggestions:

• Look at the state or common core content standards to identify keywords you could use in your catalog search.

It's possible to search for books related to art by several approaches:

1.) Search by the type of art you're looking for (e.g., murals, portraits, etc.)

2.) Search by the name of an artist (e.g., Frida Kahlo, Basquiat)

3.) Investigate the subject headings in an art book's record - oftentimes, these will direct you to other books about the same topic.

4.) Picture books are an incredible resource to teach technique. To find picture books with techniques, type the phrase "illustrations rendered" (retain the quotation marks around those words!) and then a media (watercolor, color pencils, pastels, etc). Ex: "illustrations rendered" gouache will yield all the picture books we have with gouache as a component of the art. 

If you want to teach a lesson on perimeter, go to the CRC Library Search and enter the keyword, perimeter. You will see a variety of books in different LOCATIONS within the CRC. If you want to limit the results to just fiction books written for school aged children, go to the limiters on the left side of  screen and select Juvenile Fiction.

 Here are a few example searches to try:

• addition and "juvenile fiction"
• math and "juvenile fiction"
• subtraction and nonfiction
• math and nonfiction 

Search in the Teaching Books.net database for lesson plans on how to teach math concepts using fiction. Here's a list of titles to get you started.

The CRC has lesson  plan books by Marilyn Burns, a well regarded math educator and author. She uses children's literature to create lesson plans. 

Use these lists to find additional children's literature to teach math skills. Once you find a title you like, use the CRC Library Search to see if the CRC has it. 

• 16 Picture Books About Math to Inspire Curious Kids
• 40 Children's Books that Foster a Love of Math
• The Biggest List of the Best Math Picture Books Ever

Try these keyword searches in the library catalog: 

• music "juvenile literature" for nonfiction titles

• music "juvenile fiction" for fiction titles

• songs and music 

• songs and music and animals 

Or try these subject searches in the library catalog: 

• Children's songs  

• Children's songs -- texts  

• Music

• Songs  

• Stories in rhyme 

CRC Library Search tips

Try this keyword search below to find bilingual books in the Juvenile Literature collection:

• "spanish language materials bilingual"

Try this keyword search below to find books written in other languages in the Juvenile Literature collection:

• "french language materials"