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EDEL 472 Teaching and Learning History-Social Science, K-8

Library research tips and resources for EDEL 472 students

Finding Children's Books to use

Tips for finding children's social studies and history literature focused on marginalized groups and additional narratives

  • Use more recent books, 20 years old or less
  • Look for authors of color
  • Look at a book's cover

Start with the CA curriculum, and then use other items to teach the bigger picture.

  • Nonfiction

    • Biographies and informational texts
    • Use your keywords in OneSearch and use the "location" feature on the left to select "nonfiction"
    • Find a call number related to your subject and you should find books on your topic for all ages
  • Fiction

    • Picture books, chapter books, historical fiction
    • Use your keywords in OneSearch and use the "location" feature on the left to limit to "Children's Fiction" for chapter books or "Children's Picture" for picture books

Finding Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Anything created at the time of the event

  1. In OneSearch conduct an Advanced Keyword Search

Limit your results in the Publication Date drop down menu to your time-period

Do not limit these searches to Children's Collection, as many primary sources are in our larger collection.

  1. In Databases select types: Primary Sources, and scroll to find a good one for your topic, check the years covered.
    1. Newspaper and Magazine articles - Historical Los Angeles Times 1881-,
    2. Images – Artstor -Type in keywords and your time-period.  You must create an account to download images.
    3. Diaries, autobiographies, oral histories - North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories
    4. Government documents – laws, decrees – History Vault

Documents and Images Archives

Free Resources

Key for when you are no longer a student here

Newspapers and Magazine Archives

Video and Audio Databases

What age?

There are many factors that determine the appropriate age to read a book, and it can be hard if you haven't read the book, or don't know the child. ​(Labeling books by age is a problem, since a child with lower reading skills having to select "little kid" books to find something they CAN read successfully can turn them off reading.)

Two major considerations:

  • Reading DIFFICULTY

  • CONTENT understanding

Recommendations from teachers or librarians who know the child and the books, are an excellent way to find appropriate books.

Publishers usually assign an age range to the books.  These are some of the designations you will see:

  • Newborn to age 3 (Board Books)

  • Ages 1 and up - Where the Wild Things Are

  • Ages 3–8 (Picture Books)

  • Ages 5–9 (Early or Leveled Readers)

  • Ages 6–9 or 7–10 (First Chapter Books)

  • Ages 8–12 (Middle-Grade Books)  -Harry Potter 1

  • Ages 10 and up  - Hunger Games, Harry Potter 7, Thirteen Reasons Why 

  • Ages 12 and up or 14 and up (Young Adult (YA) Books) Twilight

These publisher designations can not determine both content AND difficulty, only a suggested age range to sell the book.

Children's Collection Call Numbers

Room 200

  • Picture Books (PZ8)
  • Juvenile Fiction (chapter books) (PZ7)
  • Young Adult literature collection (PZ7.5)
  • Beginning (easy) Readers (PZ6)
  • Children's Graphic Novels (all call numbers)

Room 204

  • Non-Fiction Books (LC Subjects A-Z)
  • K-12 Curriculum (LC Subjects A-Z)
  • Children's Poetry (PZ5)
  • Oversized books (all call numbers)
  • Audiobooks and DVDs (all call numbers)
  • Braille Books (all call numbers)

Children's Books available via eBook or streaming Audiobook

Using the K-12 Curriculum Collection

The K-12 Curriculum collection of kids textbooks is located in room 204.  Usually the best way to find what you are looking for is just to go browse the small collection.  Series are arranged by the subject call numbers, and are labeled with their grade level.  In most cases there are both the student book and the teacher manual included.

You can also use OneSearch and location: k 12 curriculum.  Enter your subject, e.g. math, and get a list of what we have.