Newbery books are a reliable representation of quality children's literature. They have not previously been formally evaluated by the family structures represented in the books. This content analysis considered 87 contemporary realistic fiction Newbery winner and Honor books since the 1930s that portray families in English-speaking, western settings. The family structures portrayed in these books were compared with the family structure categories of the decade in which each book is set. Percentage comparisons revealed that the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s do not represent the actual family structures of their time period. After the Age of New Realism began in the mid 60s, the family structures in the books more closely matched the family structures of their decade, but several discrepancies remained.

Positive behavioral support and social emotional learning (SEL) are important ingredients in fostering student success and mitigating the incidence of aggressive and harmful behaviors. Although schools provide the ideal environment in which to implement these interventions, there are obstacles to doing so. These obstacles include the amount of time and resources an intervention takes, as well as the social validity of the intervention. To determine social validity, those who implement interventions must consider stakeholder groups’ perceptions and buy in towards the intervention. Because students are typically the primary target population, their perceptions of proposed interventions are particularly important. Each month the participating school focused on one of four social skills: showing appreciation, resolving differences, making good choices, and accepting responsibility. Skills were rotated each month. To minimize demands on school resources, Book in a Bag (BIB) was created to provide a SEL intervention that dovetailed with existing classroom activities. BIB includes a monthly social skills lesson paired with a children's book. Each lesson aligns with one of four identified social skills that are integrated into the school-wide social skills program. This study examined student perceptions of Book in a Bag by analyzing student responses to survey questions. Students were asked to rate the degree to which they saw the social skills instruction as %27fun%27 and %27important,%27 as well as the extent to which they and their classmates utilized the targeted social skills. Results indicated that BIB social skills activities were enjoyable for most students. Students indicated that they often used the steps taught. Suggestions for future research and implementation were identified, including tailoring instruction to grade levels, as students’ enjoyment of Book in a Bag varied by grade level.

The purpose of my research was to determine how the use of picture books during instruction would improve student word choice in writing. Donald Graves (2003), a renowned researcher in the teaching of writing, states, "All children need . . . to be surrounded with poetry, stories, information books, biography, science and history, imaginative and factual books." Graves' research presents successful classroom instruction when teachers incorporate literature as a fundamental part of their reading and writing instruction. Likewise, Susan Anderson McElveen and Connie Campbell Dierking (2000) conducted a study with their students using picture books as "precise examples" to teach writing. Their analysis of data showed that using children's literature, or picture books, served as a "bridge that linked the target skill with the reason for thinking, speaking, and writing like a writer" with their students. The subjects of my study were my fourth-grade students. I obtained data for this study from student writing samples, anecdotal records of my students, my daily reflections, class discussions, debriefings, and writing activities. I assessed students' writing samples using criteria for assessing word choice in the 6-Point Writing Guide in Vicki Spandel's (2005) Creating Young Writers. This study found that the majority of my students demonstrated improved word choice in their writing. Limitations of this study are discussed, as well as implications for future use of picture books during instruction.

While schools are focused on academic success, many lack the resources and instruction needed to help students grow in their social emotional learning. However, research has shown that social emotional learning not only helps students build character but also helps them achieve academic goals. Furthermore, studies have shown that bibliotherapy helps children learn social skills and how to apply them into their own lives. The goal of this study was to determine if Book in a Bag, a social skills bibliotherapy program, implemented over the course of an entire school year was perceived by teachers as an acceptable method to help students learn social emotional skills. The study used a single case study design in an elementary school with grades 1-6. The sample consisted of 19 teachers from grades 1-6. This study was completed using existing data from an elementary school that implemented Book in a Bag. The Book in a Bag lessons were taught by the teachers, volunteers, or substitutes in every class. Surveys and focus groups were conducted to assess the social validity and perceptions of the program amongst the teachers regarding whether or not it was an acceptable strategy to teach students social skills. As part of this mixed methods design, an analysis of the means and standard deviations was performed on the survey data as well a one-way ANOVA to assess any differences across grade levels. Furthermore, a thematic analysis was performed on the focus group data to interpret the teachers' responses. Results suggested that teachers found Book in a Bag an acceptable way to teach social skills and they found the social skills important for their students' social emotional learning. There was no significant difference across grade levels. In the focus group data, teachers reported that the lessons were easy to implement and helped their students gain a greater sense of awareness of the social skill steps. However, teachers in every grade level reported that some of the books did not connect very well to the social skill it was intended to teach and oftentimes there were not enough books for each of the classes. Moreover, this study suggests that bibliotherapy may be an effective and easy way to promote social emotional learning in the classroom. Future implementation of this program should aim to make sure the books match with the social skill and that there are enough materials to implement the program on a school-wide level. Future studies of this program should look at how Book in Bag affects changes in student behavior across the school year by performing observational studies, particularly on playgrounds and during free time to see if students are implementing the social skill steps taught in the lessons.

Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en informativ barnbok kring funktionsvariationen ADHD, som ska fungera som ett verktyg för förskollärare i undervisningstillfällen med barnen. Aspirationen är att barnboken ska bidra till en kunskap om och förståelse för funktionsvariationer samt motverka utanförskap i förskolan. Arbetet utgår ifrån Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv, barnboken kopplas till perspektivet då den är tänkt att användas under högläsningen i förskolan och högläsningen i sig är både social och kulturell. I arbetet beskriver vi hur vi gått till väga i skapandet av den informativa barnboken, samt vilka etiska aspekter vi har fått förhålla oss till. Att inte peka ut eller kränka någon har varit en stor utmaning under arbetets gång, då arbetet behandlar ett väldigt känsligt ämne. En annan utmaning har varit att göra barnboken inkluderande för så många personer som möjligt, både personer med och utan funktionsvariationer. Därför har vi lagt ett stort fokus på just utformningen av boken, där vi anpassat texten och illustrationerna på ett sätt som ska inkludera fler läsare än en vanlig bok. För att undvika etiska dilemman valde vi att kontakta två specialpedagoger som granskade vår barnbok och gav oss feedback. Vi valde även att utföra intervjuer med ett fåtal förskollärare efter att de läst barnboken under högläsningen på förskolorna, detta för att testa barnboken i praktiken och därefter utveckla barnboken så att den når en hög kvalité. Intervjusvaren användes sedan för att svara på våra frågeställningar och kopplas till arbetets syfte.   Resultatet visar på att förskollärarna anser att vår informativa barnbok är etiskt korrekt och att den fungerar som ett inkluderande verktyg kring olika funktionsvariationer. Utifrån vår undersökning har vi även fått kunskap kring hur man bör porträttera karaktärer med funktionsvariationer samt hur barnlitteratur kan göras mer tillgänglig för alla.

Often teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching more content with less time and resources. The use of trade books within the content areas allows teachers to integrate multiple skills in one lesson. The Magic Tree House series has been popular with students and teachers on the elementary level. Using books such as these would be a good way for teachers to use their allotted time to teach all of the content that they are accountable for. This thesis will explore the historical accuracy and educational connections within the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. The purpose of my thesis research is to determine, through the methodology of content analysis, if the facts provided within the Magic Tree House series are accurate enough to use as supplements within the classroom as well as what Next Generation Sunshine State Standards might be linked to particular books.

This research examined the use of award-winning children’s literature for social and emotional learning, focusing on its use for children in third through sixth grades. The world is ever-changing, and, as a result, the need for children to learn necessary social and emotional skills continues to increase. These skills include, but are not limited to, perseverance, friendship, grit, caring, and the like. It has been found that teaching social and emotional skills through bibliotherapy is an engaging and successful method that can be used by schools and teachers. Teachers or other educational stakeholders can use this document to begin to understand the need for social and emotional learning and the benefits of bibliotherapy. Additionally, this document can be used as a reference to guide literature selection based on social and emotional traits and themes. At the time of the research, there were few other guides and references as such.

The intent of this thesis is to (1) examine the prevalence of diverse populations in the pieces of children’s literature found in three Title I third grade classrooms, and (2) to examine if the diverse populations are authentically and relevantly represented. Researchers have emphasized the impact and importance of children’s literature that represent student’s diverse backgrounds authentically and relevantly, as they have the potential to affect students’ motivations, aspirations, and how they view themselves and the world at large. Particularly, Bishop (1990) suggested that students need books that act as “mirrors” that allow them to see themselves, their experiences, and their cultures, and books that as “windows” that allow them to learn about others, other experiences, and other cultures. However, the mere presence of diverse populations in children’s literature alone is not enough; the diverse populations must be represented authentically and relevantly as to not perpetuate stereotypes about certain non-dominant groups (Christ and Sharma, 2018). The content analyses conducted on the children’s literature with human characters found that the libraries were dominated by White main characters; 77.98% of the main characters were White and 22.02% of the main characters were from diverse populations, despite the school population being only 8% White. Additionally, the content analyses showed that while all the books with diverse main characters were culturally authentic, 35.14% were not culturally relevant. The findings of the content analyses should encourage educators to examine their classroom libraries to see if the diverse populations in their classrooms, and ones not present in their classrooms, are represented authentically and relevantly.

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