TCH 258 - Social Studies Methods

Children's books are excellent resources to be incorporated into a lesson. This page will outline one way to search for possible picture books on a topic using TeachingBooks.net. It is important to recognize that this will only provide books on a given topic, and will not critically evaluate the materials. Instead, you will need to do that as a second step before formally using a discovered material. 

Using the link below, you will be prompted to sign-in with your ULID and password. Once you do, you will be logged into the ISU shared student account. This link will work the same both on and off-campus.

• Click the quick link above to access TeachingBooks.net. Sign-in with your ULID and password if prompted. 
• In the search bar, search for "Advanced Search."
• Click the Advanced Search link from your search results. This is in the Featured column to the right. 
• In advanced search, change the Search Type from "Book Title" to "All Fields."
• Then, enter keyword(s) for your topic. Examples include: Thanksgiving, Columbus, Molly Pitcher, etc.
• Don't click Submit just yet! Instead, scroll below the submit button to see some options to narrow your search. 

• Under Title Details select '1st to 5th grade' as you grade levels. 
• Under Curricular Area select both History and Social Studies. Do this by CTRL clicking the second option. 
• Under Cultural Experience consider selecting a cultural experience relevant to your topic. Keep in mind that this does NOT guarantee that the author or illustrator is part of that community. 

• Now, press Submit to see a list of potential titles. You can further refine your results on the right if necessary. 
• To check if Milner Library has a copy of the book, search the title in the Milner Library Catalog.