Indiana teachers face many challenges in the classroom.  One of their success stories can be connecting literature to the state standards.  How does the victory happen?  By studying the standards and making matches to great literature.

      Indiana academic standards can be found on the Web at http://doe.state.in.us/standards /welcome.html.  You can view them there or do a download, so you always have them accessible to you.  I used the standards that were finalized.  However, additional standards continue to be established, so be sure to check the site periodically.  Now the fun begins.  Read through the standards.  Think about the concepts to be taught.  Check out the bibliographies in your textbook to see what titles the publisher recommends.  Peruse your classroom library for titles that you already own that connect with curriculum.  Visit your school library media center, public library, and local bookstore to see what new items make a match to the standards. 

      Here are some ideas to get you started.  I’ve listed the content areas in alphabetical order.  The literature includes some older pieces as well as some newer ones.  All of the Web sites were active at the time the article was written.

      Language arts makes the easiest connection from literature to standards.  Standards 1–3 focus on reading, 4–6 specify writing concepts, and 7 deals with listening and speaking.  Thousands of titles can be integrated with those ideas somewhere in the K–12 framework.  Standard 6, Writing:  English Language Conventions, mentions verbs at several grade levels.  Students studying that part of speech can use Verbs, Verbs, Verbs to better understand the concept.  The charts and information make this a reference tool that upper elementary students can use independently.  Appropriate fiction titles abound for today’s students.  Check out the Indiana Department of Education Web site for a reading list with suggested titles for every grade level—<http://doe.state.in.us/standards /readinglist.html>.  Look for additional ideas at Carol Hurst’s Web site—<http://www.carolhurst.com/>—or The Children’s Literature Web Guide—<http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/>.

      Math standards for kindergarten number sense state, “Students understand the relationship between numbers and quantities up to 10, and that a set of objects has the same number in all situations regardless of the position or arrangement of the objects.”  One Potato uses striking potato prints to show number concepts from 1 to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100.  The artwork gives a clear depiction of each number concept.  It is so beautiful that I heard of a woman who used it as wallpaper in her kitchen.  You can use it with your students to help them understand number concepts.  Your students could make their own potato prints too.  Take a look at the following Web site to get additional literature connections to mathematics: Children’s Literature in Mathematics—<http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/Y/Elaine.Young-1 /literature.html>.

      The music standards speak to “understanding music in relation to history and culture.”  Teaching that could be a great time to use The Young Person’s Guide to the Opera.  It contains information about how opera started, famous singers, and opera houses.  The book comes with a CD that contains 11 songs.  If you would like additional music to share with your students, take a look at the Children’s Music Web—<http://www.childrensmusic.org/>.

      When I was a child, physical education meant games or sports.  Today the standards span a much wider thought process.  One of them states that a student “understands that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction.”  Beginning readers get excited about a wide variety of sports by reading

Sports! Sports! Sports!, a poetry book.  Older readers enjoy biographies about sports figures, for example, On the Track with . . . Jeff Gordon.  A great Web site would be Sports Illustrated for Kids—<http://www.sikids.com/>. 

      Science Standard 2 focuses on scientific thinking.  Students of any age gain understanding of basic concepts by reading For Your Own Protection.  Former science teacher Vicki Cobb makes ideas clearly understandable in this picture book with terrific photos.  Children ready for chapter books will love learning about scientists who invented things.  When they read Toys!, they not only learn about the objects but gain understanding into scientific thinking.  Look for more connections from Purdue Science Software and Literature for the Classroom—<http://essc.calumet.purdue.edu/litsoft/lit_soft>.

      Social studies standards include looking at history, individuals, society, and culture.  Historical fiction makes a great connection to those standards.  Students can read Sacajawea to gain a new view of that historical figure.  They can learn more about the family from the Newbery winner Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by reading The Land.  Whatever time period your students study, you’ll find some great literature.  Check out this Web site for additional connections: Children’s Literature with Social Studies Themes—<http://www.udel.edu/dssep /literature.html>. 

      The visual arts standards include art as production, but they also include a look at careers and the community.  Children love to try various art techniques.  Help them integrate art and literature by trying out some of the ideas from Art Projects Plus!  This teacher resource book gives trade book titles and then directions on how to create the art technique with students.  Another way to connect art to literature is through author/illustrator Web sites, such as the one for Jan Brett—<http://janbrett.com/>. 

      These titles and Web sites only scratch the surface of the literature/curriculum connection.  Talk to other teachers, your school library media specialist, and public librarians.  They will have other ideas to add to the success story.  Standards give us goals to achieve.  Literature provides one of the means to be successful.   

 Bibliography

 Blount, R. Howard, and Martha Venning Webb.  Art Projects Plus!  Grand Rapids: Instructional Fair, 1997.

 Bruchac, Joseph.  Sacajawea.  New York: Harcourt, 2000.

 Cobb, Vicki.  For Your Own Protection.  New York: Lothrop, 1989.

Ganeri, Anita, and Nicola Barber.  The Young Person’s Guide to the Opera.  New York: Harcourt Brace, 2001.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed.  Sports! Sports! Sports!  New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

Pomeroy, Diana.  One Potato.  New York: Harcourt Brace, 1996.

 Stout, Glenn, and Matt Christopher.  On the Track with . . . Jeff Gordon.  New York: Little, Brown, 2001.

Taylor, Mildred.  The Land.  New York: Phyllis Fogelman, 2001.  

Terban, Marvin.  Verbs, Verbs, Verbs.  New York: Scholastic Reference, 2002.

Wulffson, Don.  Toys!  New York: Henry Holt, 2000.