Common Core in Grades 4-6

The Classroom Go-To Guide for the Common Core is the first in a series of comprehensive tools to tap into the vast flow of recently published books for children and teens, offering recommendations of exemplary titles for use in the classroom. Currency meets authority, brought to you by the editors of the highly regarded review sources, School Library Journal and The Horn Book Magazine.

This guide includes approximately 200 selections published since 2007 for grades 4-6 recommended by The Horn Book Magazine. The titles are grouped by subject and complemented by School Library Journal’s “Focus On” columns, which spotlight specific topics across the curriculum.

Providing context for the guide, and suggestions on how to use these resources within a standards framework, is an introduction by Common Core experts Mary Ann Cappiello and Myra Zarnowski. These experts provide perspective on the key changes brought by the new standards, including suggestions on designing lessons and two samples plans. Following the introduction, you’ll find a wealth of books, by category.

Each section includes a listing of the top titles with brief, explicit annotations, and key bibliographic data. “Focus On” articles are appended to appropriate categories to support in-depth curricular development. Each of these articles includes a topic overview and list of current and retrospective resources (including some fiction), and multimedia, that will enable educators to respond to Common Core State Standards call to work across formats.

Roger Sutton has been editor in chief of the Horn Book Magazine since 1996. He is the author of A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature with Martha V. Parravano. He has an M.A. from the Graduate Library School, University of Chicago.

Daryl Grabarek is the editor of School Library Journal's enewsletter Curriculum Connections and its app column, "Touch and Go," and a member of its book review team. She is also a school librarian in lower Manhattan.