Teacher Resource Center Collections

Focus Of Materials

Organized collections of teaching ideas that can be used to create lesson/unit plans.

Description Of Materials

The TRC has more than 2,500 different activity books covering a wide variety of topics and grade levels. Most of these are organized collections of teaching ideas; a small percentage include worksheets. Some language arts and mathematics activity books include page by page correlations to California standards.

Although there are an incalculable number of teaching ideas accessible via the Internet, activity books continue to provide the most efficient access to high quality teaching ideas. Some sample titles include:

• Cooking Up U.S. History
• Gardening Fun
• Teaching Conflict Resolution Through Children’s Literature
• Teacher’s Handbook of Children’s Games
• File Folder Reading Activities
• 75 Picture Prompts for Young Writers
• Writing Resource Activities Kit
• 12 Take-home Thematic Backpacks
• The Mini-society Workbook

Focus Of Materials

Listings of children’s literature, activity books, picture books, pattern books, etc.

Description Of Materials

A bibliography is a listing of items on a particular topic; it includes all of the information needed to locate the items. Bibliographies save time. For instance, many teachers have students who read far below their present grade level. If a student is in the 6th grade, but is reading at the 3rd grade level, the teacher might like to provide the student with books that have a 6th grade interest level and a 3rd grade reading level. Finding this particular type of book in a library can be very time consuming. Bibliographies, however, such as The Best High/Low Books for Reluctant Readers, make locating the materials less time-consuming.

The TRC contains numerous bibliographies. Some, such as Best Books for Children, are book length and list items the TRC may or may not own. Others, of varying lengths, have been compiled by the TRC and contain listings of items the TRC owns. Some of the locally produced bibliographies are available via the TRC Web page; others are located behind the TRC information desk.

Locally produced bibliographies include:

• Book Activities Index – activities for particular children’s and young adult books
• Activity Books – more than 2,500 activity books grouped by subject areas such as math, science, special education, physical education, etc.
• Recent Acquisitions – newly acquired and processed curriculum and juvenile titles

Focus Of Materials

Books written for children and young adults, including nonfiction, picture, folklore, fiction, nursery rhymes, biographies, Spanish language books, and “big” (oversized) books.

Description Of Materials

The TRC collects the winners and honorable mentions for the following children’s literature awards:

• Asian/Pacific Award for Literature – The award, based on literary and artistic merit, promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage.
• Caldecott Honor Book – This honor and award is based on illustrations and is open to authors of all types of subjects; award winners are generally appropriate for pre-Kindergarten – 3rd grade students.
• California Young Reader Medals – These medals are given in four different age groups. Unlike the above awards, children, rather than experts, select these awards. Every year school children from across California read each of the nominees for their particular age group and vote for the book they like best. The books are especially appropriate for reluctant readers.
• Coretta Scott King Award – Awards are given for text and illustrations and are open to African American authors who have created books about the African American experience.
• John and Patricia Beatty Award – This award is given to a book that is set in California.
• Native American Youth Services Literature Award – Awards are given for text and illustrations presenting Native Americans in the fullness of their humanity in the present and the past.
• Newbery Award – The award is based on text and is open to authors of all types of subjects; award winners are generally appropriate for 3rd through 8th grade students.
• Pura Belpré Award – Awards are given for text and illustrations and are open to Hispanic American authors who have created books about the Hispanic American experience.
• Scott O’Dell Award – Scott O’Dell himself established this award to encourage other writers, particularly new authors, to focus on historical fiction.

Focus Of Materials

Publications produced by school districts, state education departments, special curriculum project groups, and education publishers.

Description Of Materials

Curriculum guides often include objectives, activities, lessons, units, materials lists, and evaluation methods. A guide provides a general overview of what to teach for a certain subject (e.g., health) at a certain grade level (e.g., 4th-6th) in a certain place (e.g., California).

Content Standards for California Public Schools are grade and subject specific listings of the minimum competencies that K-12 California students should be able to demonstrate. Frameworks for California Public Schools, based on Content Standards, provide a curriculum overview, a suggested methodology, and sample lesson plans. Frameworks may also include information covering assessment, evaluation of instructional resources, and cross-curricular instruction.

Focus Of Materials

Manipulatives, audiotapes, audio compact discs, models, games, posters, videocassettes, digital video discs, etc.

Description Of Materials

The entire collection of more than 200 TRC digital video discs, 500 TRC videocassettes and 300 TRC audio compact discs circulates. They are intended to supplement lesson/units that are being presented in a classroom. A total of 15 items may be checked out at one time.

Focus Of Materials

Must directly support the teacher education curriculum at California State University, Fresno.

Description Of Materials

The Phi Delta Kappa Fastback Collection contains approximately 500 overviews of current topics related to education, including an index. It is located in the Curriculum book stacks. Sample titles include How to Create Successful Academic Summer Programs, Interdisciplinary Teams for High Schools, and Peer Tutoring for K-12 Success.

Something About the Author includes facts and photographs of authors and illustrators of children’s and young adult literature. This collection is also available online.

Suggestions for material purchases are welcomed.

Focus Of Materials

Elementary and secondary textbooks, teacher’s editions, resource books, etc.

Description Of Materials

Most of the TRC’s Kindergarten through Twelveth grade textbooks are Teacher’s Editions. A teacher’s edition usually includes the corresponding student edition along with teaching activities for each lesson therein. At the Kindergarten – 8th grade level, most TRC textbooks have been adopted by the state of California, meaning there is a correlation between their content and the suggested content in Content Standards for California Public Schools. California does not adopt 9th – 12th grade (high school) textbooks.

Occasionally the TRC receives textbook donations that include the full array of items made available by textbook publishers. These “textbook kits” include the teacher’s edition and may include manipulatives, videocassettes, audiocassettes, transparencies, assessment tools, suggested homework assignments, etc., all of which are related to material presented in the teacher’s edition.

Focus Of Materials

CA CDE adopted kindergarten through eighth grade textbooks, including teacher’s editions, resource books, etc.

Description Of Materials

The TRC is a California Department of Education Learning Resource Display Center (LRDC). LRDC locations are for reviewing submitted and adopted instructional materials and resources. Instructional materials programs adopted by the California State Board of Education and supporting documents of the adoption process can be found here. For a list of materials housed in the LRDC, you can view our inventory here.