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About the Curriculum Materials Center

This guide provides information about the Curriculum Materials Center at MSUM

Types of Materials in the CMC

The CMC contains the same type of teaching materials you will have in your classrooms.

  1. Trade books. These are the children’s and young adult books that usually compose a classroom library. They are usually leisure reading at appropriate grade or reading levels. They are in three (3) collections in the CMC:
    • Picture Books are highly illustrated books about 32 pages long. They are arranged by author's last name. They are usually intended to be read to younger children by an experienced reader.
    • Fiction Books are chapter books and are arranged by authors' last name. They range from books for beginning readers through high school. Graphic novels are interfiled here with standard fiction.
    • Nonfiction Books are informational books and are arranged by Dewey Decimal number. Books on similar topics are grouped together. Some nonfiction books are very similar to Picture Books and Fiction Books. They also range from beginning readers through high school.
  2. Textbooks and Teacher Resource Books (Bulletins)
    • Textbooks are the standard textbooks found in most elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms. The CMC has student and teacher's editions of textbooks in all curricular areas for K-12th grade. We strive to have all of the textbooks currently used in local school districts. They are arranged by Dewey Decimal number.
    • Curriculum Bulletins are lesson plan and teaching idea books. They are arranged by Dewey Decimal number.
  3. Multimedia and Hands-on Manipulatives (Kits)
    • Media are DVDs for both instructional use and for fun viewing. The Library also has streaming video options.
    • Kits are hands-on manipulatives including games, flash cards, puppets, models, globes, unifix cubes, maps, and more. They are arranged by Dewey Decimal number.
    • Audio are music CDs and audiobooks on compact disc.

  4. Big Books

    • Picture books for children in a large format that are often used for shared reading. 

  5. Picture Files

    • Oversized pictures and posters on a wide variety of topics are available in this collection.

  6. Historical Collections

    • The CMC has historical collections of textbooks, bulletins, and juvenile materials. The historical textbook collection consists of K-12 textbooks of historical value dating back to the early 1800's. The historical curriculum bulletins contains materials published by the Minnesota Department of Education. Check with a librarian to search for and use these materials.

CMC Collections