The folks at Penguin Books recently alerted me to a fantastic new program you should tell your students about if school is still in session. We Give Books is a website that provides access to books for anyone who has a computer. If the library is inconvenient to get to and money isn't there for… Continue reading Stave-off summer reading loss
Category: reading
Journey Around a Topic
Earlier this month, The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice, which is written by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Linda Bleck, was released by Dutton Children's Books. The Longest Day is non-fiction, but it reads like fiction since Pfeffer paints vivid in the reader's mind with the language she purposefully selects. The vivid language she… Continue reading Journey Around a Topic
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You Won’t Want to Miss This!
My daughter brought this home in her backpack. She reads 10 books this summer, completes this, takes it to a Borders, Borders Express, or Waldenbooks, and gets a free book. If your students are 12 or under, then click here to print the form to send home in their backpacks. 🙂
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Reading the Old-Fashioned Way
I'm working as a coach in a ninth grade class. The class is filled with students I know from elementary school. There is one boy who was an avid reader in 4th grade and has become the kind of reader who likes to distract everyone else during reading time. He pretended like he had never… Continue reading Reading the Old-Fashioned Way
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A Mentor Text that Deals with Social Issues
We’ve all had that kid in our class. You know who I mean. It’s the kid who sticks out like a sore thumb because of his weight, because of his hair, or because of the way his voice sounds. I had that kid in my class each year… sometimes more than one per year. That… Continue reading A Mentor Text that Deals with Social Issues
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Scaredy Squirrel Books in the Primary Writing Classroom
Ruth was shocked when she learned that I had never heard of Scaredy Squirrel Books when we passed the Kids Can Press Booth at the NCTE Conference. Quite frankly, once I started paging Mélanie Watt's first Scaredy Squirrel Book, which was published four years ago, I, too, was shocked. It was humorous! I found the… Continue reading Scaredy Squirrel Books in the Primary Writing Classroom
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Picture Books in Upper Elementary School
The Fall of 2006 brought me the savviest class I ever taught. Nearly all 32 of them scoffed at me on Wednesday, September 6th when I pulled out Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. "A picture book?" one student said disdainfully. "Yes, a picture book," I replied. "We're going to read lots of picture books… Continue reading Picture Books in Upper Elementary School
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Mentor Texts That Keep Students’ Interest
Every now and then I'd pick a dud-of-a-book to read aloud. However, more often than not, my students loved the books I read aloud and subsequently used as touchstone texts. Was it that they were all interested in the topics of every book? Not necessarily. Was it that they admired the illustrators for their artistic… Continue reading Mentor Texts That Keep Students’ Interest
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What book will you read aloud on the first day of school?
When I was a middle school teacher, and now in most workshops that I lead, my favorite first read aloud is Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss (with some help from Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith). This book is not only perfect in its message, but a rich source for a mentor text. It… Continue reading What book will you read aloud on the first day of school?
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Can “The Fluent Reader” Help Create A More Fluent Writer?
The Reading Specialist in my school recently lent me her copy of The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension by Timothy V. Rasinski after a brainstorming session we had about ways to help two of the students in my class who have not met the reading benchmark for this… Continue reading Can “The Fluent Reader” Help Create A More Fluent Writer?
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Teaching About ALL of the December Holidays
My students know I celebrate Chanukah, not Christmas. That's all they know. I have never gone into greater detail about the Festival of Lights since I didn't want to seem as though I was endorsing my own religion. However, after a child asked me, "Aren't Chanukah and Christmas kind of the same thing?" this past… Continue reading Teaching About ALL of the December Holidays
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The Newbery Controversy
As a child, I used to avoid books with "that gold medal" like the plague. I wouldn't pick one up – at all. In fact, I read more SVH (sad, but true) and Babysitters' Club Books than I did Newbery Medal Award and Honor Books. YIKES! As a teacher, I discovered several Newbery Book Recipients… Continue reading The Newbery Controversy
