Here are highlights from the links that I shared on Twitter this week @JensBookPage (one day early, because I am taking some time off Thursday and Friday to visit with my sister).
Book Lists, Awards and Blog Carnivals
Cool! RT @playbythebook: May 13 is next themed kidlit carnival - all about inventors/inventions @se7en_hoods @JensBookPage
Don't miss the April Carnival of Children's Literature at City Muse, Country Muse http://ow.ly/kxPYo #kidlit...
Our obligation as a nation, and my obligation as an educator, is to help children achieve their potential, participate in our democracy, and propel our economy forward. In today's world, that means our students must be prepared to compete--not on the basis of their test-taking skills, but on their ability to solve problems, analyze and apply knowledge, and work with others.
When people think about summer, their thoughts are mostly about warm weather, no school and vacations. A thought that more people should consider is reading during the summer months. There are a few facts posted on National Summer Learning Association's website along with a study by a professor at John Hopkins University. One example is that young people experience learning loss when they do not engage in learning activities over the summer.
Every year, springtime brings a flurry of books about birds and birth and babies and, inevitably, eggs. Of course, there's Easter. And the seasonal school curriculum. And every so often, something that feels quite new. This season, two new books from small presses offer interesting perspectives on the finding and keeping and eventual opening of eggs.
Disabled students are often overlooked as beneficiaries of the conversion from traditional textbooks to digital, but according to The Guardian, many special education students will be able to use ebooks to overcome some severe limitations imposed by the heft and the small fonts of books published on paper rather than on a screen.
Today I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. There are 1670 subscribers. Currently I am sending the newsletter out once every two weeks.
Newsletter Update: In this issue I have six book reviews (four picture books, one middle grade graphic novel, and one young adult novel). I also have a post listing eight picture books that Baby Bookworm has been enjoying, and a post about our success so far with Screen Free Week. ...
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Screen Free Week is being observed this week, April 29th - May 5th. Random House has been urging families to Unplug and Read. As you might infer by the fact that I'm blogging right now, I'm not going screen free myself. However, I am attempting to keep my 3 year old daughter, Baby Bookworm, free of screens. Because she never uses screens during the day anyway, this mainly consists of three things:
- Not letting her use the iPad in the morning after breakfast (something that I often allow, so that I can read the paper, shower, etc.).
- Not letting her watch television in the evening (we sometimes watch a movie or television episode after dinner - she's currently in...
"Fire! Fire!" Said Mrs. McGuireBy Bill Martin Jr with updated illustrations by Vladimir Radunsky What treasures I find at my local library! When I saw Bill Martin Jr.'s name on this book, I knew I had to read it and I was not disappointed. I tested the story on my niece (age 5), who asked me to read it twice and the next day, she was proud to read it all on her own. She was able to use her memory of the story, context clues, and her knowledge of letter sounds, rhymes, and sight words to read this one all on her own. "Fire! Fire!" said Mrs. McGuire."Where? Whe...
Third-grade teacher Christine Ford sits behind a desk with three students, each with a book in hand. For seven minutes of the day, she gives them her undivided attention. Then, the timer rings. "If you are cleaned up, get ready to rotate. Please walk to the next station," Ford says to her class -- 25 students in all -- on a recent Tuesday morning at Glendale American School.
In pre-K classrooms around Baltimore's school system, subtle changes like interactive reading are having a substantial effect in helping prepare 4-year-olds for elementary school -- addressing an achievement gap that city schools have faced for years. "They are talking to me, they are more involved in the stories, and I'm getting them to understand new vocabulary," Preston said. "They may only be able to show me they understand by drawing pictures or moving around. But they understand."
