8/3/2014 Hooray for LEGOS, Girls, and STEM!

 In January, seven-year-old Charlotte wrote a letter to LEGO criticizing their lack of interesting females figures:

"All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs, but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks.”

This June, LEGO announced a new set, the Research Institute which features women in various STEM jobs: a paleontologist, a chemist, and an astronomer, which is now officially available.  This set was submitted to LEGO by geoscientist Ellen Kooijman as a part of the LEGO Ideas series. “The motto of these Scientists is clear: explore the world and beyond! The Astronomer discovers new stars and planets with the telescope, the Paleontologist studies the origin of the dinosaurs and the Chemist does experiments in the laboratory.”

Study more accomplished women with your class at any time of year with my leveled book set Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4. This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.

Encourage an interest in STEM subjects in ALL of your students, boys and girls, with my Nature & Science books, including Leveled Book set Kindergarten Levels A/B, Louis Pasteur - Exploring Pasteurization and Vaccines, and The Legend of the Unicorn: The Narwhal, and my original play, Trees – A Joy Forever.  My second-grade level L reader reader Cubes - Alike or Different is a great option to combine reading, language, and math skills.  

6/9/2014 Beat the Summer Slide!

For many classrooms across the country, the school year is now, or will soon be complete.  However, for many students these summer months mean summer school, continuing school within a year-round school schedule, or finding ways to fight the summer brain drain, aslo known as the “summer slide”  According to the U.S. Department of Education “Summer is the perfect time for students of all ages to relax, but it’s also a time when summer learning loss can occur. This learning loss is called the “summer slide,” and happens when children do not engage in educational activities during the summer months.”

The web is filled with helpful ideas for keeping kids engaged and learning during the summer months, including Six Great Online Games for Summer Learning, Ten of the Best Virtual Field Trips, and Free Ways To Beat The Summer Slide

Keeping kids reading consistently throughout the summer is one of the best ways to beat this dreaded “summer slide.”  Why not keep them reading with some of my original readers with relevant summer themes, such as What is Juneteenth?  This 4th grade Level Q reader tells the story of Juneteenth - a day celebrated at the end of the Civil War. From this story, students will about the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Around the Fourth of July, kids can learn more about the beginning of our country with my Level O reader The Founding Fathers.

Students can also have reading and acting out original plays, such as A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story: The Little Gray Wolf and Red Riding Hood.  Written with 13 parts, the students will have fun comparing this fairy tale to the familiar tale they know of Little Red Riding Hood.  Although the play is written for students in grades 1-3, it can be adapted for other grades and abilities.

3/24/2014 Margaret Farrar, Amelia Earhart and Women's History Month

I hope that you have been enjoying sharing the stories of some fascinating women in your classroom for Women's History Month.

Yesterday, March 23rd, was the birthday of one intriguing American woman, journalist and crossword puzzle editor Margaret Farrar. Farrar was the first crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.  In 1924, she was one of the three authors of the first book of crossword puzzles ever published.  You can find crossword puzzles included alongside other activities in some of my books, including “Do Your Part to Save the Earth.” This third-grade level N reader combines reading activities and science concepts. It is accompanied by six pages of worksheets which reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing as well as science concepts.

To learn more about another important American woman the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum has some wonderful resources, including this list of fun facts about Amelia Earhart.  For example, did you know that she was the first female, and one of only a few to date, to receive the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross?

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchinson, Kansas house in July 24, 1897 in the home of her grandparents, Judge Alfred Otis and Amelia Harres Otis. The house was designated a National Historic Site in 1971, and in 1984 it was acquired by The Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots (Amelia Earhart was the first president of the organization) to be made into a museum.  

Your class can also learn more about this ground-breaking female pilot in my reader “Amelia Earhart - Soaring High.”

3/6/2014 Soar High With Amelia Earhart and Women's History Month!

Perhaps you have already seen this story about a sexist airplane passenger leaving a note to his plane’s female pilot.  The author of the note (illegibly) claims that “the cockpit of an airline is no place for a woman.”  Clearly that is ridiculous, hopefully during Women’s History Month this individual may have the chance to learn more about Amelia Earhart! Your class can also learn more about her in my reader “Amelia Earhart - Soaring High.”  In this story students will learn facts about one of the most famous women in American history who was a pioneer in the field of aviation.

This book is part of a collection of leveled readers “Famous Women in History” for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history:

Amelia Earhart -- Airplane Pilot (level L)

Abigail Adams -- First Lady & Crusader for People’s Rights (level L)

Clara Barton -- Founder of the American Red Cross (level N)

Maria Mitchell -- Astronomer (level N)

Helen Keller -- Inspirational Speaker (level O)

Ellen Ochoa -- Astronaut (level P)

Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Pioneer and Author (level P)

Millie Hughes-Fulford -- Scientist in Space (level R)

Each book highlights specific grade-level concepts and vocabulary. An accompanying set of worksheets reviews the targeted literary skills.    

3/4/2014 Looking Ahead: World Water Day is March 22nd

The first week of March certainly has a lot going on: the beginning of Women's History Month, Read Across America Day, and World Wildlife Day, all before Tuesday!

Yesterday, March 3rd, was the first official World Wildlife Day.  Kids love learning about animals, World Wildlife Day is a great opportunity to get your class excited to learn more about nature, science, and conservation.  My original books A Food Chain: First Grade - Level I Reader, Animals that Live in the Australian Desert, and The Legend of the Unicorn: The Narwhal

will help your students build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension while learning fun and interesting about wildlife.  

Another special day for the environment is approaching soon, World Water Day is on March 22nd.  World Water Day has been celebrated since in was designated by the United Nations in 1993.  A clean freshwater supply is important for both people and wildlife.  Your class can learn more about water and how it can transform into a liquid, a solid, and a gas as part of the leveled book series Nature & Science – Leveled Books: First Grade Pre-Primer Levels C - E

This collection includes 15 first grade pre-primer level C - E books on Nature & Science Topics – C: A Metal Magnet; Be F-I-T!; Fall Leaves; Water: A Liquid, A Solid, A Gas; Weather; Weather Station; D: The Moon; Animals that Run; Breakfast; Matter; The Recycle Place; Safety Goggles; E: The Four Seasons; Seeds for My Garden; Our Science Lab.

2/19/2014 Women's History Month and The Amelia Bloomer Project 2014 Book List

As we get closer to March, and Women’s History Month, you may looking for some new girl-focused titles for your classroom.  

The American Library Association’s Social Responsibilities Round Table Feminist Task Force, or FTF, has some great suggestions. The Amelia Bloomer Project is an annual booklist the FTF puts out of the best feminist books from the previous year, for readers from infants to 18 year-olds.  

Here is the full  2014 Amelia Bloomer Project Top Ten List:  

Cummins, Julie. Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart. Illus. by Malene R. Laugesen. 2013. Unpaged. Roaring Brook Press  K-Gr.2

Gevinson, Tavi (Ed.). Rookie Yearbook Two. 2013. Drawn & Quarterly Gr.7-up.

Global Fund for Children. Global Baby Girls. 2013. Unpaged. Charlesbridge Publishing, PreS.

Markel, Michelle. Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. Illus. by Melissa Sweet. 2013. Unpaged. Balzer + Bray K-Gr.4.

Molloy, Aimee. However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph. 2013.  Gr.10-up.

Mullenbach, Cheryl.  Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II.  2013. Chicago Review Press  Gr.9-up.

Povich, Lynn. The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. 2012.  PublicAffairs  Gr.10-up.

Schnall, Marianne. What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? 2013. Seal Press, Gr.10-12.

Wishinsky, Frieda. Profiles: Freedom Heroines. 2012. Scholastic, Gr.4-6.

Yousafzai, Malala with Christina Lamb. I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. 2013. Little, Brown and Company, Gr.8-12.

Two of the book selections,  “Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II,” “However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph” focus on the experiences and achievements of African American girls and women.  They would be great for the classroom at anytime, but particularly appropriate to check out now as part of African American History Month

My collection of leveled readers, "Famous Women in History" is also an excellent way to build literacy skills while learning more about Women’s History.  This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history:

Amelia Earhart -- Airplane Pilot (level L)

Abigail Adams -- First Lady & Crusader for People’s Rights (level L)

Clara Barton -- Founder of the American Red Cross (level N)

Maria Mitchell -- Astronomer (level N)

Helen Keller -- Inspirational Speaker (level O)

Ellen Ochoa -- Astronaut (level P)

Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Pioneer and Author (level P)

Millie Hughes-Fulford -- Scientist in Space (level R)  

2/8/2014 The Arts, and Prepping for President's Day: They Called Him "Honest Abe"

Where time, and funding, may be found to allow the arts to be included in the classroom is a familiar question for educators.  What is not in question are the numerous benefits arts in the classroom may provide.  According to a blog post from Edutopia.com on arts education “Years of research show that it's closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity. . . Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.”  

A nice way to make sure that the arts are included while not stressing out your schedule is to integrate art activities into your existing lesson plans.  The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts offers some great free resources for teachers, including Five Easy Drama Games for the Early Elementary Classroom- “Drama games tap into students’ imagination and can be conducted in any classroom for a variety of purposes—in warm-ups or closures, team-building activities, or to accompany and enhance a lesson plan.”

Performing my original play “They Called Him "Honest Abe"  for an audience or as readers' theater is a fun way for your students to celebrate President's Day, or combine it with other social studies activities. The play tells your class about the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, from his childhood and living in a log cabin to living in the White House.

This play is an original play written for use as readers’ theater, as a part of balanced literacy (Read-Aloud, Shared and Performance Reading or Guided Reading), or for an actual play production. In readers’ theater or through one of the balanced literacy approaches to teaching reading, children are not expected to memorize their lines, yet the reading encourages strong oral skills. An added benefit is performing the play for other classes or parents while increasing social skills, cooperative learning and creativity. Using plays in literacy-based classrooms promotes active listening for the performers, as well as the audience, and offers an engaging way to teach reading skills.  Complete with a teaching guide that lists questions before and after performing the play, words to preview, and extension activities, your students will have fun, build self-confidence, and increase in reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary development.

2/7/2014 Creativity and Inventors

What makes a person creative?  It is a trait that we are born with, or can it be taught and learned?  According to a recent story in the New York Times “Once considered the product of genius or divine inspiration, creativity — the ability to spot problems and devise smart solutions — is being recast as a prized and teachable skill. Pin it on pushback against standardized tests and standardized thinking, or on the need for ingenuity in a fluid landscape….Traditional academic disciplines still matter, but as content knowledge evolves at lightning speed, educators are talking more and more about “process skills,” strategies to reframe challenges and extrapolate and transform information, and to accept and deal with ambiguity.”  Creative Studies is becoming increasingly popular as a course and field of study at colleges and universities across the country.  

It is never too early to begin to encourage students to develop their of creative potential.    

February is a particularly great time to bring inventors into your lessons to inspire your students to explore their own innovative ideas for inventions.  Do you plan on including Garrett Morgan in your lessons for Black History month?  My first-grade level F reader Garrett Morgan: Inventor, will describe to your students the important inventions this great African-American inventor made, including the traffic signal light. This is one of the books contained in the collection of leveled readers entitled "Famous African-Americans in U.S. History, Leveled Books for Grades 1 – 3."

February 11th is the birthday of birthday of Thomas Edison.  My first-grade level E reader “Thomas Edison: Inventor” will teach your students interesting facts while they will build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension.  Benjamin Franklin recently had a birthday, on January 17th.  In Benjamin Franklin, my first-grade Level G reader, students will learn about this famous American  statesman, writer, printer, scientist, and inventor. 

Combining reading and social studies activities, this first-grade Level F reader provides interesting facts about Alexander Graham Bell- Inventor of the Telephone. Your students will build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension as they read the story, answer questions, and have fun with the criss cross puzzle.  My second-grade leveled reader "Robert Fulton - Steamboat Inventor" provides a brief history of Robert Fulton's life and his love for invention. Steamboats, a submarine, and canal systems were some of the projects he worked on during his lifetime. I hope that you enjoy exploring inventions and inspiring creativity in your own classroom.

2/5/2014 The American Library Association Literary Awards 2014

Reading with children is always an adventure, but this is an especially exciting time of year to think about new books to bring into the classroom!  Today, the American Library Association released their official list of Notable Children’s Books for 2014.  Last Monday, January 27th, the ALA announced the winners of its prestigious literary awards for 2014.

This year The Randolph Caldecott Medal, given for the "most distinguished American picture book for children," was awarded to Locomotive by Brian Floca. Three Caldecott Honor Books are “Journey,” by Aaron Becker, “Mr. Wuffles!” by David Wiesner, and "Flora and the Flamingo," by Molly Idle.  Rita Williams-Garcia won the Coretta Scott King Author award, given to “outstanding African American authors and illustrators” for “P.S. Be Eleven.”  Coretta Scott King Author Honor Awards went to John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, authors of “March: Book One,” Walter Dean Myers, authors of “Darius & Twig,” Nikki Grimes, author of “Words with Wings.”

The Newbery Medal, awarded for the "most outstanding contribution to children's literature,"

went to "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures," written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by K.G. Campbell.  The Newberry Honor Books this year are "Doll Bones," by Holly Black

"The Year of Billy Miller," by Kevin Henkes, "One Came Home," by Amy Timberlake,

and "Paperboy," Vince Vawter.  Kate DiCamillo was named the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature earlier in January by The Library of Congress.  DiCamillo told PBS chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown “I want to remind people of the great and profound joy that can be found in stories.”  If you want to see more lovely picture books that have come out in the previous year, NPR has assembled a delightful list 8 Picture Books That Make Us Wish We Were Kids Again. 

Solid reading skills can make these beautiful books accessible to all students to discover and explore themselves.  In my original series of leveled books, literary skills are something I aim to incorporate whether the topic is literature, science, math, or social studies.  Please check out my Pintrest board Fun with Reading for more book suggestions and ideas of creative ways to enjoy books with your class.