2/24/2014 Happy Birthday, W.E.B. DuBois!

“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.”

― W.E.B. Du Bois

Yesterday, February 23rd, was the birthday of the great Civil Rights activist, scholar, and author William Edward Burghardt, better-known as W.E.B. Du Bois. W.E.B. DuBois was born in 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  He was the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard, he went on to become a professor at Atlanta University and a well-known author and intellectual.  He is probably best known as a co-founder of the NAACP and champion of civil rights.

My original reader W.E.B. DuBois - Standing Up for Civil Rights is a great story for his birthday week, and for the last week of Black History Month! This second- grade level M reader is one of the ten books included in the collection called Famous African-Americans in U.S. History: Leveled Books for Grades 1 – 3.

2/24/2014 Read Across America Day is Coming!

Are you and your class excited for Read Across America Day?  It is coming up in about a week now.  Officially the holiday is on Sunday, March 2nd, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.  However, because the 2nd falls on a Sunday, this year it will be celebrated by the NEA on Monday, March 3rd.  Read Across America Day is a celebration of reading that takes place

nationwide every year to celebrate Theodor Seuss Geisel’s, also known as Dr Seuss’s, birthday.

Seusville, the official website of Dr. Seuss and his books offers some fun online games and activities that your students can play to interact with some of their favorite Dr Seuss characters, such as the Grinch, or the Cat in the Hat.  Another great way to celebrate Read Across America Day is to build your students reading skills by learning more about the author himself.  My original Second Grade Level K Reader Dr. Seuss - Best-Selling Children's Author is a biography that tells the story of Dr. Seuss.

This second grade level K guided reading book comes with four companion worksheets which reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing. Specific concepts, skills, and vocabulary targeted in this reader are listed on the first page of the story.

Please check out my Pintrest Read Across America Day board for more engaging ideas for your classroom.

We will be taking 20% off the regular price all of our products on Feb. 27 and 28, and Teachers Pay Teachers will be having a promo of another 10% off.  The new Dr. Seuss reader is already 20% off, and that discount will continue through until the end of the sale.

2/23/2014 Happy Birthday, Barbara Jordan!

A belated Happy Birthday to Barbara Jordan, American politician and Civil Rights leader!    Barbara Jordan was the first female African American elected to the House of Representatives in a southern state, among her many other accomplishments.  She was elected to the Texas State Senate in 1966, and to Congress in 1972.  Jordan became instead the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1976.  In 1994, she was received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  There are so many inspiring African American figures from history that you could talk about with your class during Black History Month.  

This last week of February brings us to the last week of Black History Month, next week brings March, and Women's’ History Month along with it.  Build your students literacy skills while learning about other fascinating, notable African Americans and women from my original reader sets Famous African-Americans in U.S. History For Grades 1-3 and Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4.  These books can also be used in social studies or language arts units year-round. 

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2/20/2014 John Glenn and Space

John Glenn, center, after his historic Friendship 7 mission

On February 20, 1962 John Glenn made history by becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.  Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission as part of Project Mercury, NASA’s first human spaceflight program.  John Glenn would embark on his last space mission in 1995 aboard the space shuttle Discovery, at age 77 he was the oldest person to fly in space. You can see original video footage from the Friendship 7 below:

Kids (and many adults) are fascinated by astronauts and outer space.  My third grade Level N reader Our Planets is a great way to harness this enthusiasm for space, and combine facts about the planets in our solar system with reading, and writing activities in your classroom The book comes with five accompanying worksheets which reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing.

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)  

2/17/2014 Happy Washington's Birthday, or Happy Presidents' Day, and Learn About Benjamin Banneker

I hope that you enjoyed your holiday today, whether your school is in an area that celebrates the day in honor of George Washington's Birthday on February 22nd, Washington and Lincoln's birthdays, or all of the U.S. Presidents

If you are looking for new ways to engage your class with learning more about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln around this time check out my President's Day reader, and original reader's play about Lincoln

Learning more about Benjamin Banneker is a great way to tie in the study of American Presidents with Black History month.  Benjamin Banneker was a notable African-American author, scientist, and surveyor.  Among his other accomplishments, he helped to survey the borders of  Washington D.C.  Your students will enjoy learning about Benjamin Banneker and his many accomplishments in my level P reader A Design for the Capitol - Benjamin Banneker. This book is one of the ten books included in the collection "Famous African-Americans in U.S. History: Leveled Books for Grades 1 – 3".

Specific concepts, skills, and vocabulary targeted in this book are listed on the first page of the story. And to help reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing, the book comes with two accompanying worksheets.

2/14/2014 Happy Valentine's Day, and Looking Ahead to Women's History

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope that you enjoyed a fun day of activities with your class.  February 14 is also the day that the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago, in 1920.

We still have half of February left to continue to celebrate Black History Month, but soon March, and Women's History Month will be upon us!  

My collection of leveled readers, "Famous Women in History" is 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)

Enjoy the President’s Day long weekend!