Latest in Literacy Blog
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Using Children’s Literature and Stories to Change Culture in Your School or Classroom
Read more: Using Children’s Literature and Stories to Change Culture in Your School or ClassroomUsing children’s stories to bolster a sense of community connectedness and improve the culture at your school Imagine this… You are a classroom teacher or a counselor or a principal. You see and feel the culture of your learning community and note the need for a change. It is 2021 and people from all walks…
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Why Teachers May Feel Anxiety Teaching Remotely or Hybrid During the Age of COVID-19
Read more: Why Teachers May Feel Anxiety Teaching Remotely or Hybrid During the Age of COVID-19How technology and district pressure are ringing the anxiety bell for teachers COVID-19 has changed our education system in ways that very few people could have dreamed. Last spring, most schools in the United States closed their doors to thwart the spread of the deadly virus. This fall, some school systems opted for remote learning…
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The 3 Lessons First Year Teachers Learn Too Late
Read more: The 3 Lessons First Year Teachers Learn Too LateNearly 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. This is an alarming number! Many new teachers enter the profession with little support and even less knowledge about the workload being asked of educators. Here are 3 key lessons new teachers must learn…
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Background is Everything
Read more: Background is EverythingAlthough we don’t generally think about it, every experience we have adds to a repertoire of events that create “us” – our background. The stories we share with friends, the lessons we teach our kids, and the bank of knowledge we use to make decisions in the moment. Everything we encounter adds to this background,…
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How writing can help you read
Read more: How writing can help you readDuring meetings, are you a notetaker? I often find myself scribbling down notes throughout a meeting only to never refer to them again, simply because I remember what is on them. The act of writing down the information helps my brain convert it to long term memory. The same thing happens when children write. Even…
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7 Ways to Get More Books
Read more: 7 Ways to Get More BooksHow to get more books and build bigger libraries for your young readers Parents always ask how they can expand the Kids Read Now summer reading program into the rest of the year. Here are seven great ways to get more free or almost free books. This will keep your children building their reading skills…
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What is your Literary History?
Read more: What is your Literary History?Pleasure reading and assigned reading are not mutually-exclusive activities Have you ever taken pause to consider your personal literary history? I remember back to my senior year, an honors English class where I was asked to do this very exercise. It is remarkable how influential the very first pieces of text you consumed are. They…
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If You Build It, They Will Read
Read more: If You Build It, They Will ReadIt’s not enough to say that home libraries are important. We need to take it a step further and ask why home libraries are important and how we can help build your student’s home library. Why a home library? Let’s start with this: “Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more…
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The Allure of the Graphic Novel
Read more: The Allure of the Graphic NovelAs your fairly typical “boy mom”, I can tell you I’ve seen just about every kind of graphic novel for kids. Long before my son discovered Marvel and DC superheroes, he found Captain Underpants, The Adventures of Dogman, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, to name a few. Perhaps at first glance, graphic novels or…
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5 Keys to a Successful Summer Reading Initiative
Read more: 5 Keys to a Successful Summer Reading InitiativeKelli Bush with Elizabethtown Independent Schools highlights 5 keys to a successful summer reading initiative, such as Kids Read Now. In her eSchoolNews, December 2020 article, she explains how her district’s dedication and the Kids Read Now in-home summer reading program are changing her students’ reading habits for the better. Read the full article here.