Latest in Literacy Blog
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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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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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Book Deserts – Blame or Rain
Read more: Book Deserts – Blame or RainMany kids survive in a “book desert” without access to books. Let’s rain books onto every child to create a book oasis instead. “Something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast.” Oh, wait… that’s an oasis. During this current crisis, many of us have spent time creating our own oasis with multiple trips to Home…
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The Empowerment of Student Choice
Read more: The Empowerment of Student ChoiceEmpowering kids to make their own choices Being a kid can be rough sometimes. Sure, as adults we look back at all the snack times recesses and naptimes that we took for granted, but kids oftentimes don’t have much of a voice when it comes to curricula, learning plans, and homework. Ask just about any…
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Finding the “Just Right” Reading Range
Read more: Finding the “Just Right” Reading RangeFinding your children’s perfect reading range may seem daunting at first. On the one hand, you want to challenge them, but on the other, you don’t want them to get discouraged. So how do you find that fine line where reading is both fun and beneficial? Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered! What Books…
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It is the Opportunity Gap, Not the Achievement Gap
Read more: It is the Opportunity Gap, Not the Achievement GapWe call it the “achievement gap” – but isn’t it really an opportunity gap? A closer look at socioeconomic reading disparities — and how we can help your child to close the gap A gap of .8 means a testing gap of 3 years. For decades, efforts to reduce the racial divide on test scores…
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Why Our Kids Love Snail Mail
Read more: Why Our Kids Love Snail MailAt a time when most of our communications are reliant on and provided by technology, we like to give Kids Read Now kids something different to look forward to – mail. Technology can provide us with a sense of instant gratification, so have we forgotten that the anticipation can be fun as well? Sometimes jokingly…
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Top 10 Titles of 2020
Read more: Top 10 Titles of 2020It has certainly been a rollercoaster of a summer and Kids Read Now students across the country are returning to school, either in classrooms or remotely. If there is one thing we know for sure about our students, it’s that they pick some pretty amazing books to read over the summer! Here are the most…