The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Encouraging middle grade students to be enthusiastic writers is a challenge that countless teachers grapple with. These three guides make this task a little easier, by instructing students how to write in a variety of genres, including journalism, poetry, humor, and more.
For the college-bound the pressure is on; there are essays to write, tests to ace, and applications to complete. With guides galore available to teens, this round-up offers a sampling of recent titles. Students (and their parents) will find useful information on the college-search and admission process, minus the hype. And, for those who have sealed the deal, there’s practical advice for “surviving and thriving” in class and on campus, guidance for teens with special needs, and some constructive assessments to aid “undeclared” applicants choose a field of study.
Election Day is just around the corner, providing bountiful opportunities for exploration and discussion in the classroom. Add a little pizzazz to your investigations of past and present office holders and the election process with books that blend a bit of fun with the facts. Ranging from poetry to graphic novels to biography, the titles featured here utilize eye-catching formats and winsome artwork to bring their topics to life and entertain while they educate.
Education software outfit Kno has partnering with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to offer interactive textbooks for K–12 students. The digital titles, which align with Common Core subjects, are available for $9.99 or less for a one-year rental.
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ask students to research to build and present knowledge. For years, this knowledge was shared in written form—reports, essays, projects, and concluding paragraphs. Then came technology. The written format was then superseded by interviews, moviemaker clips, wikis, blogs, Animoto flashy packaged images, Vokis, Crazytalk movies, PowerPoints, Museum Boxes, Prezi’s, and more. We have mapped knowledge, created knowledge products, and delivered other educational messages with engaging technology and Web tools.
As teachers and librarians return to school this month, many will be tasked with implementing the Common Core State Standards (www.corestandards.org) into their lesson plans. The Common Core mission states that: “The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.” They aim to promote critical thinking through student engagement with high quality literary and informational [...]
Want to help teachers find high-quality “complex texts,” a key ingredient of the new educational standards? Christopher Harris shows you how.
Seven Title I media centers throughout the district continue to keep their doors open two hours each week, and local kids are welcome to read, check out books, or attend read-alouds. Although it’s not a new concept, it’s the first time Salem-Keizer has kept summer hours—and so far, kids seem to be enjoying it, says Stephen Cox, the district’s library media program specialist.
Although 46 states and Washington, DC, have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), less than a quarter of the general public knows about the academic standards for K-12 education that are designed to prepare students for college and the workforce, says a recent poll by a nonprofit education reform organization.
War, terminal illness, grief, depression—the teen protagonists in these recent young adult titles face dire circumstances and difficult personal dilemmas with honest candor and courage, choosing to live with hope, seeing possibilities in the midst of despair. Never sentimental or maudlin, ever inventive and realistic, their stories reference historic touchstones and human vulnerability in strikingly voiced narratives sure to capture readers’ hearts and minds. They offer myriad themes to explore and writing opportunities in classrooms across the curriculum.
“Do you have any books about princesses?” It’s a request often heard in school and public libraries and a topic that continues to captivate the imaginations of children. Take advantage of this never-waning enthusiasm and use the opportunity to deliver some quality books to eager young readers and listeners. The offerings featured here will enchant their audiences with satisfying storytelling, effervescent artwork, and winsome characters who take on challenges large and small. Whether actual royalty or a princess self-proclaimed, these protagonists use their special status to supercharge their imaginations, shore up their self-confidence, and spread their sparkle to everyone around them. They demonstrate that true princess power is not about pink dresses and shiny tiaras, but more about what’s inside. Share a tale and help your students get their glimmer on.
Tao Nyeu was unhappy in her job as a web and graphic designer for an advertising firm. Then, as she was browsing in a bookstore in the picture-book section, she realized what she wanted to do. Nyeu put together a portfolio and applied to the School of Visual Arts’s MFA program, and was on her way to becoming a children’s book author and illustrator. Nyeu talks about her lucky break and her most recent book: Squid and Octopus (Dial, June, 2012). The story stars two quirky friends whose characters and personalities are revealed over four vignettes.
For more than 20 years, Julie Metzger and Robert Lehman have been meeting with children, teens, and their parents. Their goal? “To promote positive communication about pubery, sexuality, in topics around adolescence and growing up.” In Will Puberty Last My Whole Life?(Sasquatch Books, 2012), they share some of the questions preteens have asked them on these topics and offer readers honest answers.
What’s the secret to creating riveting nonfiction for young readers? It begins with passion, says kids’ book author Candace Fleming, one of the participants in SLJ’s annual Day of Dialog, on June 4, at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. “If I’m going to spend five years working on a book, it has to be something I’m interested in.”
If you want to have a stake in the Common Core, take a page from Tina Edwards Felder, who responds to her teachers’ concerns about meeting the ambitious new standards with a willing, “I can help you with that.”
This is the worst time to be a school librarian and the best time to be one. Our profession is under daily threat of extinction, yet the implementation of the Common Core Standards affords incredible opportunity to make the strongest case for the importance of librarians and libraries in schools. Together we must commit to gaining a deep understanding of these new standards and determine to be at the fore of the Common Core conversations taking place in our buildings. We are uniquely suited for this because the Common Core Standards dovetail elegantly with inquiry, and we know inquiry.
Related TeachingBooks.net resources »»»
Several recent and forthcoming titles focus on the American West and offer students an entrée into a place and a pivotal time in our nation’s history. In exploring the relationship between The Horse and the Plains Indians (Clarion, July, 2012; Gr 4-9; photos by William Muñoz), Dorothy Hinshaw Patent offers a glimpse into Native American tribes that had for centuries wintered in North America’s wooded river valleys and its forests and summered on its grasslands. When the [...]
Think about the number of times in a day that you make your way to Google (or another search engine) or how frequently you check your cell phone (whether or not it’s smart); we depend on information and communication that’s just a click or swipe away. Now, consider the technology available in classrooms with one or two outdated desktops.
Storytellers venturing into the mines of Metaphor frequently fill their literary hoppers with Sports to enhance the thematic underpinnings of their tales. There is probably no richer ore. Not even Heroic Fantasy—though generally played for higher stakes and offering a comparably glittering variety of challenges, situations, and opportunities—can match it for direct, everyday parallels with the actual lives and experiences of readers.
