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The following materials on Afghanistan focus on a variety of topics: the effect of U.S. military presence, the treatment of women, refugee camps, and daily life for Afghan citizens. The resources are ideal for teachers looking to educate students about Afghanistan while also embracing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
Last spring the children’s book community lost several beloved authors and illustrators, including the hugely talented Leo Dillon, Jean Craighead George, Ellen Levine, and Maurice Sendak. In honor of their memory and their many accomplishments, TeachingBooks.net is offering video and audio recordings of these creative artists whose work enriched the lives of so many people.
A lonely child, a manipulative villain, and resourceful orphans take center stage in Newbery-Award winner Laura Amy Schlitz’s spellbinding new novel, Splendors and Glooms (Candlewick Press, August, 2012). Schlitz talks about her novel and considers the sources of the chillingly claustrophobic, Dickensian world she created.
As champions of nonfiction literature, Mary Ann Cappiello, Myra Zarnowski, and Mark Aronson have spent the past year speaking to teachers, librarians, and children’s book publishers, advocating for a new role for children’s, middle grade, and young adult nonfiction in all forms (print, digital, audio) in the classroom and in the individual reading lives of children. They are delighted to have the opportunity to join Curriculum Connections for the 2012-2013 school year and share their message with you.
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.
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.
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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.
“Citizen Scientist” might be a newly coined term, but people have long assumed the role, jotting down crocus sightings in early spring, the number of loon pairs on the lake in the summer, and the first sign of frost in the fall or winter.
