Clare Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Kelsey, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum from Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers, readers, and teachers here. ...
All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold and Susanne Kaufman This poem in picture book format is about diversity and inclusion and can help you launch conversations about classroom community. We love the ending, All are welcome here. You have a place here. You have space here. Don’t forget to “undress the book,”...
Create was the best word for 2018. I created a book in March. I created a new relationship with my son as he left for college. I helped teachers create bookrooms and classroom libraries. I created a neighborhood garden. I created a new website, a...
When we saw the cover of EngiNerds, we knew it would immediately appeal to so many middle-grade students. We just had to read it. Then we read the author’s note, and we realized Jarrett Lerner lives right near us in Medford, Massachusetts. We knew we...
Create Space Time Book New Traditions Relationships Ideas Questions Hopes Plans Opportunities Beginnings Possibilities Joy Beauty Fun Time Space Create was my OLW for 2018. It was the perfect word for me. I kept a journal of the words I collected throughout the year as I reflected on the word create. This is a list poem of the words I thought of most...
Each December, voting for the Nerdy awards gives us an opportunity to reflect on our year of reading. As we combed through our Pinterest Boards and Monday posts about books on our blog searching for our top five picks, we realized just how many incredible...
Writers, off you go. Reread the leads to your chapters and decide if you can revise them to grab the attention of your reader. The partners set off and immediately begin rereading their writing together. Teachers listen in and set mentor texts on the tables for...
At NCTE, we attended the Children’s Literature Assembly Breakfast and heard Candice Fleming and Eric Rohmann talk about their newest book, STRONGHEART: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen. Candice shared how she was inspired to write this historical fiction novel when she learned about Strongheart while...
I bend down to stretch my hip and glance at my watch. Twenty minutes to go. 26,000 runners are lined up to run – rain or shine. I hear a distant rumble and look up to check the skies which have delayed our start. Looks...
When we looked over the stacks of books (#Buildyourstack) we read over the last six months, we noticed the amount of new traditional tales published in 2018. Some of these new picture books weave elements from the classic tales throughout the story, while other authors...