Much as I love Dr. Seuss, elementary schools would do better on Read Across America Day to focus on poetry with more wide ranging vocabulary like Falling Up (Shel Silverstein) and It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles (Jack Prelutsky). I just re-read both, and they’re terrific! The problem
Read more →Looks like Mr. Kelly’s “Jazz Fly students” at the Korean School in Yokohama, Japan outdid themselves! Highly imaginative project for English language learners : )
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Happy New Year, MLK Day and Year of the Monkey early! Around this time, many schools plan literacy events to remind families of the myriad benefits of reading books together. Family nights, compared to teacher workshops and daytime assemblies for students, are the high wire act of
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St. Patrick’s School Reading Week Committee from left: Parent Volunteer Jackie Johnson, Sister Maureen (Principal), Parent Volunteers Donna Cahill and Martha Pierce This post is in praise of school volunteers, the dedicated parents—and sometimes just caring neighbors—who take on responsibilities to help schools offer more. Their
Read more →Letters from readers are especially sweet when they come from far away. From Kuwait in the case of this note from American teacher Alex Hogan and the students at her bilingual school: “This week at our school is ‘I Love To Read Week!’ I was the mystery
Read more →Welcome, everybody, to 2015! May your new year brim with joy and creativity. Recently, a long-time reader, and friend, emailed this note. I’ll include my response below. Feel free to pass it on to young adults in your life considering a career in the creative arts! “Having
Read more →Teacher Participation in Elementary School Assembly I admit my job is fun! This video came courtesy of the good teachers of Northview Elementary School in Manhattan, KS. Taken two weeks ago. Special thanks to a special librarian, Andrea Wollenberg, for coordinating the assemblies!
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Last week at this time, I was getting acquainted with Emporia State University, home of Kansas’s annual statewide Reading Recovery conference. Title of my luncheon keynote speech: “Teach Reading Like a Jazz Musician!” Jazz musicians specialize in what I call the three I’s: Improvisation, Interpretation, and Ingenuity,
Read more →Last weekend at the annual CRA conference (California Reading Association), I had the pleasure of hearing, then actually meeting, “The 2 Sisters,” Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, authors of “The Daily 5.” They are teachers making a big impact on elementary school classrooms nationwide. Here are the
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To all the educators and parent volunteers on my list, Looking for an exciting way to engage students in curriculum this fall? Consider a dynamic author assembly for grades K-8th. The calendar says summer, but school in these parts starts again this week. I am already looking
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