I attended an interesting session about student vocabulary development at the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion this past weekend. One of the points I took away was that we, as adults, need to think constantly about the words we use around children. If we want children to speak with more precise and intriguing words, […]
Read moreYesterday was just crazy. Between 5:50pm and 7:30pm we had to be a million places at once. I am usually very protective of this time of day so everyone was really thrown for a loop. During all the running around we talked about the fact that I would be happy to write a note to […]
Read moreI’m not sure how I missed knowing Naomi Shahib Nye but I’m awfully glad I found her this weekend at the Columbia Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project’s Saturday Reunion. Naomi presented the morning keynote and her words were every bit as inspiring as a good keynote should be. Because I was so touched by hearing […]
Read moreAs I wrote this post in my head, I kept thinking of a chicken with her head cut off. When I searched for pictures that went along with that image, they were pretty gross so you’ll just have to imagine and be satisfied with the crazy chicken instead. I am so incredibly overwhelmed right now […]
Read moreI love seeing new e-mails appear in my inbox from Choice Literacy. To quote their website, Choice Literacy is dedicated to providing innovative, high-quality resources for K-12 literacy leaders. Founded in 2006, the website has grown to include over 700 professionally produced and edited video and print features from top educators in the field, as […]
Read moreWhen I give presentations to parents, I talk a lot about how a love of reading is caught not taught. If we are telling our children how important it is read while sitting in front of the tv it’s just not going to work. Inevitably, I will have a mom who hopes that I will […]
Read moreHow did I miss this guy? Bob Shea is my new favorite author and now that I’ve found him, he’s showing up all over the place. He has a funny clip going around on Facebook and one of my favorite kidlit bloggers, Jules of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, not only wrote about him this […]
Read moreI had to buy two birthday party gifts today so I headed off to my favorite children’s book store. As soon as I walked in, I knew I would be walking out with more than my two gifts. Sometimes my will power can be pretty strong and I am able to leave only with what […]
Read more“One of my reading memories was when I read to my sister for the first time. I remember I read to my sister after breakfast one morning. I read to myself many times before, but this was the first time I had read to someone else. I was shivering with excitement. I don’t remember what […]
Read moreI feel so lucky to have had a family that read to me. I can still hear my mother reading the poetry of A.A. Milne and I can picture this cover of the World of Christopher Robin: The Complete When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. The sounds of “James James […]
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