I am going to choose to ignore the weather that we had yesterday- 6 more inches of snow- and focus on last week. On Friday, it was 60 degrees and all our snow boots were put away in favor of rain boots as rivers grew beside the sidewalks. Caroline and Katherine went on an ‘Adventurers […]
Read moreThis week I began work as a professor in residence at the North Haledon Public Schools. As a district, North Haledon is going through a challenging and exciting transition from homogeneous classes to heterogeneous grouping with differentiation. I have been brought in to help the teachers and parents with this enormous change. As if this wasn’t […]
Read moreI have such fond memories of my Scholastic book orders that I couldn’t wait until my girls were able to have the same experience. I remember spending hours pouring over the newspapery sheets that were sent home in my folder once a month. Certainly the task is a bit harder for my girls than it […]
Read moreLast week I wrote about the fabulous book, When Marian Sang. After finishing that book, I knew I had to read the book that proceeded it by the same author/illustrator team. And I was glad I did. For two reasons. Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride is written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by […]
Read moreLast week my mother in law arrived to babysit with a beautiful gift in hand, When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz, pictures by Brian Selznik. The story tells of the life of Marian Anderson, the amazingly talented singer who was discriminated against for years based on the color of her skin. As can be expected […]
Read moreI love it when we stumble upon a new author. At the very start of this blog, I wrote about our new found love of Amy Krause Rosenthal. It was until this week, that we felt the same surge of new love. I have read Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s books for years but somehow hadn’t put […]
Read moreA few weeks ago, we stumbled upon Lotta Says No!by Pippi Longstocking’s author, Astrid Lindgren. The book tells a charming tale of three siblings and the girls were enchanted. When we finished the story this week, I was anxious to start reading the author’s classic Pippi Longstocking. The original English version of Pippi Longstocking was […]
Read moreI am always on the look out for engaging beginning reader books. And I mean really engaging. When I saw Big Cats, part of the We Read Phonics series, I nearly cried with excitement. Big Cats includes real photographs of lions, tigers and house cats. Below each photograph is one sentence of clearly spaced text containing […]
Read moreA few months ago, I presented a workshop titled, Books as Gifts. The participants were so thrilled to learn about great, newer titles available for children. As in all things in life, I find that parents get in ruts with their book buying. They buy the titles they know or the titles that are face […]
Read moreThere are a few things I can do for hours at a time. These things include reading, browsing in a bookstore or library and finding new websites or blogs on line. I find that my focus here has been on literature but I do also love finding great new resources to use with the early readers in […]
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