I always had difficulty reading. I would gravitate to wordless books. As a visual thinker the pictures always told more of the story for me. I was in love with Mercer Mayer’s “Frog goes to dinner” series of books and would spend hours studying the pictures and trying to draw them. The expressiveness of the […]
April
22
The Power of Choice and Time by Beth Jarzabek
posted by CBethM
For the past sixteen years, I have had the pleasure to teach Language Arts Lab to middle school students — a class that one of my former students quite aptly described as “Reading for kids who hate to read.” This is true … for the most part. My kids are typically those who struggle, those […]
April
20
Ten Picture Books to Engage Special Needs Students by Jill De Farno
posted by CBethM
My favorite part of being a school librarian is reading to students. I regularly read to kindergarten and first grade students. Once a month I have storytime with all kindergarten, first, and second grade classes. During this time I read a story and then do an activity or make a craft. However, there is one […]
April
19
Maya Angelou and the Courage to Keep Rising by Bethany Hegedus
posted by CBethM
Resilience. Persistence. Perseverance. We women know we have always had these qualities—and now we are being sure that society knows it too. Girl power. Women power. Social activism on any level—“the personal is political”—is no longer radical. Activism is mainstream. And changes can be made not just by picking up protest signs. […]
April
18
An Original Poem by Rhett Miller
posted by CBethM
Our Nerdy Book Club by Rhett Miller My friends and I, we have a book club. We read and we read and we read. We talk and we laugh and we argue. And books are all that we need. The stories, they bring us together. The world can be lonely sometimes. The Great American Novel, Or some goofy […]
April
17
Books as Safe Haven by Paula Garner
posted by CBethM
For a writer, this is a strange and kind of awful thing to admit, but it’s the truth: I grew up in a bookless house. Okay, it wasn’t 100% bookless, strictly speaking. There was a bible. And there was a book called Jokes for the John, which, as a very small person, I found far more […]
April
16
I’ve been thinking about the girls of this world by Ali Benjamin
posted by CBethM
I’ve been thinking about the girls of this world. I’ve been thinking, for example, about a moment, not so long ago: it happened during one of those “What To Expect Now That Your Child’s in Middle School” programs — the sort of occasion where parents and teachers talk anxiously about how to guide kids […]
April
15
My Reading Life by Toni Yuly
posted by CBethM
I did not grow up a big reader. My family was really into sports and we watched a lot of TV, especially cartoons, (I was born in 1954.) I don’t remember hearing a good night story before bed or enjoying reading, except for comic books, as a young child. I loved comic books. I […]
April
14
The Book Love Foundation Summer Book Club: supporting teachers, supporting learning by Penny Kittle, Clare Landrigan, Fran McVeigh
posted by CBethM
I feel a tug on the back of my dress as I walk down the hall to debrief with the first-grade team of teachers. I shift my stance wondering if I somehow caught my hem on something. Then I hear her voice. Miss Clare. I turn and see her small fingers wrapped tightly around the […]
April
13
10 Ways to Make Home Reading a Path to Lifelong Literacy by Kyla McDonald
posted by CBethM
Home Reading is ideally a time for your reader to unplug and instead connect to the world of stories, information and adventures. Unfortunately, the ideal is not always possible. Busy households can make home reading a chore, or worse a battlefield. As a mama, a teacher and a librarian, I have come face to face […]
