October 5-October 11—Banned Books Week! “Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.”― Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers. While I have never read any of his books that I am aware of, I love and…
The plate appears full for the month of October. Let’s carve out some time to observe the below events! Readers and Writers: Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) You may also recognize this celebration as:: Latino Heritage Month, Latinx Heritage Month, or Latine Heritage Month. The theme for 2023: Latinos: Driving Prosperity, Power, and Progress…
“There’s More to the Story”Celebrating National Library WeekApril 23-29, 2023 Why celebrate libraries? Not because I retired as a teacher-librarian at the end of last school year. Not because I love libraries. But maybe loving libraries is a great reason to celebrate. Overall, we can observe and recognize our libraries because they hold many stories…
September is National Literacy Month and Saturday, Sept. 8 marked the 52nd annual International Literacy Day. In an effort to raise awareness for literacy and its significance as a foundation for lifelong learning, this annual event brings together communities, organizations, students, and educators. Although September 8th was this past weekend, you still have the rest of this…
A story exists in each of us. I encourage children and adults to find inspiration to write. Ideas can come from a variety of sources: Pictures Newspaper or magazine articles Sunday school lessons or sermons Events in one’s own life Events in other people’s lives Shared conversations (with permission and without revealing sensitive info that could personally…
Every year in April, we celebrate National Poetry Month. Launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month has become the largest literary celebration in the world. Each year worldwide, schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets commemorate poetry’s vital place in our nation. Use poetry to encourage readers, especially struggling readers. Poetry…
Do you have students or children who need a boost of confidence in reading? Readers Theater is a great idea to accomplish this task. I have never observed a child who did not enjoy participating in a Readers Theater performance. Readers Theater is a presentation in which children perform by reading speaking parts of literature…
As parents, teachers, and librarians, it takes a little creativity to encourage and motivate children to read. I would like to provide a few tips to inspire your young readers. Visit the National Day Calendar (http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com) for interesting themes to celebrate. You can locate themes by the day, week, and/or month. For example, yesterday, January…
I often tell my students “good readers write and good writers read.” In my opinion, writing and reading are inseparable. The connection between reading and writing is essential to a child’s literacy development. Teachers and parents can nurture a child’s imagination through writing. An article in The Science of Learning affirms the importance of writing…
Is it a struggle to get your child to read? Your child might say, “I just don’t like to read or “Do I have to read?” Of course, there are many possible reasons for this. However, it is not always the obvious, such as your child experiencing reading difficulties. Some children read well, but do…