WETA Education Websites: Reading Rockets, AdLit.org, LD Online and Colorin Colorado

WETA Education Websites: Reading Rockets, AdLit.org, LD Online and Colorin Colorado

WETA is a public television and classical music station serving the Washington D.C. area, but it also has a tradition of education and service where the projects of ReadingRockets.org, AdLit.org, LDOnline.org, and ColorinColorado.org.  All of these websites are excellent resources for parents and teachers.

ReadingRockets.org brings research-based strategies to help teach reading, help struggling readers, a comprehensive A-Z selection of reading topics, and children's books and authors. The Classroom Strategies library includes strategies for phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and writing with instructions how to use the strategy, examples, templates, supporting research, and more.  

AdLit.org is a resource for parents and teachers for with students in grades 4-12.  This resource focuses on how best to teach reading to struggling adolescent readers especially in content areas where students need to learn how to make sense of what they read in content subjects. AdLit.org provides research-based Hot Topics, Classroom Strategies, Books & Authors, and much more.

LDOnline.org is an educator's guide about learning disabilities and ADHD.  In addition to LD and ADHD basic information, this resource also includes a glossary of terminology, an in depth list of LD Topics such as Math & Dyscalculia.

ColorinColorado.org is a bilingual site for teachers and families of students of English Language Learners.  Like the other resource projects from WETA, Colorin Colorado provides free research-based information, activities, and advice for parents, educators, and communities. It even highlights Pura Belpre, the first Puerto Rican librarian to be hired by the New York Public Library.  The American Library Association (ALA) has a children's book award in her honor, the Pura Belpre Award.  This year celebrates the 20th Anniversary for this award!

Growth Mindset Book List, WRAD and Bucks Challenge

Growth Mindset Book List

Below is Growth Mindset Title List that is also found in a Resource List in Follett Destiny. Many of these titles are available at each elementary building, but if there is a title not found at your building you may request it from another building to be sent to you through the inter-school mail delivery. If you have questions, please contact the library media assistant in your building or me.

How to Read a Story by Kate Messner Zach Gets Frustrated by William Mulcahy Lying Up A Storm by Julia Cook What Does It Mean to Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio What Does It Mean to Be Present? by Rana DiOrio Give Up Gecko! : A Folktale from Uganda by Margaret Read MacDonald Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It by JoAnn M. Deak Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda by Lauren Alderfer Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson Batitude!: What to do When Your Life Stinks! by Julia Cook Decibella and her 6-Inch Voice by Julia Cook I Can’t Believe You Said That! by Julia Cook I Just Want to Do It My Way! by Julia Cook My Mouth Is A Volcano! by Julia Cook The Big Test by Julie Danneberg The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt Red by Jan De Kinder Spaghetti on a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to Be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy One Day, The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter Than Ever Stories by Rebecca Kai Dotlich Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall A Walk In the Rain With A Brain by Edward M. Hallowell Ralph Tells A Story by Abby Hanlon Waiting by Kevin Henkes What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick Stuck by Oliver Jeffers Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker by Christianne C. Jones Flight School by Lita Judge The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill Beautiful Hands by Kathryn Otoshi Two by Kathryn Otoshi It’s Okay to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett Everyone Can Learn to Ride A Bicycle by Christopher Raschka The Dot by Peter Reynolds Going Placest by Peter Reynolds Ish by Peter Reynolds Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg A Little Bit of Oomph! by Barney Saltzberg I Can Be Anything by Jerry Spinelli The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires If Everybody Did by JoAnn Stover         Miss Maple’s Seed by Eliza Wheeler In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek     What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada   The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski        Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan In Pursuit Of A Dream by Delores Jordan But It’s Not My Fault by Julia Cook    WRAD - World Read Aloud Day - February 24, 2016 WRAD on February 24, 2016 is a great reason to celebrate the power of reading aloud and join in the a great community of readers.  The January News for You: An Invitation to Celebrate World Read Aloud Day and More post offers more information to register, participate in a countdown, download classroom and community activities, potentially scheduling a read aloud with an author via Skype, and an opportunity to win a classroom set of How to Read A Story written by Kate Messner (we have this book in some of our elementary libraries) by registering at  A Very WRAD Giveaway: How To Read A Story.   Buck's Reading Challenge The Buck's Reading Challenge started Monday, January 18, 2016, and goes through February 19th.  This program is geared toward grades one through eight, but younger students can also participate.  Students interested in Buck's Reading Challenge is available at the South Milwaukee Public Library.  The purpose of the reading program is to promote literacy and library usage by youth in communities statewide.  The more you read, the more you win!  With each page read, students score points.  When a predetermined number of points are achieved, students are eligible to receive a variety of prizes including Bucks game tickets and a chance to win a Bucks autographed basketball.  Stop into the South Milwaukee Public Library any time to pick up the reading log to participate.

ALA Youth Media Award Winners!

ALA Youth Media Awards

As mentioned last Sunday the 2016 ALA Youth Media Awards were announced last Monday.  What an exciting day!  

As I meet with classes to introduce the 2016 youth media awards and what each award celebrates, I hope students will broaden their reading interests. 

The Newbery Award is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American children's book published the previous year.  This year is only the second time in the 94 years this award has been awarded that the winning book is a picture book (the first picture book awarded was in 1982 for the title, A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard).  Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena is the 2016 Newbery Winner.  It also is a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor presented to the book's illustrator, Christian Robinson.  

The 2016 Caldecott Award is awarded annually to the illustrator of the most distinguished American children's picture book.  The Caldecott Award is celebrating 78 years for this award, named in honor of Randolph Caldecott, a nineteenth-century English illustrator. This year's winner is Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear illustrated by Sophie Blackall and written by Lindsay Mattick. 

This CNN article written by Katia Hetter, "2016 Newbery, Caldecott awards honor best children's books" lists the ALA Youth Media Awards.

Updated Elementary Library Media Center Websites and ALA Youth Media Awards

Updated Elementary Library Media Center Websites

I am pleased to share that the updated Elementary Library Media Center websites are "live" on the School District of South Milwaukee website.  After you access the district website, select your school then click on Library Media Center from the left column website contents. Here you will find the SDSM Library Media Program mission statement, a collection of linked icons to many sites including Follett Destiny, Kidblog, RazKids, Tumblebooks, and more!  It also has linked Typing icons, and a Google form for book recommendations for teachers and students.  On the left side of the page is a linked page for each school for more linked sites.  Please check it out.  

ALA Youth Media Awards

Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year in the library world!  The ALA Youth Media Awards is the day when the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, Theodore Seuss Geisel and several other awards are announced for the year!  In the next several weeks, I will be teaching students what signifies each award, and sharing as many of the award winning books as possible to students.  If you are interested in following the results tomorrow live, check out a free live webcast at the following link: http://ala.unikron.com/2016/  The awards will also be trending over Twitter at #alayma.  

Controversial or Difficult Current Events in the Classroom

Controversial or Difficult Current Events in the Classroom

Happy New Year!  

Current events in our world can be difficult to address in the classroom, but Books to Help Kids Make Sense of Challenging Current Events shares books by topic to use to help teachers and students gain a better understanding of challenges in our world.  The resource by Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsiblilty - Teaching About Controversial or Difficult Issues provides ten suggestions to help teachers feel better prepared to tackle these topics. Another resource highlighted in the article Books to Help Kids Make Sense of Challenging Current Events is IndyKids.  IndyKids mission is to engage young people to become informed world citizens through the production of current events and social justice news source that is created by kids, for kids. Journalists for IndyKids range from ages 9-16 and report on a wide range of diverse topics and social justice issues.  With every issue is a teaching guide that has lessons that are supported by CCSS ELA standards such as for the November/December 2015 issue below.

IndyKids November/December Issue #52 and IndyKids Teaching Guide for Issue #52