The Schneider Family Book Award

The Schneider Family Book Award

Many books are awarded each year at the ALA (American Library Association) Youth Media Awards at the Mid-Winter Conference.  Annually the Youth Media Awards come with great anticipation to hear the winners and honors announced for the Newbery Award, the Caldecott Award, the Pura Belpre Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book, and the Schneider Family Book Award among several other awards. 

The Schneider Family Book Award is a favorite of mine because it honors an author or illustrator for a book that portrays the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.  What I never realized is that this award was established by Dr. Katherine Schneider and her family.  Her legacy, as written in I Love Libraries - The Schneider Family Book Award: A Legacy of Inspiration comes from her own experience of being born premature and blind.  I also did not know that she graduated from high school  as valedictorian and a National Merit Scholar.  She earned her doctorate from Purdue University and became a clinical psychologist and a university professor, teaching psychology courses at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, as well as counseling, supervising and administering counseling services there.

The Schneider Family Book Award enhances awareness of diversity, specifically through disability.

This award is presented to three age levels: birth through grade school (ages 0–8), middle school (ages 9–13), and teen (ages 14–18). 
The 2017 winners include:

Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille by Jen Bryant

as brave as you by Jason Reynolds

When We Collided by Emery Lord

I have read many other outstanding Schneider Family Book Award Winners you may consider reading to for your own enjoyment, reading aloud to students, or suggesting to students in your class.

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah Written by Laurie Ann Thompson with illustrations by Sean Qualls.

           

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

The War that Saved My Life

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Jerk California by Jonathan Friesen

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

Dr. Seuss's Birthday (March 2nd), Read Across America and Author Visit - Kwame Alexander

Dr. Seuss's Birthday (March 2nd), Read Across America and Author Visit - Kwame Alexander

Dr. Seuss's Birthday (March 2nd)
This year Dr. Seuss would be 113 years old (March 2, 1904)!  I am always amazed that Theodore Seuss Geisel was told by his high school art teacher that he would never succeed in art because he broke the rules in art.  Yet we still celebrate his outstanding success as an author and illustrator.  Over many years of celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday, I am fascinated with rereading his books over and over considering how he appeals to children preschool to adult.  Finding the connections to the political side of his career and books he wrote and published to "speak" out against the injustice of our world.  Below are alternate titles for some of Seuss's books.

Read Across America

20 years ago, National Education Association (NEA) kicked off Read Across America to get kids excited about reading.  This annual event is launched off with the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday.  This year we celebrate as a nation of diverse readers.  To help you celebrate check out NEA's Read Across America 2017 Classroom Activity Guide. Read Across America Artwork & Downloadables or celebrate all year round with Read Across America Calendar.

Author Visit - Kwame Alexander

This year at South Milwaukee Middle School, we have the great honor of celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday and launching Read Across America with the over-the-top excitement of National Award Winning Author, Kwame Alexander (@kwamealexander).  He will promote reading, writing, through his newly released book The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life.  This book quick read is a book readers will return to over and over for motivation.  Kwame divided the book into four sections, much like the four quarters in a basketball game. These sections focus on grit, motivation, focus and teamwork. This books includes part memoir, part poetry and rules, and part quotes from notable people in the top of their game.  

CommonLit: Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading Passages for Grades 5-12

CommonLit: Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading Passages for Grades 5-12

A Library Media colleague shared CommonLit a few weeks ago.  In reviewing this resource, I feel it is worthy of posting on my blog. 

CommonLit is created by teachers for teachers.  It is a researched-based and Common Core aligned resource of free instructional materials to support literacy development. The library of text sets is well organized by grade levels covering a variety of historical, cultural, and political topics.  This resource is great for Social Studies or English Language Arts classes.

In browsing the CommonLit library, you can narrow your search by grade level, theme, genre, literary devices, and standards.  You also can select texts by lexile.  This resource provides text-dependent questions for reading and writing.  As a part of every text,on the right above the Questions, there are icons to access a dictionary, have the article read to the user, highlight important parts of the article, and translate the text to Spanish.

Teachers can register for a free account where CommonLit can be used as a learning platform to assign texts.  With this free account, teachers can analyze student performance. 

The FAQs share that CommonLit is working to expand the library to include texts appropriate for 3rd and 4th grade classes. 

World Read Aloud Day - February 16, 2017

World Read Aloud Day - February 16, 2017
The One Book One Day read events held across the district for Literacy Night that was held last Friday clearly illustrates and celebrates a community of readers.  Reading aloud motivates children, tweens, and teens through changing your voice for each character and bringing the story to life.  Reading aloud builds vocabulary, introduces readers to books they may choose to read independently, and increase academic success.

The 2017 WRAD Activity Packet provides great ideas for read aloud books, activities, and statistics.

World Read Aloud Day is celebrated by millions of people in more than 100 countries thanks to people like you who participate and spread the word across the globe!

For more information about reading aloud, here are a few articles to consider:

Beyond the Classroom: The Importance of Reading Aloud to Our Children

The Importance of Reading Aloud to Big Kids - Brightly
Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension - Reading Rockets
13 Good (Scientifically Based) Reasons to Read Aloud with Older Readers - Ch. 2 from Reading Aloud and Beyond