Literacy Center.net - This site "provides safe learning activities for parents and teachers to share with young children. All online lessons are free of advertising and free of charge." The activities include recognizing upper and lower case letters, numbers, shapes and colors as well as some basic spelling. The activities are available in English, Dutch, French and Spanish.
The publisher DK has created a kids page with links to a variety of materials including internet games kids can play, lesson plans, DK books related to school topics, etc.
Sylvan Dell Publishing is a small and relatively new press out of South Carolina producing high quality books for younger children. Their tag line is "science and math through literature". Unlike many efforts in this vein, these are good stories that happen to impart knowledge through good writing and superior illustration. The noble intention of imparting knowledge fortunately does not suffocate the story telling.
They have twenty-five titles in print and if you are teaching kindergarten through third graders anything to do with the environment, ecology, animals and marine life, and related topics, it is probably worth visiting their site. They have lesson plans, activity guides and links to related websites, all arranged by title. They also have their titles aligned to various state and federal standards. Finally they also have them measured according to the Lexile, Accelerated Reader and Reading Count measures. We carry their full range of books.
Slightly Foxed is a delightful British quarterly publication launched in 2004. As they describe their mission:
Eclectic, elegant and entertaining, Slightly Foxed unearths books of lasting interest, old and new, all of them in print. Each issue contains 96 pages of personal recommendations from contributors who write with passion and wit. Slightly Foxed aims to strike a blow for lasting quality - for the small and individual against the corporate and the mass produced.
Their remit is all literature, not just children's, however, probably 20-30% of their articles either are about children's books or touch on them.
I like the fact that they focus on sustaining attention on lasting quality, and the fact that they often cover children's books. However, their strength is simply excellent and compelling writing. The quality of the essays reflects their choice of contributors and the value of what those contributor's have to say.
Of the many thousands of books I have purchased in my life, I doubt I have ever purchased a book on cooking. And yet I found myself reading an essay some months ago by a contributor recollecting and elaborating on a cooking book from the 50's or 60's. And not just reading the essay but thinking to myself, "I need to keep my eyes open for that book".
If you want great writing about neglected books I highly recommend Slightly Foxed to you.
August House is an independent publisher based in Atlanta, Georgia. They have a strong focus on the storytelling aspect of reading, i.e. not only the quality of the story as literature but the story as spoken.
The August House homepage has links to their Learning Center which includes Lesson Plans for many of their books, Story Cove (a collection of animated stories), and other resources.
Just One More Book!! is a wonderful site with podcast interviews with authors, illustrators and others involved in the book industry.
It is so delightful when you find someone who has written a piece on an issue which you might have been mulling over and find that they have written about it much better than you ever could have.
One of the issues motivating the establishment of Through the Magic Door has been to try and counteract the very large volume of unremittingly negative children's books that have come out in the past couple of decades. Some of these are wonderfully well written. Many have been award winners. But there are so many and they are so dark.
It makes you want to take up arms - Optimists of the World Unite!
I have just discovered an author, Barbara Feinberg, who has written a delightful piece which is an exploration of why our children are being burdened with all these negative novels. Please take a look at her article, Reflections on the "Problem Novel" which is adapted from her book, Welcome to Lizard Motel.
With her delightful essay, I can safely point to her words and restrain myself from ranting.
Mathematica Policy Research Inc. is a contractor that conducts a good deal of research on behalf of the Federal government on the efficacy of various health and educational programs. As such, they have a lot of research on many related childhood programs funded by the government.
The Florida Center for Reading Research was established by Governor Jeb Bush in January, 2002. It is jointly administered at Florida State University by the Learning Systems Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Florida Center for Reading Research Mission:
1. To conduct basic research on reading, reading growth, reading assessment, and reading instruction that will contribute to the scientific knowledge of reading and benefit students in Florida and throughout the nation.
2. To disseminate information about research-based practices related to literacy instruction and assessment for children in pre-school through 12th grade.
3. To conduct applied research that will have an immediate impact on policy and practices related to literacy instruction in Florida.
4. To provide technical assistance to Florida's schools and to the State Department of Education for the improvement of literacy outcomes in students from pre-K through 12th grade.
The National Center for Eduction Statistics is great place to start any project where you are trying to wade through the often contradictory research.
The US Census Bureau can be a fascinating font of information about this incredibly diverse country and it is amazing what nooks and crannies they have statistics on, including books and reading.
43% of the population read no books for pleasure in the prior 12 months. That figure is for 2002. More recent studies for the US that I have seen all hover around the 50% mark not having read a book in the prior 12 months. In Europe the corresponding figure tends to average 55% but with marked national and regional variations.
While overall voluntary reading has been declining for a number of years, the most marked declines are among the younger demographics. Between 1992 and 2002, voluntary reading declined from 59.8% to 51% for 18-24 year olds and from 63.8% to 58.4% for 25-34 year olds. Remember, this is a measure of people that read at least a single book.
All demographics showed an increase in the habit of daily reading to children in their household, increasing from 53% to 58% between 1993 and 2001. Households with the mother having a college degree education or higher (about 25% of the population) had the highest rates of daily reading to children at 73%.
This is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom and collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics.
The Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University (CPBD@MU) is a bibliography for designing literature-based thematic units for all disciplines, including health education.
Our database contains abstracts of over 5000 picture books for children, preschool to grade 3. Search over 900 keywords (topics, concepts, and skills) to locate books with storylines adaptable to your curriculum or program. Teachers, librarians, parents, students, and other professionals love this multidisciplinary, learner-centered resource.
We are continually expanding our database to include new picture book titles and content weblinks for frequently used keywords. Over 800 weblinks provide you with up-to-date content knowledge for each keyword so you can have ongoing professional development in several disciplines. In short, the CPBD@MU offers you two complementary resources: developmentally appropriate literature for use with young children and up-to-date content knowledge for selected topics, concepts, and skills.
Having the CPBD@MU online gives you the advantage of being the designers of learner-centered curriculum and instruction while meeting the needs, interests, and abilities of your students on a local level. The CPBD@MU can also supplement curriculum resources available from professional organizations, including educational, community, federal, and commercial sources.
The purpose of this database is to create a tailored reading list of quality children's literature or to find out if a book has won one of the indexed awards. I expect the user to be a librarian or a teacher intervening for a child-reader, however anyone may make use of it to find the best in children's literature including parents, book store personnel, and children and young adults themselves.
Welcome to Anastasia Suen’s 5 Great Books blog!
Children’s books have always been part of my life. The author of 115 books, I wrote my first book when I was eleven. I started teaching elementary school in 1977 (K,1,5,6). I read to my students every day, and I wrote for them too.
Now I teach writing at elementary schools as a visiting author. I talk to the students about how a book is made and I guide them as they write. I focus on the six traits of writing because that’s how I have written for years.
Supporting the Helping Books/Helping Families Program Helping Books Connection is a resource center compiled to assist families and caring adults with finding and using quality children’s literature as a tool for individual and group discussion activities. The Literature Database link is a collection of children’s literature titles, both fiction and nonfiction, covering topics that focus on ethical and personal issues relevant to young people. These titles have been reviewed and selected by librarians, teachers, and other trained adults working with children’s literature. Selection of the titles is based on the guidelines for choosing quality literature. The link to Helping Books Resources lists programs, web sites, books, videos, and other tools that provide guidelines for the use of children’s literature to generate discussion.
What is the most important thing for children to learn? Heartwood Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping teach children universal attributes of good character that form the foundations of community. Through research, product development, and support for teachers and families, Heartwood is contributing to a better world for all.Heartwood has been at the vanguard of children's character education for 20 years. Heartwood's literature-based ethics and character education program for children:
Boosts Achievement while Building Character
Reduces Bullying and Disciplinary Referrals
Meets Academic Standards for Language Arts and Social Studies
Welcome to Library Booklists! This website consists of four sections: original booklists on various topics, primarily but not entirely focused on themes, places, characters, and plots of crime novels; annotated lists of other booklists, primarily but not entirely focused on fiction, for adults, kids, and teens; a growing calendar of authors' birthdates, organised by month, with links; and some resources for reading groups (discussion questions, recommended books, how to start a group, etc.).LibraryThing
WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.
Welcome! We have created the NCBLA Parent/Guardian Handbook to help you help your kids become lifelong readers and writers.
Search Institute is a leading global innovator in discovering what children and adolescents need to become caring, healthy, and responsible adults. Drawing on extensive research, Search Institute brings hopeful solutions to pressing challenges in the lives of young people and their communities.
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean -
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
and
The limerick's callous and crude,
Its morals distressingly lewd;
It's not worth the reading
By persons of breeding -
It's designed for us vulgar and rude.
Reading Trails is the internet's most innovative social network for readers. Browse our network of intersecting trails to discover what to read next. Share your tastes by creating your own trails and writing book reviews.
