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Blogging for Kids | Make a Blog for Kids

"Parents often ask us to suggest good books for their kids -- ones that will engage, entertain, and maybe even enlighten them. So we've scoured our recommendation lists and consulted with teachers, librarians, and book critics to assemble what we consider essential titles for your home bookshelves or to download to your ereader, smartphone, or tablet. From the classics to more recent must-reads, fantasy to funny, we have more than 150 great book suggestions for your kids and teens, from bedtime stories to chapter books to true literature, and more. Just search our themed categories, and you'll find all of our picks arranged by age groups."

"Tales 2 Go is a fantastic app that brings stories to life and sparks kids imaginations by introducing them to audio stories from leading narrators and storytellers. Tales2Go makes anytime story time! Students have on-demand and unlimited access to over 1,300 books and stories from leading authors and storytellers. The stories are geared for kids 3 years old to 12 years old with book and story selections ranging from fairytales to classics like Curious George Rides a Bike to popular series and characters such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and How to Train Your Dragon. Tales2Go is a free app to download but to access stories you must subscribe to a plan. There is a 30 day free trial. The on-demand stories can be purchased for $2.99/month, $6.99 for 3 months, or $24.99 for an entire year of listening."

As we seek to get kids doing more authentic persuasive writing, this is a great site to share book reviews for kids, by kids, and use them as a springboard to beginning our own!

Bookwink's mission is to inspire kids to read. Through podcasting and web video, we hope to connect kids in Grades 3 through 8 with books that will make them excited about reading. The videos are approximately 3 minutes long and are updated monthly. Each video booktalk is about a different topic, and additional read-alikes can be found on the Bookwink website. You can look for books by subject, grade level, author or title. We are constantly updating the book lists with our newest favorite books.

The award-winning Random House Children's Books Web site, kids@random, offers an array of materials and activities free of charge for children, teens, parents, and educators. The innovative teachers@random Web site features many teaching tools and classroom activities, including title-specific teachers' guides developed by leading educators, biographies of authors and illustrators, and podcasts. The Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, and Andrew Lost online classroom clubs provide innovative curriculum tie-ins and interdisciplinary connections for teachers during the school year. Random House is also the proud host of the award-winning www.seussville.com, Dr. Seuss's home on the Internet.

The basic principle of The Flat Stanley Project is to connect your child, student or classroom with other children or classrooms participating in the Project by sending out "flat" visitors, created by the children, through the mail (or digitally, with The Flat Stanley app). Kids then talk about, track, and write about their flat character's journey and adventures. Although similar to a pen-pal activity, Flat Stanley is actually much more enriching-students don't have to wonder where to begin or what to write about. The sender and the recipient already have a mutual friend, Flat Stanley. Writing and learning becomes easier, flows naturally, and tends to be more creative. This is what teachers call an "authentic" literacy project, in that kids are inspired to write of their own passion and excitement about the project, and given the freedom to write about many things through the rubric of the Flat Stanley character.

Nanoogo is an online platform used by kids to write stories, create original artwork, and express their unique talents! It is meant to be fun, but we are serious about its educational value. Teachers are using Nanoogo in many ways to enhance classroom engagement while addressing the core curriculum.

"I've been working hard to give kids and teachers activities to use to help with creative writing. If you've been to one of my workshops, you know creativity is fantastic fun! So, here is a line-up of fun things on my site. I'm up to over 300 pages, and adding more all the time. You'll find plenty of free activities and information on all kinds of things that are meant to get creative juices flowing. I'm now also starting to offer additional creative writing helps that can be purchased. Enjoy the site! And feel free to email me with your comments!"

School Library Journal's Battle of the (Kids') Books is a competition between 16 of the very best books for young people published in 2009, judged by some of the biggest names in children's books. There are some fantastic reviews of books that would be fun for our kids to read. It looks like the books are probably geared to our 3rd to 8th graders.

Writing resource for getting kids to write.

Curriculet is revolutionizing the way kids read, and how teachers create, share, and teach with a simple yet dynamic digital reading platform. Curriculet enables teachers to deliver customized, Common Core aligned learning and digitally create and share their curriculum and lesson materials. Curriculet also allows school districts nationwide to purchase ebooks at a lower cost, expanding their library and enabling teachers to broaden their reading lists, making reading more enjoyable for all students.

"Communication skills are critical for today's students. Reading, writing and the ability to tell a story set the stage for success. The Hub, a new TV destination dedicated to bringing kids and families together, is partnering with Discovery Education to support teachers in this important endeavor. Here you'll find inspiration to engage and inspire your budding writers. Meet the artists, editors and writers that bring good stories to life-and watch your students' communication skills soar!"

James Patterson's site of recommended reading for kids. All ages from birth through middle school.

News for tweens, kids and students

"Kerpoof's multimedia software is used by kids worldwide to create original artwork, animated movies, stories, greeting cards and more. The site is meant to be fun, but we're serious about its educational value. Elementary and middle school teachers can use Kerpoof in many ways to enhance classroom activities while meeting a range of educational standards."

"Childhood is surreal. Why shouldn't children's books be? In this whimsical talk, award-winning author Mac Barnett speaks about writing that escapes the page, art as a doorway to wonder - and what real kids say to a fictional whale."