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"She married a doctor, Charles Porter, and the couple lived in Massachusetts where they raised four children. She has said that three of the books, Hattie and the Wild Waves, Miss Rumphius, and Island Boy are as close as she will ever come to autobiography and readers will find similarities in them to her life. Like Miss Rumphius, Ms Cooney has traveled widely and she surely has made the world more beautiful with her work. She now lives in a house in Maine overlooking the sea. She may not have grown up on Tibbet's Island as Matthais did, but Maine is her chosen home and she relishes it with equal delight to his. Hattie and the Wild Waves depicts the affluent life of an unconventional and questing child growing up in Brooklyn, New York. Enough said?"

One of the main goals of reading is to possess the ability to understand, or comprehend, what you have just read. A great strategy to help children comprehend text is to teach them how to summarize.

As teachers we need to adopt a very sensitive approach to the teaching of poetry, one that combines discussion and writing, one that examines ideas and feelings, one that encourages appreciation of the poetry of others while also giving room for our students to write freely when creating poetry. In this document I have tried to offer approaches to the teaching of writing poetry that can be used by all classroom teachers. Download a Word copy of this document here. These approaches encourage children to play around with words, to experiment with their sounds, their rhythm. They also allow the teacher to introduce new terminology in a fun way.

DIVERSITY TOOLCHEST Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing: Multicultural Poetry for Children & Young Adults

Lesson Plan for book Because of Winn Dixie, a high-interest text at the grade 4 reading level

Reading Level 4.0: Because of Winn Dixie tells the story of ten-year old Opal. She has just moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. On an errand to the grocery store Opal finds a large, ugly, homeless dog. Opal is immediately attached to the dog whom she names Winn Dixie after the grocery store where she finds him. Together they make friends with Otis, an ex-convict who runs the local pet store; Miss Fanny, the librarian who has a desk full of "Litmus Lozenges" a type of candy which her great grandfather invented; and Gloria Dump, the lady the local children think of as a witch because of her jungle-like yard. This book will make you laugh as Opal and Winn Dixie make friends with these very likable characters in this small southern town.

Unit 1

Students learn about child labor, as it occurred in England and the United States during the Industrial Revolution and as it continues around the world today. Selected websites describe the conditions under which children worked during the Industrial Revolution. Each student gathers information at these websites and prepares and presents a monologue in the "voice" of someone involved in the debate over child labor in England. After dramatically assuming that person's point of view on the issue, he or she responds to audience members' questions. Students then explore and discuss the conditions of contemporary child laborers and compare them to those of the past.

Welcome to Kenn Nesbitt's poetry playground, Poetry4kids.com, where you will find lots of funny poems and poetry books for children, games, contests, lessons, discussion forums, and journals, plus a rhyming dictionary, funny poetry podcast, school visit information and lots more.

A unique aspect of children's memoir writing is that their collection of memories, wisdom and value is limited. That is not to say these memories do not exist. Children should be given the opportunity to develop an understanding of who they are and where they come from, and how this is connected to the past & future, the near & far away. A memoir study focusing on location as a theme can provide this opportunity.

One of my favorite genres in childrens' literature is memoir. I only recently learned of the power and beauty of memoir. Five years ago, I had the privilege of spending two weeks in New York City at Columbia University. It was there at Lucy Calkin's Teacher's College Writing Project for teachers that I learned of the power of this genre.

I like the idea as a writing topic, but students should definitely NOT visit that site, as many comments are inappropriate for children.

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.

Short Story Unit: publishing option for students