The disclaimer below the title is exactly what you will find - even though I want to teach secondary, this blog has a ton of resources for teaching math and science through literature.  I never knew cute books existed that combined reading and math for young kids.  I have fun scrolling through the math and earth science tabs on the right side of the page.  I even wrote down a few titles to purchase for my daughter and me at home - after all, I really need a break from Umizoomi!

How often do students look up to celebrities, right?  I thought this list was so cool.  If anything hopefully it gets one student interested in a book because their favorite star is too! I feel so special - Tyra, Halle and I have a special bond!  Our favorite teenage book is Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume!!!!!!! p.s. I think Hillary Clinton wussed out.  NO recommendation for teen/adults and Goodnight Moon for your fav childrens book? c'mon Hillary!?! p.p.s.(or is it p.s.s.?) With a soft heart I noticed that Whitney Houston's fav childhood book was the bible. RIP Whitney...

OK- so maybe this is a stretch for extra credit, but even if it isn't worth any extra points - still cool to share - hopefully all you "real" teachers unlike myself know about this!  Any k-12 student that reads 5 books gets 2 for 1 pricing on tickets plus no ticketmaster fees - yay for sports and reading!

Although different opinions grumbled both sides in this article, I think it had a large nugget of truth attached to it.  For the last three years, a pilot program in NYC were taught to read using this Core Knowledge program.  Although a bit more complicated than this explanation, the Core Knowledge Program means that students primarily read non fiction books of their choosing in schools while teachers would conference from desk to desk with the students.  The study said it was most pronounced in kindergarten, where students that were apart of the study scored five times higher than those peers who were not apart of the study.  Note: it did not say what was on this brief reading test given to both parties.

Although none of us are currently teachers in Arizona, I thought this article hit close to home.  In a nutshell, the Arizona curriculum (led by a Republican state education superintendent) is banning minority study type books because of a fear that teachers may not use them appropriately.  So, even though schools need to teach a minority studies, they can still be removed if it is determined that by using an antiwhite curriculum to foster social activism. What a load of bunk when trying to shape young minds.  Scary how quickly a government can decide what books to offer and not offer students, regardless of what political party you sway towards.

I read this article with the idea that I would do a graphic organizer, except once I got started I realized that this held some important information, but I kept getting confused with the layout of the article - i.e. finding what were the big points and the sub points. So, I decided to use Livebinders.com to find a way to organize it, visually, for myself and anyone else who wanted to take a peek. This is the website for the original article: http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.htm This is the website for my livebinder: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=322029

just an article I stumbled across...additionally, the page contains a platform for a bevy of opinions on this "hot topic".  Poke around if you get a chance. 

This was a great read that I came across in the SVSU library.  Just a note, to see it you may have to enter your username and password which is the same as your svsu email and password. This article is uplifting, encouraging, and seems like teachers could attempt just a few of these for maximum success in engaging those hard to engage readers.

Lyons, W. & Thompson, S.A. (2011, October). Guided Reading in Inclusive Middle Years Classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47: 158. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://isc.sagepub.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/content/47/3/158.full.pdf This study was interesting, because it focuses on something that I am sure so many teachers struggle with - how to teach students who demonstrate a wide variety/range of ability and needs. This study took a really "rough" socioeconomic level of 4th -8th graders and their teachers, and using guided reading as their main method of instruction DID see an 80% of students advance at least one, if not more levels. This was attributed to the fact that in small guided reading groups teachers could spend more time with small groups of students, targeting individual needs. That was the warm fuzzy. Of course, the part that this article mentions in the end, and would stop most teachers in their tracks before attempting to duplicate this, is that each classroom was equipped with several teachers and teacher assistants to make this work. Additionally, there were many times where the rest of the class NOT consisting of the 3 to 5 students in the guided reading group were supposed to work independently. All in all, every study has its flaws - the interesting thing here is that despite them, students still improved overall.

oops...ok I edited my post and stuck the citation in it...thanks!