Carol Baldwin's Blog: Reading Today

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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Reading & Writing Celebrations that You Don't Want to Miss

Mark your calendars for the following events. This list was culled from the August/September issue of Reading Today, an International Reading Association publication.

National Book Festival- September 25
If you live in the Washington, DC area, this year's festival will be an explosion of authors and books. Visit the website to see the large array of activities planned for the day.

Read for the Record - October 7. This year students from around the world will read The Snowy Day as they raise awareness of the importance of early literacy. Last year over two million readers read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Help break the record!

Teen Read Week- October 17-23
This annual celebration sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association, targets teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers, and other interested adults. The goal is to encourage youth to read for pleasure and to visit their libraries.

National Day on Writing- October 20
For the second year, the National Council of Teachers of English are encouraging writers of all ages to submit stories, poems, recipes, emails, videos, and artwork to this online gallery.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The" No-Excuse-for-Not-Reading-During-the-Summer" List

If your child moans and groans about reading over the summer, here are some suggestions to counter all complaints. Brought to you by the International Reading Association and Reading Today, this is a smörgåsbord of suggestions to encourage good reading habits over the summer.

Francie Alexander, chief academic officer for Scholastic, Inc., advices parents that:

1. Families should set aside a regular time of day when everyone reads. (Model it!)

2. Hook your kids on a series. If they like the first book, they will like more.
3. Let your children choose their books.

Linda Gambrell, a past president of the IRA, recommends:

1. Schedule weekly trips to the library.
2. Let your child select books you will read aloud.
3. Let your child read in bed. Extend bedtime only for reading.
4. Buy an inexpensive camera and notebook and let your child create a picture journal of his or her summer. Read it with her!

Here are some great web resources which promote summer reading and writing:

1. You'll find activities, projects, games, tools, tips and how-to's for kids from kindergarten through twelfth grade on the IRA and National Council of Teachers Of English ReadWriteThink website.
2. Reading Rockets offers booklists and online activities for parents and teachers.
3. Scholastic Inc has a Summer Challenge which encourages kids to log their summer reading. Last year 63,000 kids logged 35 million minutes!
4. The National Summer Learning Association provides resources for learning in all forms, including reading.

If you like booklists, here are places you can find them:

1. Children's Choices are books which children have evaluated and reviewed.
2. Students can travel across a map of the U.S. by reading a book that takes place in each of the states. Find the fiction and nonfiction lists here.
3. Looking for the 2010 Notable books? You'll find them on a list compiled by the Association for Library Service to Children.
4. The National Endowment for the Humanities has a list of classic literature for kindergarten through 12th graders.

Enough? Now, grab your child, a book, and get reading!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Put these Events on your School Calendar

Reading through the September issue of Reading Today, I found two events that teachers, writers, and media specialists want to take note of this fall.

On October 8, 2009 more than one million children and adults are expected to team up with Eric Carle's famous "Hungry Caterpillar" to help break a world record for the world's largest shared-reading experience. Read this fun classic to a child and go to Read for the Record and see how you can help raise money for Jumpstart and at-risk children.

Twelve days later you and your students can celebrate the National Day on Writing on October 20th. This event celebrates writing as a part of everyday daily life. "All writers--including students, business owners, legislators, and others--are encouraged to submit a piece of writing to the National Gallery of Writing, a digital archive of writing samples that exhibit how and why Americans are writing every day. The archive will collect writing samples through 2009 and display them on the National Day on Writing via a free, searchable website."

I think this is a great opportunity for students, teachers, writers--everybody! to be part of a national celebration of the written language. Educators are particularly encouraged to submit a "resource piece" that will help non-educators better understand writing.

I can't wait to get the group of young students who I have helped tutor through Covenant Day School involved in this project. And of course, I'll have to submit something myself...the possibilities abound!

How about you? What piece of writing will you submit?
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Sunday, July 12, 2009

“Writing is a way of life, live the life of a writer”

Last night, Donna Jo Napoli, mother of five children and author of 70 books, inspired me and 100 other participants with these words in her opening address of the 25th Highlights Writing Workshop in Chautauqua, New York. I feel blessed to be here this week and will do my best to share some of what I learn and experience.

Napoli's advice to us as writers is also applicable to those of you who are teachers and who want to encourage your students in the writing process. She had three main points to remember this week:

"Grow big ears and thick skin." She encouraged us to listen not only to the workshop leaders who have learned from their own mistakes, but to also listen to our fellow students. In keeping with this she said,
"Don't defend and don't argue back." The reader of our work is never wrong. She told us to write down whatever someone else has to say about our work and say, "thank you." Anyone who gives feedback is trying to be helpful.
"Enjoy the process." More than getting published (or getting an "A" on an assignment or passing a test) we must enjoy the writing process. If we don't love what we're writing about, we will never get our readers to love what we have written.

Teachers in the elementary and middle school classrooms are generally not surrounded by as eager a group of students as the writers participating in this conference. Yet, Napoli's suggestions can help you in the classroom. Writers of every age can grasp the concept that they must, "Grow big ears and thick skin." Instruct them to listen quietly to feedback their peers give them about their written work. We often don't see what is missing from our own work and having someone else read it and say, "this just doesn't make sense" can be the best piece of help. As Napoli said, "If the reader doesn't get it, then we haven't included enough clues."

Finally, how many of your students truly enjoy the writing process or just see it as a means to an end. How many are engaged in their subject material? How many get to pick what they're writing about? As a fellow participant said, "We need to bring the "F" word into the classroom—FUN!

Kathryn Au writes in the June/July issue of Reading Today that to develop students' ownership of literacy, "The teacher must be a reader and writer, and share his or her life as a reader and writer, to help students take ownership of their literacy."

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Writing Lesson Plan for November 14

I'm giving all of the teachers out there a present for this Friday. Since Saturday November 15 is "I Love to Write Day," take a minute and click on the link on the first paragraph on that site. If you don't find a novel writing idea that will fit your classroom, why don't you look at MIGUEL ANGEL ARENAS HARO's website. At the IRA's 22^nd World Congress on reading in Costa Rica he placed a large white strip of paper on the floor and let it snake throughout the conference hall. He then invited participants to write poems on it. "The Giant Poem is very classical," he was quoted saying in the Oct/Nov issue of Reading Today. "It puts the paper close to people and gives them a chance to read their own words."

Why not try creating a giant poem that meanders down the hall of your school? Or how about one that goes around the perimeter of your school cafeteria or up and down the bleachers of the gym?

As for me, I think I'll celebrate by trying to add another 2000 words to my novel. It is now at 14,317 words and has a new working title: Half the Truth.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Celebration Time

I was the proverbial kid in the candy shop picking out books for the tutoring group that I had organized and which was sponsored by Christ Covenant Church. Not too many things can make me happier than being told I could spend whatever I wanted to on books—besides giving the books away and seeing the children's excited responses. On Monday as I headed towards the cash register at Border's with two large piles of books, I hoped that I had chosen ones that would interest the kids—you never can tell if you'll hit home or not. I picked some of my and my own children's favorites—The Yearling, Artemis Fowl
(now in a graphic novel), a collection of Tintin stories, and Shiloh
were among the stack.

Tuesday afternoon we held our end-of-the-year-celebration at one of the tutor's homes. Each child had the opportunity to ride a horse, which was no doubt the highlight of the party. However, I think a close second was that everyone received one or two books. Quoting Linda Gambrrell's message in a recent Reading Today,I told them that one of the most important things they could do over the summer was to read. I hope they got the message!

One of the youngest, a struggling kindergarten reader, looked at his new collection of Frog and Toad and said, "We have these books in school." His little face scrunched up and he seemed confused as to why he was receiving a book that obviously belonged in his classroom.

I squatted down next to him and said, "Now you have your own copy." After that, he walked around showing it to his friends and promised me that he would read it to me in September. I wish I had thought to take his picture, or one of the boy leafing through his book on dinosaurs, or one of his friend who was looking at a book about cars and trying to figure out what a Mad Lib was. I was too busy giving out books, happy that my selections had found new homes with growing readers.

This time of year, many of you receive thank you notes from students and parents. Here are three that made my time with these students worth every minute:

"A simple thank you does not seem to be enough words to say how much we appreciate you and all you've done week after week." (From the parent who weekly brought the 12 students to the church.)

Without editing, from two students:

"Thank you for helping me with my homework and stuff and reading homework to. It was really fun having a tutor for me." A 4^th grader.

"Thank you for doing so much for us. We all know it's the last time we will come to tutoring. We loved your tutoring. I hope you injoyed our company. And I want to wish you all a happy and safe summer vacation." A 4^th grader.

Makes me look forward to September. How about you?

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