Students study the holidays celebrated in families and communities around the world to learn about traditions and cultures different from their own, and to honor the diversity in their own communities. For young students, literature is often a portal into these cultural explorations.
Although my books are printed on thinly sliced pieces of tree, they would be utterly impossible without the Internet. Paper Towns (Dutton 2008), for instance, is built around this weird cartographic phenomenon wherein mapmakers intentionally put fake places on their maps.
Did you know that nearly every U.S. state and Canadian province has a young readers’ choice award that allows students to vote for their favorite book? These tremendously successful reading programs lead thousands of children and teens to innumerable quality books each year.
While young children explore language through the rhythm and rhyme of song, music is one of the important bonds tweens and teens share with their peer group. But no matter what age your students are, it's likely they respond to music, providing you with an enjoyable way to connect with them.
It was a challenge coming up with a title and a cover image for the fifth and final book in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (Abrams) series. I always planned to call this book Rowley’s Revenge, so I sketched what I thought might make a good cover.
This Friday, explore a classic in a new way …
Add multimedia resources, like this audio Book Reading of Homer’s The Odyssey, when you are exploring this classic with students.
Listen now with students to this dramatic excerpt to…