Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Teaching with Text Sets

For families in NYC public schools, June 5 (Chancellor's Day) means a day off from school.  For teachers, it means professional development.  We are so fortunate to have Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Dawes of Lesley University to lead us in a workshop on "Teaching with Text Sets," a way of looking at multimodal (i.e., different forms) texts (books, art, film, websites, maps, drawings, etc.) to support, drive, and energize curriculum.  Mary Ann and Erika are authors of a professional book, and Mary Ann co-authors the terrific blog for teachers called The Classroom Bookshelf, which reviews new books.  


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Summer Reading 2014!

Wherever your family is this summer, your child can be part of a summer reading community. The New York Public Library has launched its 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, a safe, online network where children can build a virtual shelf and collect badges as they complete various tasks (you get a badge just for signing up).  The Library has a recommended list of diverse books (organized by grade level).  In addition, readers can take--or create--a quiz based on a book. (There's a recommended book list and sign-up for adults, too).  Children's librarian extraordinaire Thea Taube will be visiting classes from TNS and S.T.A.R. to to get kids excited about the Library's Summer Reading Program.  

Other organizations are offering prizes for recording the books that children read this summer (It's okay to double dip! You can fill out multiple reading logs).  Here are some:

Scholastic Reading Under The Stars
Pizza Hut Book It! Read Your Heart Out
TD Bank Summer Reading Program (for account holders)
Barnes & Noble Imagination’s Destination (read 8 books and get a free book)

Do you have an electronic reading device (e.g., iPad, Kindle, Nook, iPhone, or other smartphone)?  The library also offers tons of books to be uploaded to your device for free.  I will be offering a demonstration for parents on how to upload these to your device (date to be announced).


However or wherever you read, keep on reading together!

Love, Your Librarian, Cheryl



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