An Open Letter to My Children's Lit Students

I am excited to devour children's literature with you over the next eight weeks. It is a subject that we will never be able to fully explore. The list of books written for children is staggering. Not only are there the classics, but new titles are printed every single day. (We'll talk later about how to get these into the hands of children!)

Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, builds up her "book muscle" by reading at least one book each day during the summer. (In this post she shares some great strategies for helping you remain current about great children's books.)

If we were to join Donalyn and the Book a Day Challenge community, we would read about 56 books during our eight weeks together.

However, I'm only assigning 40 children's books! What a breeze, huh?

Of course, I hope you will choose to read even more than 40 books, for only when you dig in and read voluminously will you yourself become a more

Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, and Critical Reader

as Nancie Atwell persuades in The Reading Zone.

I am sorry that we will not be together face-to-face more often, but we will have a chance to practice our 21st century learning skills. We can communicate as often as you wish -- Skyping, GoodReads, ANGEL, Twitter, email or here on this blog.

Children's literature is central to the development of children's literacy. I don't believe there is a more important subject to study. I can't wait to get started!

Denise

Image by mrsdkrebs

Latte and Literature

By Lyn Howlin, Children's Literature Blogger

 

This year I have been privileged to be invited to a series of Latte and Literature afternoons.

These very social gatherings are held about every 6 weeks in a coffee shop.

Natalie with some of her many books.

Natalie, an ex-teacher, who now works in a book store, brings along the latest selection of children’s books. She has always researched them well and is able to give us a story outline and draw our attention to particular features in layout design, written or visual text.

The group who attends this very social gathering are a mixture of teachers, teacher-librarians and student teachers.

The books seem to provide a springboard for a great exchange of ideas and views. There are always wonderful discussions about other books by this author or illustrator and suggestions as to how this book may be used in the classroom to enhance teaching. Sometimes we just enjoy the book.

One of our student teachers, Kate Booth, keeps track of the books we discuss and adds further information about them on her Captain Flint blog. We also enjoy the latte (or milkshake in my case) and the getting together with like-minded people.

It really is a fun way to spend time sharing and learning more about the amazing range of children’s books now available.

Image taken by OzLyn and used with permission.