Fall in Love with Reading Again
February is a terrific month to fall in love — with books and reading! Discover resources on motivating readers, whether it's through audiobooks, lively discussion, or providing more e-books for your reader.
Simple Practices to Nurture the Motivation to Read
In this article you'll discover effective ways to pique readers' interest. Some suggestions are as simple as honoring a book by placing it in a special basket. Another method involves bringing different types of reading material into the classroom and home. Your students or children will certainly find something to love!
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Get Fresh with Your Home Library
Having interesting things to read at home is a great way to keep kids motivated. Our handy (and free!) PDF on freshening up your home library will let you rethink your book collection and presentation. Some simple changes on your part can help you create an amazing home library that will help motivate young readers at your house.
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Valentine's Day: We ♥ Writing
Sharing the love from our sister site Reading Rockets: Valentine's Day is a perfect opportunity to practice creative writing skills — and take a fresh look at poetry, figurative language, and wordplay. Kids can experiment with new poetry forms like Korean sijo and cinquain. Don't miss the special video feature: a visit with children's writer Laura Elliott, author of author of A String of Hearts. Laura shares wonderful ideas to spark creativity with words. Take a look!
What Is Literacy? Ask Scieszka, Paterson, and Myers.
Enjoy this fun blog at the Huffington Post, in which the blogger talked with the first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature about literacy, reading for kids, slime, and other important topics. Can you guess which author's son, while reading The Little House on the Prairie, asked, "Are they really going to spend this whole chapter making a door?"
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Lindamood-Bell Imagine Learning Conference March 7-9, 2013
Parents, educators, and other professionals: Lindamood-Bell's 18th International Conference is happening March 7-9, 2013, in Anaheim, California. This year's topic is Imagine Learning: The Imagery-Language Connection for Reading, Comprehension & Memory. Hear from experts Nanci Bell, Robert Pasternack, Guinevere Eden, John Gabrieli, and more.
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Expert Advice: Can a child "grow out of" dyslexia?
Question: My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia at age 9. She is now 16 and has been retested. We were told she no longer qualifies for modifications. Did the dyslexia resolve? Is this possible?
Answer: Usually, dyslexia is not "cured." One learns to compensate for it. It is possible that the help she received taught her enough compensatory strategies that she no longer needs help. You need to discuss your questions with the person(s) who did the most recent testing. If it was done by the school and you want another opinion, seek out someone who does the testing privately and ask him/her to review the results.
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Glossary Term: Occupational Therapy (OT)
A rehabilitative service to people with mental, physical, emotional, or developmental impairments. Services can include helping a student with pencil grip, physical exercises that may be used to increase strength and dexterity, or exercises to improve hand-eye coordination.
Featured Resource: Help Your Students Become Better Searchers
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners. With the materials on this site from Google, you can help your students become skilled searchers — whether they're just beginning web search or ready for more advanced training.
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LearningStore Resource: Frequently Asked Questions About Response to Intervention
Increasingly, teachers are learning about the important role of Response to Intervention (RTI) in the success of every child. RTI is a multifaceted approach that provides immediate, relevant, and research-based services and interventions to students in general, compensatory, and special education. Written by two legal and special education experts, this concise, reader-friendly guide introduces educators to the purpose, core principles, legal basis, benefits, and application of this service delivery model.
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Calendar Check-in
Looking for information about what's happening this month? Check out our February 2013 calendar. It's loaded with dates for symposia, conferences, lectures, and links to our sister sites for important resources for celebrations such as Black History Month.
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Research and News
Lead for Literacy from Harvard
The Harvard Graduate School of Education has published a series of one-page memos for policymakers and early learning leaders on how to improve early literacy. These Lead for Literacy one-pagers use research-based evidence and are designed to help leaders avoid common mistakes in early education programs. Each memo revisits assumptions that guide current policies and practices, outlines common pitfalls, and presents solutions to pressing issues.
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Rising Digital Reading
Scholastic released their Kids & Family Reading Report, and the findings provide a glimpse into the changing reading behaviors of today's youth. Among the findings: the number of kids who read ebooks has almost doubled since 2010, and survey participants suggest they would read more if they had greater access to ebooks. Not surprisingly, having parental role models who read and/or a large book collection at home has a huge impact on kids' reading frequency.
Read the full report »
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