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Take a moment to think back to your childhood. What is your earliest memory of reading or being read to by someone? That moment in time was when you started to develop language skills that would serve as the foundation for your learning. Early literacy is so important for developing those critical early reading skills. In support of early literacy community efforts, Donna Corcoran, Kellie Piekutowski, Nicki Sutherland, Marcia Zboril and I have collaborated with the Lake County Health Department’s Reach Out and Read program. Since 2008, we have conducted book drives and have donated 12,173 new or gently used books for Lake County children ages 6 months to 5 years old!!! Impressive work. And we’re not done yet! Aahhh, it’s a new year with a promise for a new you. If you’re like me, you enter each year with plans to make changes in your life—maybe you want to lose weight or to spend more time with family and friends.
This year, I’m adding a new resolution to my bucket list. I’m going to challenge myself to read a wider variety of books this year and I challenge you to do the same! Who better to trust for a good book recommendation than school librarians? Here are a few must-read titles suggested to Barb and me by our counterparts at our high school librarians quarterly meeting last week. (As an aside, Barb hosted and showed off the ACHS Makerspace. She did a great job!)
All of us continue to look for ways to increase reading and writing in our classrooms — specifically, the use of non-fiction, informational texts. To that end, I thought you’d be interested to learn more about The New York Times Replica Edition.
Summer is one of Kellie and my favorite times of the year. Students and staff members ask us for reading recommendations for the upcoming break. Whether you’re looking for a reading contest or some recommended summer reads, we have ideas that can be used for a variety of readers and/or age groups.
The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) recently released the list of 20 books nominated for the 2017 Abraham Lincoln Award. The complete list, available on this LibGuide, includes titles and authors you might already know: I Am Malala byMalala Yousafzai, winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize; October Mourning by Leslea Newman, winner of the 2013 Stonewall Honor Book Award; Challenger Deep byNeal Shusterman, winner of the 2015 National Book Award. If these books are any indication, it’s going to be a great reading competition!
Today marks the mid-point of Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read. Sponsored by the American Library Association and recognized by school and public libraries nationwide, Banned Books Week challenges the practice of censoring books that some believe contain objectionable content. What we learned in Jamie Born’s Media Literacy class this week is, even though one reader might find a topic or writing style in a book offensive, that shouldn’t keep others from having access to the book. In fact, the very books that experience challenges the most also comprise the list of most popular check-outs in our school libraries in the past decade, among them: Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska by John Green; Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling; and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) released on Monday, March 2 the list of 20 books nominated for the 2016 Abraham Lincoln Award. The complete list, available on this LibGuide, includes titles and authors you might already know: FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell, author of 2015 nominee Eleanor & Park; Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline; and The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Twisted and Speak. For the past month, Lakes ILC secretary Lisa Kent and I have invited students to attend Snack and Learns in the ILC on Fridays during their lunch study halls. We started with Origami. Then we tried Team Trivia (my first time using the Mondopad!). Then we introduced students to our digital media library, Axis360. Then we did game day. Checkers, chess, Uno—that sort of thing. Next up: We’ve invited staff member of the Talon Times to present on how students can use social media to stay up-to-date with school happenings and more. We think we might be on to something. |
AuthorsBarbara Mason AboutThe ILC blog keeps Antioch students and staff up to date with news and events related to reading, research, technology, and more.
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