An "excellent collection....Prelutsky and Sis...bring to life so many sorts of dragons: the large, the small, the ferocious, the technological, the gentle, the ominous, and the disconsolate. There's a `just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Their sounds fit together with seamless craftsmanship and their sense rewards listeners with humor, imagination, and occasional poignancy....Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't siton the shelf for long."--Booklist.

While storytelling is a great favorite of preschoolers, many elementary age children are more drawn to crafts and other activities. StoryCraft is an award-winning library program that combines storytelling with crafts in an exciting and engaging activity for children in first through third grades. Each one-hour program includes storytelling, a craft, movement, activities, music, and discussion. This collection of StoryCraft programs presents 50 fun and educational theme-based sessions. Each includes suggestions for promotion, music, crafts, activities, and stories. The sessions also include bibliographies to help direct young readers toward additional reading, as well as diagrams, detailed instructions, and supply lists for the crafts. The themes range from a Jungle Safari to Math Mayhem to a Western Roundup, all encouraging children to enjoy reading in a variety of ways. Each session has plenty of suggestions, so that the program can be customized. Helpful Hints for implementing the program can help any librarian, volunteer, or parent turn a ho-hum storytime into a dazzling StoryCraft time.

"50 engaging reproductible activity sheets, management strategies, and tips for differentiating instruction that help kids build key strategies independently"--Cover.

Teaching students to make connections across related texts promotes engagement and improves reading comprehension and content learning. This practical guide explains how to select and teach a wide range of picture books as paired text--two books related by topic, theme, or genre--in grades K-8. The author provides mini-lessons across the content areas, along with hundreds of recommendations for paired text, each linked to specific Common Core standards for reading literature and informational texts. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes 22 reproducible graphic organizers and other useful tools. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

Common Core's English resources empower educators to meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) and build essential content knowledge for students in grades K-5. Each grade in The Wheatley Portfolio features a comprehensive, coherent sequence of thematic units that engage students in deep study of worthwhile texts and topics. Features of this book include: Six thematic units for each grade, each centered on a curated collection of literary and informational texts Focus standards for each unit that complement the topic and promote student mastery of essential literacy skills Suggested texts and activities to incorporate science, art, and history into English instruction This revised second edition includes a sample text study that guides students through a close read of an exemplary text, updated web resources, and refreshed suggested works. Educators who create their curriculum based on Common Core's Wheatley Portfolioguarantee that students are exposed to content-rich instruction and have ample opportunity to master the reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills articulated in the CCSS for ELA.

This book correlates English-speaking children’s brain development and acquisition of language with the linguistic input that comes from children’s books. Drawing from the most current research on the developing brain, the author demonstrates how language acquisition is exclusively interactive, and highlights the benefit that accrues when that interaction includes the exploratory language play found in early childhood literature. Through discussions of specific domains of grammar, the relation of these domains to children’s literature through scaffolding, and the resultant linguistic and cognitive advantages for the child, this volume offers an innovative approach to early brain maturation.

The Classic Guide That Helps You Select the Books the Child You Know Will Love In this third, fully revised and updated edition of The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children, the children's book editor of The New York Times Book Review personally selects and recommends books for children of every age. The most comprehensive and authoritative book of its kind has been completely updated for the new millennium. It contains hundreds of new entries, many expanded descriptions, and notations of additional companion and related titles -- more than l,700 in all. The best-loved classics of the twentieth century are included, as well as a thoughtful selection of outstanding titles from the last decade. Six sections are organized according to reading level: Wordless, Picture, Story, Early Reading, Middle Reading, and Young Adult. In addition to a summary of the book, each entry provides the essential bibliographic information you need to find a book in your local library or bookstore, including title author and/or illustrator hardcover and/or paperback publisher and publication year major awards related titles The unique and most popular feature of the guide is its system of special indexes -- more than sixty in all. They make it easy for parents and grandparents, teachers and librarians, even children themselves, to match the right book to the right child. Browse through the indexes and find titles for every interest and mood: picture books about cats, mice, or dinosaurs for babies; funny books to read aloud to toddlers; series about family life or school or fantasy adventures for a middle-grade child; books on divorce or death; and coming-of-age novels just right for someone starting junior high school. There are also indexes for books about minorities and religion, an age-appropriate reading-level index, and much more. Lavishly decorated with more than three hundred illustrations from representative titles, the guide also features extra-wide margins for notes on which of your children liked which book, at what age, and why. Thus the guide becomes a family reading record as well as an invaluable resource you'll use again and again.

If your students love the Magic Tree House books, you will love this book! Cross all curricular areas and engage students in meaningful and stimulating learning experiences. Guide students on thrilling trips through time to Magic Tree House locations where they will discover dinosaurs, knights and castles, Egyptian mummies and pyramids, and pirates and buried treasure. Collaborate with technology specialists, art teachers, and classroom teachers to create units that touch every student. Find cross-curricular lessons and in-depth studies of time and place, designed to promote deep learning in students while motivating them to read both fiction and nonfiction. Designed for elementary students, these literature-based units are easily adaptable to middle school students.

When looking for exciting, quality literature to use in the middle school classroom, reach for this book. It identifies and describes 300 contemporary and classic books that relate to middle school science, history (ancient cultures and U.S.), physical education, English language (classic literature, grammar, and usage), mathematics, and fine arts. The book also has useful sections on biographies, multicultural selections, poetry, read-alouds, recent releases, high- interest/low-reading level material, myths and legends, and unique reads. Wright lists curriculum links for each book, and a reference chart lists all titles with their pertinent categories.