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Increase engagement and memory by learning how to Sketchnote

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Growing up the younger sibling of a sister with pervasive disabilities was a crash course in perspective. The lessons I learned from my sister have made me who I am. Lessons packed with… Continue reading →

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A little peek inside the final chapter of THE READING STRATEGIES BOOK and a giveaway!

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This statement is sticking with me following a session at a conference with Kate Roberts. As I prepare for the next school year I am thinking, processing and evaluating where I am in… Continue reading →

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Have plans mid-June? Cancel them and prepare to run to your nearest bookstore. The Reading Strategies Book by Jen Serravallo is a must and is intended for grades K-8!

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I miss many things about being a classroom teacher. I miss the camaraderie with the students, the collegiality with the staff, and the sense that what I’m doing really matters. I miss the… Continue reading →

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Some weeks ago, when the school year was brand new, I wrote about setting up our Reading Journals for a year of writing about our reading.  Now we are approaching the end of… Continue reading →

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Another strategy for writing about reading: Written Conversations

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Rubin’s vase is a famous optical illusion that can be interpreted in multiple ways. When looked at one way, it appears to be a vase. When looked at another way, it appears to… Continue reading →

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I remember now why it is important to keep a reader's notebook.

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I remember now why it is important to keep a reader's notebook.

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Ever since I began teaching, my students’ reading journals have been as much “the gateway to all the work we will be doing from September to June” (to borrow a phrase from a… Continue reading →

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Today's post is based on a workshop presented at the International Reading Association conference titled: Thinking, Talking, and Writing about Nonfiction Reading. Nonfiction Book Clubs provide the perfect opportunity for students to solidify all they are learning and to get better at writing about their reading.

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The last quarter of the school year signals a time of mixed feelings – the year is almost over,  and even though we look forward to restful summer days, there is the sadness… Continue reading →

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The last quarter of the school year signals a time of mixed feelings – the year is almost over,  and even though we look forward to restful summer days, there is the sadness… Continue reading →

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The writing a child crafts about a book or an article in her writer's notebook often holds a lot of meaning or value to her. This kind of writing about reading isn't about finding the main idea, making predictions, or intertextual connections. Rather, this writing about reading is usually composed in response to something that affected a child so deeply she had to write about it on her own terms.

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I don't know about you, but I think this was probably the best Share a Story - Shape a Future blog tour we've had. With the focus on literacy for infants through Kindergartners, we not only had lots of great ideas, but plenty of personal stories, too.

I'll be back in the next day or two with a full recap and all the posts. In the meantime, though, there are folks waiting to learn if they won one of our fabulous book giveaways!

This year, we have two submissions and two winners for our week-long Writing Prompts contest!

On Monday, Michelle Breum answered the question: If you were creating a children's library from scratch, what ten books would you start with, and why.

You'll enjoy her answer, 10 Really Good Books for Children on the Parents: Feel Successful Today! blog.

On Wednesday, Ingrid answered the question: Have there been any books that you originally borrowed at the library and then ended up buying because your toddler loved reading it so much?

You'll enjoy her answer From Library to Home Bookcase: The Winners That Broke Through on the Short Tales blog.

I gave each entry a number and used the random number generator at mathgoodies.com to determine the winner for our Grand Prize - a complete set of the STEAM Multicultural Book Collection for their favorite school or public library.

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Welcome to Friday's Writing @ Reading prompt challenge. We think of it as Our Closing Ceremonies!

We've had lots of fun this week exchanging literacy ideas, reliving special times with our little ones (who may not be so little anymore), and sharing creative ideas in words and images. Here are the final Writing @ Reading Prompts for our 2013 Share a Story - Shape a Future event.

• Have you read a book with your child that you want to save and share with them when they get to middle or high school? 
• Today is Poetry Friday ... here's your chance to write a poem for a Kindergartener!
• The other day we asked what characters you like to "play" when you read ... what / who are the characters your toddler- to Kindgergarten-aged child likes to imitate (e.g., dress up as). 

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

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We hope that you've been enjoying all the posts so far this week for our 2013 Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour.

Before we know it, the school bells will ring, and we'll alternately worry about how our "babies" are doing and dreading the spelling lists! But lets not rush it! So today, we'll enjoy the footloose, creative creatures who are our preschoolers.

Today's Writing @ Reading Prompts reflect the joys of the dramatic life ...

• Is there anything your preschooler has taught you about reading?
• Help: what do you do when the rhyming book doesn't rhyme like it should? Tips please!
• Create a book ad! Susan Stephenson, the Book Chook sent us this one as an example of the limitless possibilities.

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

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Our theme today, about preparing children for preschool and beyond, could easily be called

I don't know about you, but in our house, the threes were much more terrible than the twos! More vocabulary = more ideas, more ways to express herself, etc.

It wasn't that our then 3-year-old could actually read, but she thought she could ! She morphed into the Bedtime Stories Casting Director. When she wasn't reciting her books herself, she was correcting us when we skipped missed a [word, sentence, page] or didn't use the right character voice.

Today's Writing @ Reading Prompts reflect the joys of the dramatic life ...

• Is there a book your child loves (or loved) to read to you? What is it, and what do you love about their reading style?
• Tell us about a time when a book first came to life for you.
• Let's turn one of your toddler /3-year-old's/preschooler's books into a mini-movie. What is the book, what stars would you cast in the various roles, and why?
• Have you ever had a situation / event in your adult life that reminded you of a book, story, or character from a children's book? [Either one you read as a child, or one you've shared with your kids]

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

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Welcome one and all ...

We hope you've enjoyed reading the posts this morning and saved some energy for Writing @ Reading!  Today's Share a Story 2013 theme is The Terrific Twos, and our writing prompts center on literacy-related ideas and activities for toddlers. So without further ado ...

• What (or who) are your favorite characters to "play" when you share stories with your child(ren)?
• Please share three, non-book literacy activities that you use (or have used) to engage toddlers. 
• Have there been any books that you originally borrowed at the library and then ended up buying because your toddler loved reading it so much? 

Can't decide on just one topic? That's okay ... you're welcome to write a post for any or all of them!

Rules Reminder:

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Although we tend to think of literacy as "reading," it is so much more. Literacy encompasses communication and the ability to express ideas and comprehension, as well as critical thinking and its cousin problem solving.

Books are one tool for building these skills, but not the only ones. In our quest to "walk the talk" of literacy, we created Writing @ Reading. Each day this week we will post two or three writing prompts build around the daily theme.

Just as we have in years' past, Writing @ Reading is a contest. Thanks to our generous sponsors - Reading is Fundamental and The Reading Tub, you can win books for your school, public, or personal library. For each post you write, you receive one entry in our random drawing for one of six sets of books.

Today's prompts:

• If you were creating a children's library from scratch, what ten books would you start with, and why.
• In a still image or 30-second video, share what "literacy with baby" looks like in your house.

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March is here!

On Monday we open Share a Story - Shape a Future 2013. Today, though it is +Dr. Seuss  birthday and +Read Across America Day!

To celebrate reading and build some excitement for next week, we wanted to unveil the prizes we'll be giving away as part of our Writing @ Reading series.

Our Grand Prize is a complete set of the STEAM Multicultural Book Collection for their favorite school or public library. Our thanks to Reading is Fundamental for this incredibly generous donation!

STEAM means Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math. and is an expansion of the STEM framework used in education today.

Each title in this 40-book collection was "carefully reviewed and selected by RIF's Literary Services team with guidelines provided by RIF's Literature Advisory Committee, national panels of educators, and exports in books for children.

A round of applause for RIF, please! Thank you again Reading is Fundamental! Please show your love to RIF on your favorite social media platform and in the comments below, too!

We also have five (!) smaller collections that are built around this year's Share a Story Theme: Literacy in the First Five Years. The prize packages include a cloth or vinyl book suitable for infants, board books for toddlers and preschoolers, easy reader books for developing readers, and picture books for Mom and Dad to read, too.

Package 1: Happy Baby cloth book; I'm a Little Teapot and This Little Piggy board books; Animals Talk board book; Elmo's Bedtime Stories (6-book set), Usborne's Stephen Cartwright 1-2-3 picture book; Usborne's Stephen Cartwright ABC picture book; Sid the Science Kid: Everybody Move Your Feet (Stage 1 easy reader); The Crayon Box that Talked paperback

Package 2: My Happy Baby cloth book; Little Critter Bedtime Stories paperback set; The Dancing Clock paperback, The Fox in the Dark paperback, How to Drive Your Sister Crazy (I Can Read); Batman (I Can Read); and a set of six Little Critter Phonics Fun (I Can Read) books

Package 3: Busy Bath vinyl book; Elmo's ABCs, 3 storybook set; Snappy Little Pets board book; Pinkalicious Tickled Pink paperback; Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink paperback; Mia The Sweetest Valentine paperback; Mia The Easter Egg Chase paperback; Mia and the Tiny Toe Shoes (I Can Read)

Package 4: Goodnight Moon cloth book; Welcome Song for Baby board book; The Best Pet Ever paperback; Animal Jamboree; Mia the Sweetest Valentine paperback; The Wonderful World of Fancy Nancy, 4 picture book set; Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus (I Can Read); Alice in Wonderland (All Aboard Reading)

Package 5: Splat the Cat, Funny Valentine paperback; Sporty Puppy: Lacing board book; Splish Splash Splosh: 4 3-D board books; Baby's Day board book; Usborne Things that Move board book; Every Thing Goes: Opposites and 1-2-3 board books; Funny Bone Readers Set 1, with CD

Here are the rules:

Winners will be selected in a random drawing. Each post written as part of our Writing @ Reading series will count as one entry for the contest.

Each set of Writing @ Reading prompts will be published at Noon each day, March 4 to 8, 2013. We accept entries all week long, so if you decide to write to Monday's post on Wednesday, that's cool!

All entries must be submitted by Saturday, 9 March 2013 at Noon Eastern time. The drawing will be held on Monday March 11, 2013, and winners contacted by email by Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

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Congratulations to Maria @ Once Upon a Story for winning the 2012 Multicultural Books Collection of 45 (!) children's literature celebrating cultures around the world. The books, donated by Reading is Fundamental, will be sent to a school library or public library in your community!

As advertised, we selected the winner at random. Here's what I did ...

1. I numbered each post written in response to a Writing @ Reading prompt. We had five posts, so we had numbers 1 to 5, working backward from the most recent post (Wednesday).

1. Maria @ Once Upon a Story
2. Maria @ Once Upon a Story
3. Eric VanRaepenbusch @ Happy Birthday Author
4. Christine of Book Life Style
5. Eric VanRaepenbusch @ Happy Birthday Author

2. I went to the Dice Roller on Random.org  Since we had less than 6 entries, I used just one cube.

3. I Rolled the dice. 

Roll 1 - a 6 @ 2012-03 17:59:43 UTC
Rolle 2 - a 2 2012-03-09 18:00:04 UTC

The entry listed as #2 is Maria's!

Congratulations Maria ... Please contact me at shareastory [at] thereadingtub.com to get details about how to have the books sent to the school or public library of your choice.

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Wow, we're already at the half-way point! So did you travel 'round the globe with Carol yesterday? Part of our goal for creating a culture of reading is to encourage readers to stretch ... reading widely or reading diversely is more than just a way to expand your reading. It helps you engage in the world around you with more compassion and understanding ... and the world needs a little more of that!

Today Terry Doherty is hosting the topic "Recognizing Readers" at Family Bookshelf. There is a perennial stereotype of what a reader "looks like," and like all stereotypes, it particularly representative of who readers are. Terry and her guests hope to break down that stereotype, and today's writing prompts give you a chance to do the same.

With our focus today on reading as a passport to other worlds, we have selected prompts that help all of us "read widely."

Our goal with the questions is to reach new places for sharing our reading and literacy experiences and ideas, and we'd love to include your voice, too. Here's how it works ...

1. Select the question(s) that resonates with you.
2. Find an old post or write a new one that answers the question. [Be sure to grab a Share a Story button from the sidebar to include in your new post!]
3. Add your post as a comment.
4. (optional) Tweet about your post and include @ShareaStory or the #SAS-12 hashtag.

We'll be adding links for the questions all week, so there's no rush to have an answer the same day a question is posted ... unless you are entering the contest to receive the RIF 2012 Multicultural Books Collection for your school or public library.

All entries must be posted by Noon Eastern Standard Time, Thursday, 8 March 2012 to be entered in our random drawing. Winners announced Friday, 9 March 2012.

[image credit: Share a Story Logo created by author/illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba.]

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