Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup: Early October Edition

Updated: Corrected Sarah’s name.

The early October children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Jen Robinson’s Book Page. It just THRILLS me to say “over the past couple of weeks Jen Robinson and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; and suggestions for growing bookworms.

Jen has jumped back in with both feet and has a jam-packed roundup. There are a number of links related to Banned Books Week, including a list of blog posts in support of #SpeakLoudly at Reclusive Bibliophile and Jenny’s Sarah’s great round-up of Banned Books Week posts from around the Kidlitosphere at Finding Wonderland.

There were two items that quite literally hit home. The first is the findings in a new report about study habits. There is plenty to digest in “Forget what you’ve learned about good study habits,” and I found myself nodding my head a lot. I can vouch for the effectiveness of varying the homework location. When Catherine gets stuck on something and is headed to a melt down, she wants to take her work outside and lay on that straw that USED to be called a lawn! [Image credit: Taliesin on Morguefile]

The other item is John Goddard’s article about Sue Co, who opened her own literacy center because that’s what it took to help her son learn to read. As you read Desperate Mother Opens Literacy Center (Toronto Star) Co explains how important it is to understand your child’s learning style. “Most children, not just autistic ones, have their own learning style … To be an effective teacher, you have to know the style and use that knowledge to make up for their weaknesses.”

Ironically, I had just read The Problem of the Read Aloud last week. In this post at ReaderswithAutism.com, Sara Finegan shares some anecdotal situations and suggestions for reading aloud with autistic kids.  “Readers with autism, by their very nature, do not fit into any cookie-cutter classroom view, and we need to pick and choose the times and methods of required conformance.” At the bottom of the article are additional links about helping autistic learners respond to text, expressive reading, and ways to guide an autistic student toward independence, among others.

I sure hope someone sent Oprah this School Library Journal article about the recent sit-in at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen, a Chicago suburb. There is a dilapidated building on the property that parents and community leaders want turned into a school library. For safety reasons, the Chicago Public School system says it must be torn down. Surely someone in Chicago has some pull – or money – to get a proper elementary school library built?! Isn’t there a mayoral race coming up (hmmm… or should I say Rahm)?

As Jen mentioned, today’s Nonfiction Monday roundup is scheduled to be at Madigan Reads. Abby has the September edition of AudioSynced up at Abby (the) Librarian.

Happy Monday all … and welcome back, Jen! We missed you.