Literacy and Reading News Roundup of New Resources – October

As you may remember, when Jen and I talked about the revamped Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup, we decided to pull the New Resources section from the weekly posts. The links are helpful – and often really cool – but they felt like an add-on that didn’t quite fit with the rest of the stuff.  Now, we’ve created a more fully developed post that I will publish the first full week of each month.

It seems only appropriate that we launch our first editionduring National Information Awareness Month. We (unwittingly) collected just the kind of tools the President wants us to “gain greater awareness of.” More specifically: “In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical.”

So, in our first edition, we have new blogs that add to the conversation about reading, literacy, and books, as well as some tools that offer multi-layered approaches to literacy and learning.

Book Nook in the Noke – I just found this blog, but it’s been around since June. Kate describes herself and the blog this way: “I am a reading specialist and mother whose family shares in my love of books. I am interested in children’s literature–reading, teaching, discussing and someday writing. I want to share on this blog what my children and students are reading and enjoying.” She has two children, one who is an independent reader, one who is learning to read. Her approach adds a touch of mom to her posts about books and reading.

Book Nosher – Robin found me, and I’m so glad she did.  First, she is a sister English major (huzzah!); she is also a literacy volunteer (double huzzah!. At the Book Nosher, she reviews children’s picture books and middle grade readers, but she ALSO has ideas for classroom activities related to book.

Children’s Learning Activities – This is a new, spinoff blog from Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. There are three mom authors for the blog, with children ranging from 5 months to 4.5 years old. They will “[be the] place for you to go to find fun activities for your children. We have compiled lists of links to find activities, coloring pages, etc. We have art, grade school, literacy, math, Montessori, preschool, and science right now.”

The Way We Read – Roxanne (some may know her as fairrosa), a middle school librarian, has moved/consolidated her reading journal of the last five years into The Way We Read, a blog with “thoughts on books and reading.” I like the way she thinks: “The one thing that really excites me is to get someone, young or not so young, to read and enjoy a fantastic book and share my enthusiasm!”

Varmint Bytes – We learned about this website through the Kidlitosphere Yahoo Group. It’s clever, fresh, and perfect for its audience: kids 9 to 12. The Varmints (there are 6) each have an area of specialty: literature and art; science and technology; history; culture and language; music and pop-culture type stuff; and odds and ends. The posts are built around a specific fact, and many include a few recommended reading titles to get kids pointed in the direction of learning more.

On the Smithsonian Education website, they have a page dedicated to each of the heritage months we celebrate in the United States. Click on any of the celebrations to find videos, teacher resources, events, and venues. Thanks to Teresa Wells (ALSC blog) for the link.

This past weekend, Susan Thomsen asked the Kidlitosphere ListServ about a “girl’s counterpart” to Guys Read. She got some great suggestions, all of which I have shamelessly added to the Book Clubs page on the Reading and Literacy Wiki.

Jen received an Email from a publicist about Cindy Hudson’s new book, Book by Book: Your Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs. Cindy blogs at the Mother Daughter Book Club. In case you didn’t catch it, I have an article in Literacy Lava 2 about how afternoon picnics with my then 2 year old (sigh) turned into a quasi-book club.