News and Issues for K-12 education from School Library Journal
Longer Hours in MA By Staff - 09/01/2007
Ten more schools in Massachusetts will extend their days this fall, practically doubling the number of schools statewide that have taken this route to improve academic performance. More
First Steps: Play It Again By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 05/01/2008
A quote from George Bernard Shaw hangs in our office, guiding our daily interactions: “We don’t quit playing because we grow old; we grow old because we quit playing.” These days, we feel a strong need to defend playtime for children, too. According to Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, today’s children have less time to play than children of pre...
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The Evidence-Based Manifesto for School Librarians By Ross Todd - 04/01/2008
Every fall, School Library Journal hosts a national Leadership Summit that brings together a mix of school librarians, administrators, other educators, researchers, and university professors, as well as policy makers and elected officials. While the topics change, the Summit always focuses on an issue of critical importance to school librarians.
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First Steps: Sweet Treats By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 03/01/2008
“The first sound a child hears is actually a poem, the rhythmic, rhyming beat-beat-beat of a mother’s heart,” writes Jim Trelease in his introduction to Jack Prelutsky’s classic anthology, Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young (Knopf, 1986). Trelease, the author of The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition (Penguin, 2006), adds that this early experience “sets the stag...
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Federally funded tutoring sessions for low-performing schools may not be effective, say early findings of a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
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First Steps: You've Gotta Have Heart By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 01/01/2008
Can I play too?” Undeniably, a toddler who can approach friends and ask this sophisticated question is well on his way to kindergarten readiness. As it turns out, children who know how to ask for what they want, get along with others, stay calm when faced with frustration, persist when facing difficult tasks, and negotiate for toys or personal space are developing the social and emotional...
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Grants to Attract Teachers to Low-Income Areas By SLJ Staff - 12/31/2007
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has launched a $17 million initiative to help attract teachers nationwide to urban and rural secondary schools serving disadvantaged students.
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Congress OKs Head Start Bill 12/01/2007
More Head Start programs will be working closely with libraries now that the House and Senate have passed the Improving Head Start Act, which recognizes the important role that libraries play in improving literacy. “The legislation says that a good Head Start program includes collaboration with a library,” says Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association'...
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Practically Paradise Diane Chen, Librarian, Hickman Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee March 6, 2007 The Perfect School Library
Welcome to the first posting of this new blog for SLJ. I appreciate the simplicity of... More
Podcasts are a great way to expand learning beyond the classroom or library. Here are more recommendations from Tech Chicks Anna Adam and Helen Mowers, following up their Dec. 2007 article Listen Up!
K-Gr 7–Children’s music doesn’t get much better than these 16 songs by Pomes in a Pail. What began at a writer’s workshop resulted in an amazing collaboration that combined the clever words of Alexander Jenny and the music of Karena Mendoza and Stephanie Snow.
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