High Standards?: When Books Are Intentionally Shelved Beyond Young Readers' Reach By Pat Scales - 09/01/2009
I’m about to replace an elementary school librarian who has had the job for 35 years. When I visited the school, I noticed that the picture books and fiction were shelved on the bottom three shelves, and nonfiction was shelved on the top shelves. When I inquired about this arrangement, the librarian told me that only fourth and fifth graders were allowed to check out nonfiction; so she ke...
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The 7th Early Literacy Skill By Ann Crewdson - 08/01/2009
As a children’s librarian and mother of three, I practice the six early literacy skills with children nearly every day. I sing alphabet songs, perform silly puppet shows, and read them picture books before bedtime. I also belong to the minority group of parents who champion video games because I recognize their educational value.
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The Voices of Autism By Suzanne Crowley - 08/01/2009
Recently while perusing the site LibraryThing, I saw someone had tagged my novel The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous (Greenwillow, 2007) as the “current cool disability.” My book, loosely based on a loved one and set in my beloved Texas, took more than five years to write and publish.
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Extreme Science By Kathleen Baxter - 08/01/2009
You’ve heard of people throwing themselves into their work, right? Well, these books for grades five to eight introduce us to folks who literally hurl themselves with passionate force to make incredible advances in scientific knowledge. Donna Jackson’s fascinating Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature’s Mysteries from Perilous Places (Houghton, 2009) describes three researchers...
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Future City Competition By Kelly Czarnecki - 07/01/2009
Novo Mondum, a city of the future near Reykjavik, Iceland, constructed by students from Bexley Middle School in Ohio, won the grand prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future City Competition™, sponsored in part by the National Engineers Week Foundation. Initially, more than 30,000 students from 1,100 middle schools entered the competition.
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Model Behavior: Children (and Adults) Often Learn Best by Seeing and Doing By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 07/01/2009
Watching our Commander-in-Chief read Where the Wild Things Are (HarperCollins, 1964) at the White House Easter Egg Roll gave us chills, even though we had to experience it vicariously on YouTube. We had often heard the new president suggest to parents that they “turn off the TV and read to your child.
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Have No Fear: Don't Be Frightened by Book Challenges—Be Prepared By Pat Scales - 07/01/2009
I live in fear that someone will challenge one of our books. I’m not very confident about dealing with censorship because I didn’t have a single course about it in library school. Now that I’m an elementary school librarian, I feel that my library school failed me. Where can I go for help? I don’t know very many library schools that offer a course that deals exclusively ...
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Games Have Stories to Tell By Kit Ward-Crixell - 06/01/2009
Readers become readers because they love stories. We often continue reading a book late into the night to find out what happens next. Educators recognize that great stories motivate children to read. Just look at the Harry Potter phenomenon—many young people who were never considered readers became hooked on the series of books, and in the process overturned conventional publishing wisdom...
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Moore of Everything: Thanks to Technology, the One Thing We Can Count on Is Change By Marc Aronson - 06/01/2009
I was driving along a muddy road in the English countryside last fall in a brown jeep that was probably used by the English army several wars ago. It was raining, and the only way to get the windshield wipers to work was to reach out and use my hand. The gear shift seemed like something out of an Erector Set.
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History with a Hook By Kathleen Baxter - 06/01/2009
A strand of hair, a broken bone, and a girl who hid from the sunlight for two years. They all represent mysteries that have endured for decades, even centuries. Three fascinating new books detail these mind-twisters and will delight kids who love a good puzzle. Most people regard Ludwig Beethoven as one of the world's greatest classical composers.
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Celebrating Scratch in Libraries By Jennifer Nelson - 05/01/2009
What has a low floor, a high ceiling, and wide walls? While it could be a tricked-out RV, the correct answer is Scratch (scratch.mit.edu), a free computer program from MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group that’s changing the landscape of how young people learn programming, engage in media-based project creation, and develop 21st-century literacy skills.
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The Parent Trap: How to Handle a Group of Witch-hunting Grown-ups By Pat Scales - 05/01/2009
A parent who objected to one of the titles in an eighth-grade classroom collection has recruited a group of parents to search for other “objectionable” titles in the teacher’s collection. I’m the school’s librarian, and I’m afraid those parents may be heading my way next.
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Gamers Are Readers By Lori Easterwood and Lindsey Patrick Wesson - 04/01/2009
Libraries across the country are jumping on the gaming bandwagon, and some librarians are thrilled with this revolution. We grew up playing video games. Although these games were not nearly as impressive as the ones available today, we still spent countless hours playing the original Super Mario Brothers—and we still grew up to be librarians.
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The Universe Is Expanding: Many of Our Most Cherished Truths Are Changing By Marc Aronson - 04/01/2009
Here’s something for all of you who work in schools to think about. Educators often debate how to teach kids: progressives want them to “learn by doing,” while traditionalists focus on skills. But if you read the academic or even the serious adult literature on physics, biology, and history, you’ll notice a different sort of challenge is afoot.
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For the Love of Art: The Road to Fame Was Long and Hard for Some of the Best Artists By Kathleen Baxter - 04/01/2009
The words “starving” and “artist” are a too-familiar pair. Some creators are willing to suffer whatever it takes. But the grit and sweat that challenge artists also make them fascinating, compelling, and unforgettable. Children in grades 2–5 will be charmed and intrigued by a trio of stunning author biographies.
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LAN Party, Anyone? By Jim Peterson - 03/01/2009
In the old days (more than five years ago in computer time), a LAN (Local Area Network) party was simply all the school’s computer geeks getting together with their own PCs to play video games against each other on a network. Someone would bring a machine to act as a game server that would keep track of scores (also known as kills, frags, m@d lewt or pwnage), who was logged in, and serve ...
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Presidential Power: With Obama in the Oval Office, It's Time to Rethink How We Teach History By Marc Aronson - 03/01/2009
Even as President Obama’s first major initiative, his stimulus plan, fights its way through Congress, I can see at least three ways in which his administration will influence how we teach history in our schools. The most obvious way, of course, is that the election of our nation’s first black president changes the story of race in America.
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Make a Joyful Noise: A Simple Song Has the Power to Bring People Together By Joanne McNamara - 03/01/2009
The mothers and children enter the neighborhood meeting room. A raw, icy blast of wind follows the families through the door. Mothers unlayer little ones. Off come the boots and hats and mittens and coats. Babies are unswaddled from the brilliantly colored cloths that are artfully and securely knotted around their mothers.
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Better Safe Than Sorry: Does Your Library Have an Online Acceptable-use Policy? By Pat Scales - 03/01/2009
I heard a speaker say the Supreme Court had ruled that as long as schools and other public entities have CIPA safeguards in place, they can’t be sued if a minor accesses an “inappropriate” Web site. I’m a high school librarian, and I need help in dealing with a skittish school board.
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