December

Holiday Gift Guide: Build a Children's Book Library in Every Room!  

From Scholastic Blog

Share with parents the importance of books in the home!  

Scholastic Reading Club editors created a “top book picks” list for every room in the home and every age group from ages 0-17.  

Share this holiday gift list to help find the right book for every child. Happy Holidays!

CHILD’S BEDROOM

• 0-5 years: How to Dress a Dragon by Thelma Lynne Godin, illustrated by Eric Barclay
• 6-8 years: Goodnight, Grizzle Grump by Aaron Blecha
• 9-11 years: Jingle by Gordon Korman
• 12-14 years: Camp Midnight by Steven T. Seagle, illustrated by Jason Katzenstein
• 15-17 years: Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe  by Benjaamin Alire Sáenz

FAMILY/LIVING ROOM

• 0-5 years: Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman
• 6-8 years:  Too Many Toys by David Shannon
• 9-11 years: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling
• 12-14 years: Ghosts and Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
• 15-17 years: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

PLAYROOM

• 0-5 years: Penguins Love Colors by Sarah Aspinall
• 6-8 years:  Lego Pop-Up by Matthew Reinhart
• 9-11 years: Gaming Live! by Scholastic
• 12-14 years: The World of the Hunger Games: The Official Coloring Book  by Scholastic
• 15-17 years: Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

HOME OFFICE

• 0-5 years: This Little President by Joan Holub; illustrated by Daniel Roode
• 6-8 years: Fly Guy Presents: The White House by Tedd Arnold
• 9-11 years: Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire by Sundee T. Fraizer
• 12-14 years: Geek Girl: Picture Perfect by Holly Smale
• 15-17 years: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero & Michelle Burford

DINING ROOM

• 0-5 years: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey! By Lucielle Colandro, illustrated by Jared D. Lee
• 6-8 years: Judy Moody and Stink: The Wisbone Wish by Megan McDonald; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
• 9-11 years: Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
• 12-14 years: Getting Over Garrett Dulaney by Abby McDonald
• 15-17 years:  To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

BATHROOM

• 0-5 years: Pigeon Needs a Bath! By Mo Willems
• 6-8 years: There’s a Zombie in My Bathtub by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
• 9-11 years: Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000by Dav Pilkey
• 12-14 years: The Fashion Book by DK Publishing
• 15-17 years: Trapped by Michael Northrop

KITCHEN

• 0-5 years: If You Give a Mouse a Brownie by Laura Numeroff; llustrated by Felicia Bond
• 6-8 years: The Cheese Experiment by Geronimo Stilton
• 9-11 years: Pie by Sarah Weeks
• 12-14 years: The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Young Readers by Michael Pollan
• 15-17 years: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Upcoming Professional Development

January 25:  No More Reading Instruction Without Differentiation    

**This is in support of Essential #3 of the Essentials of Instruction in Early Literacy 

Click title for flyer

February 23:  Research Writing Re-Wired with Dr. Troy Hicks   
*For secondary teachers of all subjects.  Click title for flyer.


March 6, 7 and 21:  Reading Apprenticeship 3 Day Workshop
* Open ONLY to Washtenaw and Livingston County. Click title for registration.


SAVE the DATE:   March 23-   Reading, Writing, Speaking and Thinking Within the Disciplines with Releah Lent.   Registration to come!  

****For registration help, please contact Teri May at 734-994-8100 ext 1222 or tmay@washtenawisd.org****  

August

Back to School! 

Literacy Activities to Build a Healthy Classroom Culture

ReadWriteThink, a collaboration of the International Literacy Association (ILA), and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), is a trusted source for teacher created and teacher approved literacy based activities for the K-12 classroom. ReadWriteThink has a plethora of resources for back-to-school, including community building, booklists, autobiographies, literacy centers, and team building activities.  Check it out! 

Fall Professional Development Offerings

Life's Better...When You Blend

October 5, 2016    $25

Register HERE  and see more information
*This session, for grades 6-12 teachers of all content areas, will evaluate how blended learning can be used to personalize learning for students. 

EdCamp:  Total Contact Literacy  October 15 at Eastern Michigan University  FREE More information to come!  This is relevant for K-12 teachers. Writing Collaborative Three Day Workshop October 13, 14 and November 3  $125   Register HERE and see full description *This is most useful for grades 4-12 teachers of all subject areas.  It is centered on writing in the content areas. Echoes and Reflections & Wiesel's Night November 2, 2016  $25 Register HERE and see full description *This is most useful for middle and high school ELA  and social studies teachers.       Writing Collaborative:  SAT Essay Edition November 17    $25 Register HERE and see more information *High school ELA and Social Studies teachers  will understand SAT writing in order to support students. ********************************  STAY TUNED for Winter Professional Learning offerings! Reading Apprenticeship 3-Day Training (interest survey)  Research Writing with Dr. Troy Hicks

January

Vocabulary is Where It's At!

One of the key indicators of students' success in school, on tests, and certainly in life, is their vocabulary.  There are many ways to approach the teaching of vocabulary. Check out this ReadWriteThink collection for ideas at every level, including concept sorts and Word Walls. 

     Professional Development in 2016! 

BLiC-  Blended Learning in the Classroom 

*One face-to-face meeting January 20th 4:30-7:30, followed by 15 weeks online.

 This free Blended Learning in the Classroom course is led by a highly trained instructor and will prepare participants to effectively create their own blended environment. Through active and timely praxis, participants will engage in learning, application, review, and revision of their own blended environment. This course is for classroom teachers of students of all ages, covering the theory, pedagogy, and technical elements of online work in the blended classroom. Please see the informational video here.

*SCHECHS available 

 Register HERE 

Reading Apprenticeship Training:5 Day Cross Content 

This training is a full five days: February 22, 23, 24 AND March 22, 23  REGISTER HERE 

This updated training includes five full days of content with three trained facilitators, a binder of materials to use during and after the training, and a copy of the best-selling and newly updated book, Reading for Understanding, which describes the Reading Apprenticeship framework with examples from many subject area classrooms, ranging from middle school through community college.

 Reading Apprenticeship® is a research-based and research-proven instructional framework for improving the academic literacy of middle school, high school, and college students.

Three recent randomized controlled studies found that students in Reading Apprenticeship classrooms made significant gains in literacy and disciplinary knowledge. They also developed more positive academic identities and dispositions for reading and learning.

$250     SCHECHS Available  

Assessing Student Metacognition

     This professional development course is for teachers who would like to teach their students to demonstrate metacognitive thought processes through text annotation. This one day class is divided into three parts: first, we consider what metacognition is by looking at the brain science behind the concepts of short term memory and executive function; then we share classroom practices for direct teaching of specific metacognitive reading and writing strategies through text annotation; and finally, we practice how to assess students’ annotations with tools like the Curriculum Embedded Reading Assessment.  $40.00

Register HERE

The 4T Virtual Conference: May 21-23, 2016

Apply to present

Register to Attend

December

The IDLL Network

The Inquiry into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning met November 19 on the topic of disciplinary writing.  Our article for that day was Teaching with a Disciplinary Stance, examining the difference between content area literacy and disciplinary literacy. This will prepare the group for the Disciplinary Literacy Showcase on January 14, 2016 at EMU with professors and students.   

Teachers have SOEL! 

Classroom Snapshot #1: Study of Early Literacy elements of Vocabulary, Authentic Purposes for Literacy, & Integration

Text Set

In a collaboration between a K and a 1st grade SOEL teacher, their combined classroom spent time on a very intentional, and relevant project of campaigning and the election process.  Students learned to read, write, and speak about the election process using specific vocabulary words such as campaign, polling booth, debate, election, registration, and ballot, all collected in a journal.  The teachers acted as candidates themselves, modeling slogans and announcement speeches in their running for best Pumpkin Baker. After learning about the election and campaign process through modeling, text sets, and real world examples, students were able to sign up for specific jobs to run a campaign and election process, such as debate team, registration team, and being in charge of ballots. 

   At the end of the project, students created brochures to explain the election process which were then made available to voters on election day, since their school was used as a polling location.  This is purposeful and authentic literacy in action with our youngest learners!

Winter 2016 Professional Development 

BLiC-  Blended Learning in the Classroom 

*One face-to-face meeting January 20th 4:30-7:30, followed by 15 weeks online.

 This free Blended Learning in the Classroom course is led by a highly trained instructor and will prepare participants to effectively create their own blended environment. Through active and timely praxis, participants will engage in learning, application, review, and revision of their own blended environment. This course is for classroom teachers of students of all ages, covering the theory, pedagogy, and technical elements of online work in the blended classroom. Please see the informational video here.

*SCHECHS available 

 Register HERE 

Reading Apprenticeship Training:5 Day Cross Content 

This training is a full five days: February 22, 23, 24 AND March 22, 23  REGISTER HERE 

This updated training includes five full days of content with three trained facilitators, a binder of materials to use during and after the training, and a copy of the best-selling and newly updated book, Reading for Understanding, which describes the Reading Apprenticeship framework with examples from many subject area classrooms, ranging from middle school through community college.

 Reading Apprenticeship® is a research-based and research-proven instructional framework for improving the academic literacy of middle school, high school, and college students.

Three recent randomized controlled studies found that students in Reading Apprenticeship classrooms made significant gains in literacy and disciplinary knowledge. They also developed more positive academic identities and dispositions for reading and learning.

$250     SCHECHS Available