Awesome Resources

I'll be adding these to my links page, but I wanted to make sure to highlight these new internet sites I've found.

ReadWriteThink
This link goes to the after school/parent resource page.  The site explains why different types of learning and learning all year long are so important.

"As adults, we know how important reading and writing are in all parts of our lives. We also know that a passion for reading and writing can help children and teens find ways to understand not only different cultures and worlds but also themselves.  And writing can help them find ways to work through and communicate their hopes, fears, and dreams." (I especially like how they make use of the oxford comma!)
"Research tells us that children and teens who don't read and write outside of, especially during long breaks such as summer vacation, face a big loss in their literacy growth compared to those who continue learning all year long.   This means the summer months and other breaks from school offer wonderful opportunities for families, caregivers, and out-of-school educators to help improve reading and writing."
 - From the Read Write Think printable flyer

ReadWhiteThink breaks their after school and parent resources down by resource types (games, tools and tips, activities and projects), grade, learning objective, and theme (arts, community, careers).  They seem to have about 20-30 activities per grade section (2nd and 3rd grade are together for example) and about 10 tips for parents/teachers on how the help children (some of these are applicable for all grades and others are more specific).  They also have a Podcast Chatting About Books  with series for grades K - 6, and a Podcast for older students, Text Messages which seems to be about research and now to use non-fiction texts.

The Multicultural Toybox
This site is dedicated to helping parents and educators find multicultural resources so that children see themselves, and other cultures/experiences, represented in their toys and books.  The Multicultural Toybox provides recommendations, but also discusses/provides information about why multicultural toys,characters, and stories are represented to all children.  Recently they discussed Sesame Street and Fox News attack of their "liberal" message of acceptance.

You can go straight to their Toy, Game, Craft, & Book Guide, but I really recommend going through and reading the blog entries that also discuss the importance of these types of toys and books.  The Multicultural Toybox is written and managed by Dr. Leslie Madsen-Brooks.  

Teacher Union Comic

And I'm getting a bit political again.  But really politics and education are so connected I'm finding it hard not to.

Fairies Are So Hot Right Now

Now I've seen children and YA books with and about fairies for the last several years (and of course there's the centuries old popularity of fairy tales), but recently they really seem to have taken off.  All of my girls between the ages of 6 and 10 are into the Never Fairies and Rainbow Fairies series and some authors are trying to increase the range by writing and illustrating fairy books that are more gender neutral or geared towards boys.  So here's a post on fairy books, part Book List and part Review.

First for the younger kids there's the picture books by Bobbie Hinman. The most popular of these is the Fart Fairy. Which I'm not surprised appeals to kids, but personally I like to steer them away from bathroom humor.  There's also The Belly Button Fairy, The Knot Fairy, and The Sock Fairy.  Bobbie Hinman was an elementary school teacher, so she knows how to appeal to young kids.  All four stories are written in simple rhyme and have adorable and fun illustrations.  They're meant to appeal to boys and girls and children from a broad age range.  You can read them allowed to a 3 year old, with an emergent reader, or have a 7 or 8 year old read it to themselves.   If you buy them new they come with a read along CD, which can be great.

The Rainbow Fairies is a series about seven sister fairies who bring color to Fairyland, and the two human girls, Rachel and Kristy, who help the fairy sisters when they show up in our world.  These books fall into the easier reading range of chapter books.  The chapters are short, there are a fair amount of illustrations, and the stories not to long.  However, there aren't so many pictures that 3rd graders would scorn the books as "babyish".  I'd recommend this series for early Fluent readers (often 2nd and 3rd graders), it's the most popular series among my own students at the moment.  These books have been out for two or so years so the first part of the series should be available in libraries and used book stores.

The Never Fairies of Pixie Hollow is a Disney franchise about Tinkerbell and her pixie friends.  There's movies and books and games and the general Disney characteristic of trying to get you to buy more, but the actual book series Tales from Pixie Hollow is pretty good.  They have good messages about friendship, working together, gaining new skills, the growing and changing of  a person, and other wonderful things.  The fairies all have different skills and professions, Tinkerbell's a blacksmith, and the illustrations portray them as different races (though they all have the same general body shape).  I'd recommend the series for fluent readers (it's a bit harder then the Rainbow Fairies series) so about the 3rd grade level.  However, I know a lot of older girls who also enjoy this series so they're good for older kids for an easier read or those who might have a lower reading level but don't want to look "babyish". Also, since the first books in the series came out a couple years ago they're easy to find at used books shops or in the library!

I've already reviewed Justine Larbalestier's How to Ditch Your Fairy which is Young Adult and a light read with an interesting world, great female friendships, queer characters, and a good message about working for what you want.  However, I was a little disappointed that the protagonist, Charlie, didn't seem to learn that lesson as well as her friends did.

And of course there are the traditional fairy tales and their more modern retellings. I'm sure many people remember Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.  It was published in 1998 and has won a Trophy Newbery and had a movie remake starring Anne Hathaway.  Levine has also retold the story of Snow White in Fairest and written her own fairy tales in The Tale of Two Castles and The Two Princesses of Bamarre.  I've only read Ella Enchanted and Fairest, and I preferred Ella Enchanted, but all the books are YA in regards to reading level and appropriate story wise for younger children.