Thursday, January 26, 2012

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.  

No comments:

Post a Comment