A is for Activist: Black Lives Matter Week of Action at Schools

  Written by Lia Bengtson and Tarja Lewis from Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, Washington DC As teachers of English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, we are always looking for resources and collaborative projects that can provide meaningful and accessible learning opportunities for our diverse students whose primary

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Help students improve their reading, writing, and math skills with Sylvan Workbooks!

Learning at home is as easy as 1-2-3 or A-B-C with these jam-packed kid-friendly, teacher-reviewed workbooks. It’s perfect for back to school–no matter what that looks like! From Sylvan Learning, America’s #1 tutoring brand – is a lively and authoritative workbook series, Sylvan Learning Workbooks. Designed to build proficiency in math and reading skills for

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Read, Learn, Love and Share with Teacher’s Pets!

The return to school after a long summer can be challenging for students both emotionally and academically.  The books in the Teacher’s Pet Collection are a great way to help students build socio-emotional skills with lovable characters and stories that give them the means to tackle the complexities of life in and out of school.

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Racial Equity and Justice: A primer for thoughtful conversation

Written by Kimberly N. Parker, PhD. assistant director of the Shady Hill Teacher Training Center (MA), and Tricia Ebarvia, teacher and department chair at Conestoga High School (PA), and co-chair at the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy. Kim and Tricia are co-founders of #DisruptTexts (disrupttexts.org/) Ongoing events have led many of us to reexamine

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The Importance of Teachers Reading Aloud

Every time you listen to an audio book and you’re loving it, someone is reading aloud to you. And all the time you’re listening, your imagination creates pictures of settings, characters, and people. Often, you’ll find yourself stepping into a beloved character’s shoes and living life in the past, present or future. Read alouds capture

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Build and Boost Key Skills with DK Workbooks: Publisher Spotlight

As the COVID crisis continues to affect our daily lives, teachers, students and families have all had to be flexible and innovative when it comes to education. Whether you’re using a blended learning strategy or are fully remote, this school year has brought both challenges and opportunities. One thing is for sure, students need our

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Let’s Work Together Teaching Guide: Using Core Text and Inclusive Literature to Build Students’ Reading Skill

Dear Educator, Elementary school teachers often organize reading instruction around guided reading groups, and groups read books that meet the instructional needs of members. However, like most of you in middle and high school, I have used one novel, biography, or informational text for an entire class. And, in doing so, I soon realized that

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We Are All Doing the Best that We Can

My fourth-grade daughter and I are big fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his groundbreaking musical Hamilton. So last week – yet another week under the stay-at-home orders – I found particular relevance in the lyrics in which the ensemble sings, “The world turned upside down”. Right now, the world has turned upside down, as schools

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Teacher Appreciation Continues with #tomyteacher

#tomyteacher, the week-long nationwide campaign honoring America’s teachers undertaken by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Penguin Random House Education, is so successful it is being extended another two weeks. Originally timed for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8), it now will run until Monday, May 25, in partnership with the licensed literary-themed apparel

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The Benefit of Using Series Books with Reluctant Readers

Reluctant readers in your classroom? If your classroom is anything like mine you’ll have students reading at various levels. I’ve come to realize that whether students struggle with reading or not, kids love to have a choice in what they read! It seems almost cruel to force a student to read a book that they

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NCTE and Penguin Random House Celebrate Teachers #tomyteacher

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4–8, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), America’s most comprehensive literacy organization, in partnership with Penguin Random House (PRH) Education, the apparel and accessories company Out of Print, celebrated for their licensed literary-themed products, and Hot Chalk, a fast-rising online education company, is excited to present

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