Iva Ticic’s Perfect Poems: Springtime
Happy Spring! This one is for children who like it when things melt, new things blossom, temperature rises and short sleeves are in again: Welcome to Spring! To celebrate the new season I’d like to offer you a beautiful, fun poem for the occasion. Let these lines roll off your...
Ruby Ruben: A Flawed Gem
Ruby Ruben, written by Candice Muñoz and illustrated by Branislav Gapic, asks children to see the world through the eyes of its titular character. Ruby is a young boy who “sees the world a little bit differently.” He imagines flying to the moon, touching the sky, being a superhero,...
What I Learned From Learning Differently
Everyone learns differently. This is a universally accepted truism. But that one student may have a markedly dissimilar learning process from those around him or her and shouldn’t necessarily mean a decreased chance in success for that student. The idea of alternative learning processes has been a recurring...
How Much Tech Is Too Much Tech?
If you walk into a preschool class, you will still most likely see children being children; jumping around, twirling, finger-painting (hopefully not the wall!), interacting with one another in various ways, learning how to fairly trade a teddy bear for a block tower. This is what they are supposed...
What’s Going On With The Word Gap?
Written by: Molly McManus, PhD Candidate in Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin. Note: We Read Together presents this article in order to facilitate dialogue. WRT doesn’t officially endorse or support the opinions below. Why do rich kids end up doing better than poor kids in school? Of late, one common explanation...
Do Kids Need to Like What They’re Reading to Progress?
Written by: Ryan Spencer, Clinical Teaching Specialist; Lecturer in Literacy Education, University of Canberra. When we think of reading for our children, we are often misled into thinking that we need to focus on one type of book, such as picture books or novels in order to practice specific, reading-related...
Elephants Make Fine Friends
Colter Jackson’s debut picture book is a heartfelt delight. Ella and her elephant were the best of friends. But when Ella begins to notice the differences between herself and an elephant, she wonders: is this really my best friend? Are we too different? It takes a lot of...
6 Tips for Stubborn Summer Readers
It’s that time of year. The birds are chirping. The teachers are packing up their classrooms. Trees and bushes are filling out, readying themselves for roles as home base or hiding place in epic hide-and-seek battles. The structure of your child’s day is beginning to look like a late-game...
What Batman, Swearing, and Cigarettes Can Teach Us About Reading
The Batman movie came out in 1989 when I was eight-and-a-half-years old. I didn’t know who Batman was, but I saw the commercial and knew it was very important I see it. My parents were unsympathetic. It’s rated PG-13 for a reason, they said, and I cried in the...