Author: Katherine Palaces Narita

Once a year, I pick five novels and read the flap copy to the students. Then, the class votes on which book they want for our class read aloud. From looking at covers, everyone said they were going to vote for Inkling by Kenneth Oppal. But as soon as I read the flap copy for… Continue reading Cece Rios and the Desert Of Souls by Kaela Rivera

One of the best parts of the end of the school year is witnessing and celebrating the culmination of a year's worth of teaching. Out of the Blue and it's fabulous author, Elizabeth Shreeve, afforded our classroom that opportunity. But before I get to the end, let me go back to the beginning. Last year… Continue reading Out of the Blue

When I hear the word “tone,” music bars swell inside my mind. But of course tone doesn’t just apply to music, books have tones, too. However, I don’t think we discuss the tone of books very often, even as adults. While I’m sure I talked about a book’s tone during my Masters of Fine Arts… Continue reading Between Us and Abuela

Humans are imperfect. The good news about imperfection is that there's always room for growth. In Maria Gianferrari's Be a Tree!, she highlights how trees support one another through the wood wide web and encourages humans to be as supportive and community-oriented as trees. Earlier this month, our school transitioned from having classes separated from… Continue reading Be a Tree!

One of the best aspects of a new school year is it's a chance to start fresh, to try instructional moves that I haven't tried before. I'm going to share "new-to-me" techniques that I'm hoping will help my students discover books that otherwise might stay hidden in book baskets, help students access their multiple intelligences… Continue reading The Roots of Rap

By April Jones Prince Two Books In One! Welcome back, everyone! I have to say this has been the best reading and writing summer of my life and I thought that was what I’d blog about this month. Wrong! When I opened up April Jones Prince’s You Are a Reader!/You Are a Writer!: Two Books… Continue reading You Are a Reader!/You Are a Writer!

Normally, I like to create top-ten lists, but for this post I'm including twelve books. I already was one past the ten limit when I attended my critique group last night. Everyone began raving about a title and I couldn't leave it off the list. Here we go! This book released in May this year.… Continue reading My Summer Reading Stack

A must have book for upper elementary classrooms On April fifth, I found myself in a strange situation of having to create a classroom community out of two separate cohorts for the remaining ten weeks of the school year. A few of the questions running through my mind were: How do I do that when… Continue reading A Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters

Kindness is a Kite String by Michelle Schaub is a must have for National Poetry Month. Read on to find out why. Figurative language is a powerful writing tool and Kindnes Is a Kite String flows with similes and metaphors. Sure, you could hand out a boring worksheet that drills the differences between similes and… Continue reading Kindness Is a Kite String: The Uplifting Power of Empathy

National Poetry Month is only two weeks away. Make sure you have a copy of Let's Dance by Valerie Bolling on your shelves to share with your students. Let's Dance is a rhyming text that celebrates different dances from all over the world. In addition to portraying children from various cultures, Let's Dance includes children… Continue reading Let’s Dance

Many teachers and students are missing that familiar sense of normalcy. Well, thankfully, the time-honored tradition of the 100th day of school is just around the corner. Jamie Harper's, Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School is a must-have title for this special day. In addition to featuring the various combinations of 100 such… Continue reading Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School

Every human being should read All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat. You may be thinking, ‘Wait! What? Did she just write, “Every human being should read All Thirteen?” ‘ Yes, that is what I wrote, and I stand behind my words. All Thirteen is a narrative nonfiction text that shows when we are willing to collaborate… Continue reading All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat

Bionic Beasts by Jolene Gutiérrez is a must-have book for the upper elementary classroom. Jolene's book uses five chapters to highlight five specific animals: a Kemp's ridley sea turtle named Lolaa German shephard named Cassidya greylag goose named Vitóriaa Berkshire-tamworth pig named Piratean Asian elephant named Mosha The organizational structure of each chapter will entice… Continue reading Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, legs and Beaks by Jolene Gutierrez

Fans of Minh Le and Dan Santat's Drawn Together will love Katrina Moore's Grandpa Grumps. Daisy's grandpa, Yeh-Yeh, visits her from China for the first time. Every day of the week, Daisy tries to connect with Yeh-Yeh in a different way but he' so grumpy that nothing she does seems to work-or so she thinks.… Continue reading Grandpa Grumps

In the classroom, often times student struggle when trying to differentiate fiction from nonfiction. Sometimes, I will give students a group of books that they have to sort into two groups: fiction or nonfiction. A similar activity can also be done with informational fiction titles. "Informational fiction presents facts and information within a fictional story."… Continue reading The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story

It's my first day of school today, and I definitely have the first day jitters. You know what I'm talking about... sleepless nights, the nightmares about students coming to school and being completely unprepared and of course the hope that I'm going to form a fabulous connection with each of my students. One of the… Continue reading A Perfect Day by Sarah Brannen

Looking for something fun and exciting to do this school year? Whether you’re teaching in person, remotely or in a hybrid model, start a Project LIT Book Club. Project LIT Book Club is a national movement to eradicate book deserts. Book deserts are communities that lack books. So high school teacher, Jarred Amato, and his… Continue reading Project LIT: A Nationwide Movement Started by Jarred Amato

Mayhem, pandemonium, madness are all words that at times described our remote learning process this spring. Our last week, I wanted to end with something fun, something that might supersede the memory of the dreaded daily color grid. So, for our last small group Google Meet, each student had to prepare a book basket. In… Continue reading MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM by Rajani LaRocca

Loree Griffin Burns' new book You're Invited to a Moth Ball arrived this month. It's a delight for anyone who likes to be outside or has a fascination for insects. Now that our days and nights are less structured, there's more time to explore the world around us. You're Invited to a Moth Ball gives… Continue reading You’re Invited to a Moth Ball: A Nighttime Insect Celebration by Loree Griffin Burns

Teachers, Joy would love to share her book with your students. Please email her at jnwiederATgmailDOTcom to get the Flipgrid link to share with your students. Your students can hear Joy read her amazing book and ask her questions as well. Joy will respond to students questions on Flipgrid until April fifth. I will be… Continue reading The Passover Mouse by Joy Nelkin Wieder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXRp2iQkG0o Skype Magic By Kate Narita As a teacher, my most memorable, pleasurable moments are when magic happens in the classroom. You know what I’m talking about. Those rare times when everything is in sync, and transcendence occurs in a roomful of people. Transcendence. That’s what happened when I read Bear Needs Help by Sarah… Continue reading Bear Needs Help by Sarah Brannen

I have a special connection to Susan Edwards Richmond's Bird Count. We're in the same writing group. The same day that she brought Bird Count to group to be critiqued, I had realized that no one had written a book about the combinations of ten. I had an inner battle with myself because I didn't… Continue reading Bird Count

The last two posts on my personal blog, I've talked about the amazing experience I had at nErDcampLI. One question that author and illustrator, Lita Judge, asked is whether or not we are making a home for neurodiverse learners in our classroom. She shared that she grew up on a remote island in Alaska where… Continue reading Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat

Teachers say... You Are Home is a must have for every elementary classroom. This book is so important for various reasons. First of all, the exquisite art makes readers feel as if they are actually walking through each national park soaking up the beauty that surrounds them. The paintings by themselves are reason enough to… Continue reading You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks by Evan Turk