36 Workshops to Get Kids Writing

Hurtado, Annmarie. 36 Workshops to Get Kids Writing from Aliens to Zebras. ALA Editions, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1648-3

Description: 

    Creative writing encourages imaginations to take flight, and when adults use the  right approach, building literacy skills becomes a form of play that gets kids excited to create their own stories. Packed with ready-to-use lesson plans designed for kindergarten- and early elementary-aged children, this book will help librarians add creative writing activities to more traditional storytime initiatives and school librarians enrich English Language Arts lessons. Hurtado’s resource provides an entire year’s worth of weekly lesson plans, adaptable as needed, that include instructions, handouts, and everything needed to plan and prepare: recommended read-alouds for each lesson plan; ideas and activities scaffolded for different ability levels; tips for using humor and silliness to grab kids’ attention and keep them engaged; information on how creative writing dovetails with Common Core standards, emphasizing skills and critical thinking over rote learning; and additional quality read-aloud picture books that can be used as inspiration to create new lessons.

    This book will serve as a handy lesson/program planning tool for any children’s or school librarian interested in exploring new ideas to teach creative writing and higher literacy.

Table of Contents: 

Chapter One    Writing in the Library: A Radical Idea

Chapter Two    All You Need Is a Good TERRIBLE Idea

Lesson 1    A Panda Parade Is a Terrible Idea

Lesson 2    If You Ever Want to Bring a Shark to the Park, DON’T

Lesson 3    Revising and Illustrating: Smartphones Are Definitely Not for Animals

Lesson 4    Don’t Let the Alien Play in the Toilet!

Lesson 5    Teach Your Zebra to Ride a Bike

Chapter Three    Fractured Fairy Tales

Lesson 6    The Very Old Bad Wolf

Lesson 7    Fairy-Tale Characters on Vacation

Lesson 8    Double Trouble

Lesson 9    Trickster Tales

Lesson 10    Small Actors Folktale Theater

Chapter Four: Animal Muses

Lesson 11    If I Had a Dinosaur

Lesson 12    How to Throw a Unicorn Party

Lesson 13    My Puppy Brother

Lesson 14    Take Your Poem for a Walk

Lesson 15    Don’t Sweat the Snow Stuff: Self-Help for Stressed Penguins

Lesson 16    Public Service Announcement: Beware the Giant Humans

Lesson 17    Diary of a T. Rex

Chapter Five    The Plot Thickens

Lesson 18    Chickens Can’t Sing

Lesson 19    Pirate Puppy

Lesson 20    Maybe It’ll Work This Time

Lesson 21    Every Hero Needs a Villain

Lesson 22    Meanwhile

Chapter Six    Playing with Words

Lesson 23    Go on a Word Hunt

Lesson 24    Insect Linguistics

Lesson 25    How to Make a Bear Burrito

Lesson 26    Riddle Me This

Lesson 27    Silly Split-Panels

Lesson 28    Scrambled Animals

Lesson 29    Bring a New Animal to Dr. Seuss’s Zoo

Chapter Seven    Advertising and Other Forms

Lesson 30    Grand Opening for a Literary Diner

Lesson 31    Write a Circus Poster for the Most Horrible Monster on Earth

Lesson 32    Make a Menu for an Ice Cream Truck Shop

Lesson 33    Make a Campaign Video for President Squid

Lesson 34    Propaganda: The Truth about Flowers

Lesson 35    What Will You Do with Your Idea?

Lesson 36    Make Your Own Jar of Happiness

Chapter Eight    Books to Feed the Young Author’s Spirit

Appendix A

Appendix B

Bibliography

Index

Tap, Click, Read

Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens by Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine. (2015). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint. 978-1-119-09189-9.

In Tap, Click, Read authors Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine envision a future that is human-centered first and tech-assisted second. They document how educators and parents can lead a new path to a place they call 'Readialand'—a literacy-rich world that marries reading and digital media to bring knowledge, skills, and critical thinking to all of our children. This approach is driven by the urgent need for low-income children and parents to have access to the same 21st-century literacy opportunities already at the fingertips of today's affluent families.With stories from homes, classrooms and cutting edge tech labs, plus accessible translation of new research and compelling videos, Guernsey and Levine help educators, parents, and America's leaders tackle the questions that arise as digital media plays a larger and larger role in children's lives, starting in their very first years of life.

Tap, Click, Read includes an analysis of the exploding app marketplace and provides useful information on new review sites and valuable curation tools. It shows what to avoid and what to demand in today's apps and e-books—as well as what to seek in community preschools, elementary schools and libraries. Peppered with the latest research from fields as diverse as neuroscience and behavioral economics and richly documented examples of best practices from schools and early childhood programs around the country, Tap, Click, Read will show you how to:

• Promote the adult-child interactions that help kids grow into strong readers
• Learn how to use digital media to build a foundation for reading and success
• Discover new tools that open up avenues for creativity, critical thinking, and knowledge-building that today's children need

The book's accompanying website, TapClickRead.org, keeps you updated on new research and provides vital resources to help parents, schools and community organizations.

(book description)
 

Animal Shenanigans (book)

Reid, Rob. (2015). Animal Shenanigans: 24 Creative, Interactive Story Programs for Preschoolers. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions. 978-0-8389-1271-3.

Featuring our four-legged, no-legged, winged, scaled, and feathered friends, this new series of story program lesson plans from bestselling author Reid will help librarians and teachers unleash kids’ curiosity and learning. Using a combination of high-quality picture books, fingerplays, movement activities, songs, and games, these ready-to-use, mix-and-match lesson plans focus on universal themes such as family, friendship, and school—but with animal protagonists. Useful for both school and public libraries, for teaching as well as collection development, Reid’s book

• Includes two dozen complete 30-minute story programs for preschoolers that can also be adapted for K–2 children
• Offers 70 new “in-between” activities such as fingerplays and movement activities, songs and musical activities, chants, creative dramatics, imagination exercises, and more
• Provides alternate book lists at the end of each story plan so readers can further customize their own storytimes
• Gives tips on how to energize presentations and encourage audience participation

Using Reid’s sure-fire story programs, kids and grownups alike will have a howling, barking, clucking, roaring good time.

(book description)

Building a Core Print Collection for Preschoolers (book)

Bailey, A.R. (2014). Building a Core Print Collection for Preschoolers. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions. 978-0-8389-1219-5.

Since children develop the critical language and early reading skills necessary to enter kindergarten between birth and age five, reading aloud is one of the most influential steps librarians, teachers, parents, and caregivers can take to foster preschoolers’ literacy skills. Early exposure to books heavily influences vocabulary knowledge, which in turn improves later reading skills and helps foster lifelong literacy. Highlighting more than 300 birth-kindergarten titles, Bailey offers

• A hand-picked selection of quality books adeptly chosen to help develop crucial literacy skills such as expressive and receptive language, expanded vocabularies, narrative skills, print awareness, the ability to understand written language, awareness of story structure, alphabetic knowledge, and phonological sensitivity
• Thorough annotation of each title, including a full bibliographic record, a short summary, and journal reviews
• Chapters organized by type of book, from primary skills books, wordless picture books, and rhyming books to toy and movable books
• A list of additional resources helpful for building a core collection

Valuable for regular use by caregivers as well as for collection development, this book spotlights hundreds of titles that are engaging and fun for reader and preschooler alike.

(book description)

Books in Motion: Connecting Preschoolers with Books Through Art, Games, Movement, Music, Playacting, and Props

Glair-Dietzel, Julie.  Books in Motion: Connecting Preschoolers with Books Through Art, Games, Movement, Music, Playacting, and Props.  Chicago: Neal-Schuman, 2013.  027.625 Dietz   ISBN 978-1-55570-810-8.

Librarians and educators can shake up storytimes, help children stay healthy, and encourage a lifelong love of reading with Dietzel-Glair's easy-to-use resource. Demonstrating exactly how to use children's books to engage preschool-age children through movement, it's loaded with storytimes that will have children standing up tall, balancing as they pretend to walk across a bridge, or even flying around the room like an airplane. Presenting hundreds of ideas, this all-in-one book is divided into five sections:

• Art spotlights titles that are natural hooks for art or craft activities alongside ideas on how to create art just like the character in the story, while an appendix includes art patterns that can be used as coloring sheets;
• Games includes searching games, follow-the-leader games, and guessing games to enhance the books in this section;
• Movement features books that kids can jump, stomp, clap, chomp, waddle, parade, wiggle, and stretch with;
• Music chooses books perfect for activities like shaking a maraca, singing, dancing between the pages, and creating new sound effects;
• Playacting lets kids pretend along with the characters in these books, whether it's washing their face, swimming with fish, or hunting a lion;
• Props encourages storytime leaders to bring out their puppets, flannelboard pieces, and scarves; these books have enough props for everyone in the program to have a part.

Each chapter includes as much instruction as possible for a wide range of motions. Pick and choose the amount of movement that is right for your storytime crowd, or do it all!