Banned Books Week 2020

October 1, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

September 28-October 2 is Banned Books Week. Buckle up, because – surprise! – I have some feelings about censorship. Librarian Mike Rawls, otherwise known as @thebookwrangler, put it beautifully on his Instagram page this week: “Books are banned for all kinds of reasons… but 8 out of 10 books on the American Library Association’s Most […]

Kids Antiracist Book Club Reads to Start Meaningful Conversations with Young Readers

September 14, 2020.Reading time 49 minutes.

I’m not working in a school library this year, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve lost sight of the importance of stories. While sharing the reading that I’ve been doing to try and learn and grow this year, I keep getting the same questions over and over again: Can I read this book with my […]

Sarah FitzHenry, Professional Optimist

August 4, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

This year, for the first time in my professional life, I won’t be a school librarian. I’m starting a new role at a new school, and the change comes with a lot of feelings. I’m still working through those. (But suffice it to say, there are a lot of emojis involved.) Mr. Fitz and I […]

June Antiracist Read – This Book is Anti-racist, by Tiffany Jewell and Aurélia Durand

July 28, 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

My June antiracist read was This Book is Antiracist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work, written by Tiffany Jewell and illustrated by Aurélia Durand. Here is some information about the book, from Quarto Kids: Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it […]

Once Upon a Tech is back!

June 16, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Once Upon a Tech is back! We loved sharing Morning Meeting with you, and now we are returning to our original idea for Once Upon a Tech: highlighting people that are working and projects that are happening at the intersection of technology and literacy. We hope you’ll join us on our weekly journey! Learn […]

Distance Learning Success: Poe-a-Tree Forest (K-12 Collaboration)

May 15, 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

In case you missed it: distance learning is hard for everyone. From my last distance learning post: Honestly, it’s hard for everyone involved. It’s challenging for the students, who long to be in their classrooms with their friends. It’s challenging for the teachers, who have had to pivot in a moment’s notice and completely recreate […]

Distance Learning Success: Robot Design Project (K-8 Collaboration)

May 1, 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

Distance learning is hard. Honestly, it’s hard for everyone involved. It’s challenging for the students, who long to be in their classrooms with their friends. It’s challenging for the teachers, who have had to pivot in a moment’s notice and completely recreate their curriculum and teaching style, all while staying up at night worrying and […]

Once Upon a Tech Morning Meeting on CBS19

April 28, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

This week, Ms-Bit and I had the pleasure of chatting with CBS19 about Morning Meeting, our daily podcast for kids and families. Because Ms-Bit and I are practicing social distancing and following Virginia’s stay-at-home order, we were interviewed via Zoom meeting – the first Zoom news interview either of us have ever done! You can […]

Engaging Readers with Audiobooks

April 16, 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

“How do I keep my reader interested, engaged, and growing without access to new books?” It’s a question that, as a reading specialist and a librarian, Ms. Grant and Ms. FitzHenry have seen from parents countless times in the past few weeks. Since our School closed its campuses in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic […]

Digital Book Club: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

April 1, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

Looking for a great story to share? As part of my distance learning plan with my elementary school readers, I’m sharing one of my favorite stories from when I was a kid, one chapter at a time! It’s bittersweet to be sharing this story – I’ve always wanted to do this readaloud with a class, […]