…changing the world, one reader at a time.
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 […]
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“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 […]
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How do we know if we like something? How does it make us feel? What happens in our bodies, on our faces, in our minds? Developing an identity as a reader means learning what you like and don’t like. But my work with social emotional learning has taught me that before we can start sorting […]
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Earlier this week, I shared the most popular posts of 2019, according to statistics, on Fitz Between the Shelves. And while it’s fascinating to see what readers enjoy the most, it’s also surprising to see what makes it to the top of the list; because they’re rarely the moments that I loved the most! So […]
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Happy New Year, friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday. I’m excited to share our top posts of 2019 – they’re always so different than I expect. Some of these were favorites last year, too, and some are brand new. I know that I loved writing them – I hope that enjoyed reading them […]
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Does it fart?? As a kid, this would have been the book of my dreams! First graders and I were nonstop giggles sharing this nonfiction book by Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti. I love any opportunity to show my readers that nonfiction can be exciting, engaging, and educational, and this book is a perfect example! […]
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Middle school self checkout is back, and better than ever! After a bumpy couple of years (filled with lots of lost books and oops-I-checked-it-out-to-my-friend-but-I’ll-take-it-anyway and what-do-you-mean-I-never-checked-it-out-at-all), I admitted librarian defeat and closed down our self checkout station. Middle schoolers had to come to the circulation desk to checkout with me, and had no options when I […]
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You’ve probably heard about using the food pyramid to keep a healthy diet, but what about getting balanced nutrition for your brain? Instead of the same old genre review, my fourth graders are exploring the Brain Food Pyramid this week – the secret to a balanced diet for your brain 🧠 Together, we took a look […]
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I love teaching graphic novels, especially to middle school readers. My goal with any graphic novel unit is to get readers to think about their books differently and start reading them as closely and seriously as they do their traditional novels. You can see a collection of my past work with graphic novels here. This […]
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Let me introduce you to the NO, NO, NEVER NEVER! box, the easiest, most ridiculous, shouldn’t-work-but-does-every-time idea in the world. It’s easy to recreate: Fill your No, No, Never Never Box with a mix of things that are notoriously bad for books (scissors, juice) and things that fit how library books are used best (a […]
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