During my first week as a reading specialist at primary level, I encountered a first-grade teacher who used some very unusual incentives for his reading class. Bob, the only male in our primary school, had a sly grin when I asked him how he motivated his first graders.

            As a lover of children’s literature, I believe that NO age is too old to enjoy and appreciate children’s books, even, or especially, picture books. Here’s why.            I originally expected to teach primary students when I became a reading specialist, but I was placed in an intermediate level building, teaching fifth and sixth grade struggling readers. By that time, my love affair with children’s literature was in the bewitching period, so I began to enthusiastically share the picture books I was encountering as I visited my favorite children’s bookstore...

           I have made a list of my most beloved children’s books, those I saved well past my retirement. The Age of Downsizing has come upon me. It is both depressing and liberating.            Why did I buy so much STUFF? I don’t know about the STUFF, but I know why I bought all those children’s books. I wrote about my love affair with children’s books in a previous post:                                    Falling in Love with Children’s...

My mother never read books to me as a child. Trained as a high school English teacher, I was also never made aware of the thrilling world of children’s lit. When I became an elementary children’s reading specialist, I decided that I needed to self-educate about books for the younger set.

 Some people say that we Americans do not say “Merry Christmas” anymore. In this country where I was taught we were a Melting Pot of immigrants, which always warmed my soul, I am providing a list of ways to say “Merry Christmas” in many languages, including a pronunciation guide. “Merry Christmas” to all, in many ways!

Wednesday Weekly offers helpful and creative instructional materials.