We know that the start to this school year is unlike any other, but we are still hard at work trying to get you helpful, practical resources that will sharpen your instructional skills—because we know it's still important to you. So here are our latest titles from trusted educators that will breathe new life into your teaching and bring joy and engagement to your classroom, whether it's in person or online.
Hands Down, Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math
“Without knowing it, I was waiting for this book.” –Peter Johnston
Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson created Hands Down, Speak Out, to give teachers an engaging, practical, and well-researched tool that will guide them to create a classroom community where everyone works to build ideas together, disagree productively, and collaborate to problem-solve. But those are just a few of the benefits. Peter Johnston stated it best when he wrote, “I sometimes wonder how the world will survive if children do not experience the sort of teaching presented in this book.” We wonder that too.
Layers of Learning: Using Read-Alouds to Connect Literacy and Caring Conversations
“Layers of Learning stole my heart from beginning to end.” –Georgia Heard
Kwame Alexander wrote, “If JoEllen McCarthy were a chef, then Layers of Learning would be her cookbook. These carefully selected recipes for read-alouds are inventive and engaging.” Preorder this friendly, hands-on new book today and not only will you get over 200 picture-book suggestions, but you will learn new ways to incorporate social-emotional learning into your instruction using those books you read aloud every day. “Come on in her kitchen, the results are delicious.”
Joyful Math: Invitations to Play and Explore in the Early Childhood Classroom
“In this beautiful book, Deanna McLennan shows us how teachers can create an environment for children to engage in mathematical play and learning with joy, curiosity, and discovery. " –Katie Keier
In Deanna Pecaski McLennan’s kindergarten classroom, math isn’t limited to a specific block of time. It’s built into the environment and inseparable from everything her young students do. All of the math is infused with a sense of exploration, wonder, and joy. Deanna’s book, Joyful Math, is about creating invitations for young children to engage with math ideas through art, literacy, and outdoor play. She focuses on building spaces in early childhood classrooms where children see themselves as mathematical thinkers with valuable ideas from the very start.
The Literacy Workshop: Where Reading and Writing Converge
“The Literacy Workshop makes the reading-writing workshop bend, blend, and soar.” –Jeff Anderson
You’ve heard it said many times; reading and writing go hand in hand. It’s true. But how do you meaningfully connect the two in everyday classroom practice? Taking cues from their students, two seasoned teachers, Maria Walther and Karen Biggs-Tucker write The Literacy Workshop to share what they’ve learned from occasionally converging their separate reading and writing workshops into one literacy workshop. This forward-thinking book will help you save valuable classroom time while empowering students to uncover exciting connections in their learning—leading to stronger, more motivated readers and writers.
Thinking Like a Generalist: Skills for Navigating a Complex World
Generalists are curious, open-minded, skeptical, and persistent in their quest for information.
In the new book Thinking Like a Generalist, Angela Kohnen and Wendy Saul offer an approach to information literacy that goes beyond the teaching of easily outdated skills. This approach will prepare you to help students build identities as curious individuals—or generalists—empowered to ask their own questions and develop long-lasting skills that will enable them to navigate an information-filled world in pursuit of credible, trustworthy answers—across grades, content areas, and beyond the classroom.
Mathematical Imagining: A Routine for Secondary Students
“Imagine a plastic cup lying on the floor. Give the cup a nudge so that it begins to roll. What does the path it takes look like?”
Mathematics thrives on the ability to imagine—but can that actually be taught in the classroom? Christof Weber says yes, and he wrote a book called Mathematical Imagining to show us how it works. Get it today to discover how to use this original routine to help secondary students engage with mathematical content in a very personal way, and allow you to get a glimpse into their thinking as well.
