Social-emotional learning is an important component of classroom instruction in any year, but this year has aimed a spotlight on just how important it is. As Peter Johnston wrote in his newest book, Engaging Literate Minds, "Our classrooms are responsible for helping children develop their humanity." It's a tall order, but it can be done with the right resources and guidance from trusted colleagues such as these Stenhouse authors. Stock up on these books to help you create a caring, kind, empathic classroom culture, either in person or online.
Engaging Literate Minds: Developing Children's Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Lives
Peter Johnston, et al.
Ten years ago, Peter Johnston and six colleagues embarked on a journey to discover how to create classrooms that thrive intellectually while being both socially and emotionally healthy. Engaging Literate Minds is the culmination of their work and the stories of how their teaching has evolved by using Peter’s best-selling books Opening Minds and Choice Words.
The group collected their experiences and cast them into one voice to create this exciting new professional learning resource. Let it inspire and encourage you to gather with your colleagues in a collective effort to make children’s (and your own) lives and futures brighter.
Layers of Learning: Using Read-Alouds to Connect Literacy and Caring Conversations
JoEllen McCarthy
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.” This friendly, hands-on book explores read-aloud strategies designed to enhance your reading and writing standards by capitalizing on the way literature can impact caring communities. With over 200 picture-book suggestions, author, JoEllen McCarthy, introduces the Heartprint Framework, which demonstrates how you can layer literacy and life lessons throughout your day using multiple connections across learning.
With Layers of Learning, 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.”
Hands Down, Speak Out
Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson
“Without knowing it, I was waiting for this book.” –Peter Johnston
Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Newell 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. Christy and Kassia believe that the development of dialogue skills is worth the investment of time not only because it has the power to deepen our understanding of literacy and mathematics, but also to deepen our understanding of ourselves, our communities, and the world.
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.
Sharing the Blue Crayon: How to Integrate Social, Emotional, and Literacy Learning
Mary Anne Buckley
Social and emotional learning is at the heart of good teaching, but as standards and testing requirements consume classroom time and divert teachers' focus, these critical skills often get sidelined. In Sharing the Blue Crayon, Mary Anne Buckley shows teachers how to incorporate social and emotional learning into a busy day and then extend these skills to literacy lessons for young children.
Through simple activities such as read-alouds, sing-alongs, murals, and performances, students learn how to get along in a group, empathize with others, develop self-control, and give and receive feedback, all while becoming confident readers and writers.
Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness
Katie Egan Cunningham
Start with Joy links what we know from the science of happiness with what we know about effective literacy instruction. By examining characters in the books they read, children develop empathy for others and come to understand that we all struggle and we all love. When given a choice about what to write, children express hopes, fears, and reactions to life’s experiences. Literacy learning is full of opportunities for students to learn tools to live a happy life.
This book honors the adventure that learning is meant to be. By infusing school days with happiness, teachers can support children as they become stronger readers, writers, and thinkers, while also helping them learn that strength comes from challenge, and joy comes from leading a purposeful life.
Take a look at our New and Notable Catalog to what else is new at Stenhouse.
