December 5, 2011

Book Talk Tuesday

I have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews for librarians and teachers to use in the classroom.  Well, I am going to try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday!  I invite teachers and librarians to link to a recent book talk or book review that can be used by others- to help purchase new books, learn about new books and to help give us book talk ideas.
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. NEW 2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.  3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them. 4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library! 5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)  
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For newcomers & visitors: Definition of "Book Talk" from Wikipedia: "A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the intent to convince someone to read a book.  The booktalker gives the audience a glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners care enough about the content of the book to want to read it. A long booktalk is usually about five to seven minutes long and a short booktalk is generally thirty seconds to two minutes long.
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In Iowa City, we are very careful to not offend anyone during the holiday season. None of our schools are allowed to celebrate Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanza or any other religious holiday. I respect that- not everyone celebrates the same thing that I do... but I wish we could be a little more open minded and spread more holiday cheer around here. I do have a very extensive collection of Christmas and  Chanukah books in my library. I figure that, even if I can't teach it, our kids deserve to read about it! All of my displays are "snow displays"... like "Snow is falling, books are calling", so I don't leave anyone out. How does your school district handle this time of year? Do you think we should celebrate 1 holiday in a public school even if not all of our students celebrate in the same ways? How do you include kids that might not celebrate Christmas in your daily lessons and activities? I don't care what you celebrate or what you believe... just celebrate kindness & acceptance towards all... there are lots of people who could work on this in the big, wide world.
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1.Seasons Readings (Bigfoot Reads)7.Favorite Holiday Books Vol. 1 (Ms. O Reads Books)13.Kellee @ Teach Mentor Texts
2.Anna Hibiscus (ICPL)8.Snowmen at Night (Flowering Minds)14.Neville (A Curious Thing)
3.Good Night, Me (Children's Books to Love)9.A Christmas Prayer (Ready. Set. Read! )15.Mrs. Mattei
4.The Woods (NC Teacher Stuff)10.I Want my Hat Back (sharpread)16.Humminbirds (Wrapped in Foil)
5.Hound Dog True (pageintraining)11.The Ultimate Read Aloud Collection for Christmas (Read Aloud Dad)17.You're next!
6.Grandpa Green (Jen Robinson)12.The Luck of the Buttons (Heidi @ Geo Librarian)  

5 comments:

  1. This week I have a link to my Christmas book list from last year. I didn’t post it until two days before Christmas, so it probably wasn't very helpful to anyone.

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  2. We have winter displays up in the library in my elementary school. There are a number of holiday books included in these displays. We don't have a lot of bulletin board space so we use the tops of the bookcases as much as we can. My school still allows a lot of Christmas in the school.

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  3. When my daughter was in the primary grades the school celebrated Christmas. I went in every year and did a presentation on Chanukah and gave everyone dreidels. That way the kids learned about our holiday too. (I would have made latkes but I'm a terrible cook. After I burned the Pillsbury Halloween cookies I was making for her class I gave up the ghost. LOL) My daughter and I watched every single Christmas special and movie because they are fun! I think political correctness has gone way overboard.

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  4. I don't think there is an easy answer for that question. It seems that it would be nice to celebrate all of the holidays that the families of your class are celebrating. I think that the library should be stocked with lots of books on all holidays-- it's part of our culture and our heritage and I think we need to pass that down or we lose who we are as a group. Your Grinch book cracked me up. I hope it doesn't turn into that in an attempt to just make everyone happy :)

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  5. In school my daughter has been learning about Chanukah, Kwanza and Christmas. It is so fun to hear her come home spewing off facts about Kwanza and Chanukah. I think that teaching about the various holidays observed helps promote tolerance and acceptance - and is fun!

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