KASL

Letters About Literature

Students grade 4-12, write a letter to an author whose book has changed your life and be a winner

Student submissions to Letters About Literature (LAL), a national reading and writing initiative sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and in Kansas by the Kansas Center for the Book, in partnership with Target, are now being accepted. To enter, young readers write a letter to an author, living or from the past, describing how that author's work somehow changed the student's view of the world or himself/herself. The project, which focuses on reader response and reflective writing, has three competition levels: Level 1 for students in grades 4-6; Level 2 for students in grades 7-8; and Level 3 for students in grades 9-12. Winners on the state level each receive a cash award from the Kansas Center for the Book as well as a $50 Target gift card. National winners will receive a $500 Target gift card. Again this year the libraries of national winners and runners-up will receive cash awards from Target in the names of the winners.

Target sponsors Letters About Literature as part of its national reading initiative, "Ready, Sit, Read!" which is aimed at fostering a love of reading among children at an early age.

Visit the website for participation guidelines, consider how Letters About Literature might fit into your classroom activities or enhance your programming for children, and use the entry coupon on the reverse side of the form to enter. Feel free to download and photocopy--one entry form is required for each student. If you have questions please contact me at the Kansas Center for the Book, State Library of Kansas, 300 SW 10th Room 169-W, Topeka, KS 66612-1593, (800)432-3919, kcfb@kslib.info.

All entries must be received by December 10, 2010. Mail to: Letters About Literature, Competition Level (indicate Level 1, 2, or 3), PO Box 609, Dallas, PA 18612. Teachers and sponsors can download the official how-to-enter guidelines at the LAL website,http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org. To see previous Kansas winners and their letters, or to download a copy of the LAL teachers' guide, which includes lesson plans, black line masters, and assessment checklists, visit the Kansas Center for the Book website athttp://www.kcfb.info. And good luck!

Roy Bird, Director
Kansas Center for the Book
State Library of Kansas
300 SW 10th Room 169-W
Topeka KS 66612 1593
800/432-3919
royb@kslib.info 
www.kcfb.info 

Bill Martin Jr. Award Winner

 

The Bill Martin, Jr. Picture Book Award winner for 2010 is Bats at the Library.

 

  

AASL Commendation

Kansas nominated the WAW State Book Award Program for an AASL commendation. The program was recommended to the Executive Board for being the first state book award that was voted on by students.  We were awarded the commendation with a letter and a certificate to present to the WAW Foundation. 

 

story and photo provided by Rita Shogren

 

Some Conference Details

Partners in Excellence 2010
October 6-8, 2010
Junction City KS

Early Registration deadline: Must be received by October 1st (all other registration will be on site and the cost is the same but no meals)

You will receive an email confirmation of your registration.

Exhibitors Opening: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 (4:00 pm to 6:00 pm) (snacks only)

Hotel Information: Courtyard by Marriot (Junction City KS)
Phone: 785-210-1500
Room Cost $85.00 plus taxes per night (Block of rooms reserved until 9/13/10)

Barbara Bahm

WAW Celebration

Both Cynthia Kadohata and Barbara O’Connor will be in Emporia on
Saturday, October 2 to accept the 2010 WAW Children’s Book Awards. 
Due to construction on the ESU student union, the celebration is scaled
down for this year.  Sleep-overs will still be held the night before.
Autographing and activities for children will be held from 7:30 to 10:30
with the awards ceremony from 11 to 12:30 in Albert Taylor Hall
(describe how to best get there from union).  Lunch will not be
available in the union for students and there will be no parade. 
Tickets are $5 and seats will be assigned this year from the front row
to the back in the auditorium.  Details and contact information on the
program’s website.    

Beverley Buller
WAW Children's Book Awards selection committee chair

Featured Author at Fall Conference

 

    Gordon Korman was born October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He wrote his first book, This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English … he later took that episode and created a book out of it, as well, in the Sixth Grade Nickname Game, where Mr. Huge was based on that 7th grade teacher.

His first book found a home with Scholastic, who also published his next 20 or so books, including six more Bruno and Boots titles, and several award winning young adult titles, among them my personal favorite, Son of Interflux. Scholastic still publishes many of Gordon's titles, though Hyperion Press is also now printing some of Gordon's stories.

Gordon eventually made one of his homes in New York City, where he studied film and film writing. While in New York, he also met his future wife, and they eventually married -- they now have three children. He now lives on Long Island, outside of New York City, has approximately 55 books to his credit, and is currently contracted for several more, including the six volume On the Run adventure series, and new young adult and childrens' titles. (taken from Gordon Korman's web page)

 

Guided Comprehension Keynote on October 8

Maureen McLaughlin will present the keynote at the Partners in Excellence Conference in Junction City on Friday, October 8. 

 

By Dan Berrett

Pocono Record Writer

July 13, 2010

If Maureen McLaughlin could change one thing about the way schools typically teach young people to read, it would be ending the practice of "round robin reading."

The method is familiar to many from their elementary school years. A teacher stands at the head of the class and asks each student to take turns reading from a common text.

"That really has no value, said McLaughlin, head of East Stroudsburg University's reading department. "There is no comprehension going on."

But this practice stresses struggling readers and bores those who already have gotten the hang of the skill. "The student reads, and the class is over for him or her," said McLaughlin.

As a member of ESU's reading department for 20 years, McLaughlin has come to such conclusions through her extensive experience in the field as a teacher, researcher and coach. She recently won recognition as Outstanding Teacher Educator from the International Reading Association, an 83,000-member group. The prize honors innovation and leadership in the field of reading education, as well as outstanding teaching, and scholarship.

McLaughlin earned the award based on letters of support from administrators, students, and colleagues.

"She has been a leader in forging new ways of thinking about literacy practices," Mary Ellen Vogt of California State University, Long Beach's department of teacher education, wrote in her letter of recommendation for McLaughlin.

"Maureen was among the first literacy educators to write about 'critical literacy' and the 'new literacies' of this decade," Vogt said. "The new literacies stem from technological advances that have brought about the need to rethink how people comprehend print and non-print messages."

McLaughlin takes a wide ranging view of the term literacy — one that moves beyond the act of simply reading words off a page. "Most people would agree reading is a thinking process," she said.

She extends the idea of literacy to such areas as math, science and media, and to the ways people decode images and draw on experience to create meaning. "It's an ability to comprehend from all of these perspectives," she said.

One particularly influential strategy that McLaughlin has developed with her ESU colleague, Mary Beth Allen, is called guided comprehension.

This strategy, which has been cited often widely by their peers and has been used in local schools, requires young readers to ask questions and predict what they think will happen next in the book they're reading.

As the students do this, they have to pay attention to the text they're reading, and draw on their existing body of knowledge as they go. It builds comprehension.

"The self questioning happens constantly as we're reading," she said. "The reader then reads on to see if the prediction is verified. So they predict and confirm."

But McLaughlin also acknowledges that new research, evidence, and brain science will inevitably lead to new methods of teaching young people how to read.

"I'm sure down the road we'll have some fabulous new way," she said.

And not a moment too soon. As one of two subject areas — with math — that are tested frequently under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, reading is a fundamental skill. It allows people to learn how to think and to organize new information as they develop.

But McLaughlin referred to a 2004 study produced by the Carnegie Corporation that found that about 8 million students in the U.S. between fourth and 12th grade struggle to read and comprehend at grade level. "There's a lot of work to be done," she said.

KASL Membership

Join today!

Kansas Association of School Librarians (KASL) provides 

connections with other school librarians through,

-automated e-mail list

-wiki

-web page

-fall conference

-spring district workshops

-Summer Institute for School Librarians

-lobbying tailored to your professional interests with the KS legislature

-directory of contact information for KASL members

-opportunity for involvement as a committee member, officer, or liaison

-promotion and advocacy resources 

-William Allen White Book Award

-development of KS Library Media Standards

-awards and scholarships

These connections have been essential to me for over twenty-five years, and I credit KASL with keeping me informed and enthusiastic about my job and better able to serve the students and teachers with whom I work. 

Join today! (MHouse)