Book: Ghost Boys

GHOST BOYS by Jewell Parker Rhodes tells the powerful and timely story of a black boy killed by a white police officer.

The story begins with the death of twelve-year-old African American boy. Jerome shares his experiences with bullying and poverty leading up to his death while playing in a park with a toy gun. In alternating chapters, Jerome’s ghost meets the daughter of the police officer who shot him. He also learns about the history of other ghost boys who met a fate similar to his.

Librarians will find this compelling story is effective in tackling tough issues including gun violence, racial bias, and class differences. The easy-to-read, fast paced story would work well in reading groups or as part of class discussions connected with current events.

Look for this title on the “best of intermediate level books” for 2018.

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Hachette Book Group on April 17, 2018. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

Website Review: Youngzine

YOUNGZINE is a website sharing current news and events for school aged children.

This engaging website is organized into six categories including world news, science, technology, our earth, history, and society/art. In addition to text, most articles also contain images and sometimes an embedded video. Feature length articles are updated weekly and news flashes are released several times per week.

Experts are encouraged to submit articles in the area of science, technology, environment, culture/arts, careers, and life skills.

The Unwrite section features art, poetry, reports, and stories submitted by readers. Both children and adults are encouraged to contribute articles providing an opportunity for authentic writing experiences for students.

The Play Zine contains comics, contests, polls, jokes, and fun activities.

Librarians will find this resource provides both excellent content as well as an opportunity to involve students in real-world writing activities. Encourage teachers to set up their own classroom accounts to extend the experience.

To visit the website, go to http://www.youngzine.org.

Website Review: XYZA News for Kids

XYZA: NEWS FOR KIDS is a news website and app designed for children.

This attractive current events site contains easy-to-read news articles organized into categories including world, government, arts, science, sports, technology, fun, and entertainment.

Librarians will find this website to be a useful resource for informational reading across the curriculum. The short articles, interesting topics, and colorful photographs are sure to attract student attention.

A subscription-based program is available that allows users to customize their news page and participate in the Junior Reporter Program that encourages youth to submit their own articles, interviews, reviews, and more.

The resource is also available on iTunes as an app.

To visit the website, go to https://www.xyzanews.com/.

Technology Review: Listenwise

LISTENWISE is an educational website focusing on listening comprehension through audio programs.

The website is organized into three sections: Social Studies, Science, and English Language Arts (ELA). Users can search for lessons in their area of interest. Results can be narrows by subject, language challenge, grade level, and type.

A current events section is particularly useful. New news items are added every day. Each entry contains a title, short description, question, and audio. Tags are provided to assist users in locating related topics.

A blog contains up-to-date information about resources and how they might be used in teaching and learning. A research section provides information about listening comprehension.

Librarians will find endless curriculum applications of this website. Mine each section for programs that connect to local standards. Although a premium service is offered, many high-quality resources are available for free.

To visit the website, go to https://listenwise.com/.

Website Review: Whitehouse.gov

Feature the WHITEHOUSE website at http://www.whitehouse.gov as part of your President’s Day activities.

The Whitehouse website is organized into five major sections that are easy to access and use.

The Briefing Room section features timely information about the President’s activities and public statements. Think about ways that proclamations and executive orders could be integrated into informational reading activities related to language arts and social studies.

The Issues section examines key issues facing the nation and plans for addressing these challenges. Economy, education, energy and the environment, immigration, and health care are a few of the hot topics addressed. This page would be an excellent way to kick off information inquiry projects that make use of contemporary primary source documents.

The Administration section highlights the key people in the Obama-Biden administration. It also includes information about the Offices of the White House and current initiatives such as Let’s Move!

The Participate section encourages the public to participate in White House activities including Google+ Hangouts known as We the Geeks. Follow the Whitehouse on social media including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and others. This is an excellent activity to promote digital citizenship in your library.

The 1600 Penn section is a content-rich resource for learning about the US government, the Whitehouse, and the presidency. Of particular note is the excellent database of American Presidents at http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents.

To learn more, go to the Whitehouse website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/.

Website Review: TweenTribune

TWEENTRIBUNE from the Smithsonian Institution is a newly launched website focusing on news and information for K-12 students.

The project is designed so that teachers can make reading assignments and involve youth in posting public or private comments. Free teacher accounts allow educators to create 9 classrooms and manage student accounts for each classroom.

The home page contains chronological access to the latest article postings. Each article contains a photo, caption, short article, and critical thinking challenge. The Lexile reading level can be selected, a comment can be added, an option is provided to assign the article to students, and a quiz link is also provided.

One of the most useful aspects of the site is the ability to choose the Lexile level for a reading assignment. While each article contains a default Lexile such as 900L, the article may also be displayed as 680L, 1090, or 1310L. A master list of articles can be listed by Lexile levels from 500L to 1600L. Teachers can also explore articles by topic such as animals, art, entertainment, fashion, and science.

In addition to the articles, a Photo of the Day area is designed for youth to write their own captions to match interesting photos.

Teachers can assign an article for a particular classroom and add a message. For instance, they might ask students to address a question using the comment feature. Quiz questions can also be assigned and student results recorded.

Common Core aligned lesson ideas are available that help connect the informational reading experience to practical assignments.

The TTJunior and TTTeens sections present articles of particular interest to younger and older youth. The TTEspanol section is still under development.

School librarians can partner with teachers to build an exciting informational reading experience across content areas. Consider a school-wide approach that involves students in reading and discussing current events.

To get started, go to http://tweentribune.com/
To visit TTJunior, go to http://tweentribune.com/junior
To visit TTTeens, go to http://tweentribune.com/teen
To visit TTEspanol, go to http://tweentribune.com/spanish
To visit the Lessons, go to http://tweentribune.com/lessonplans