Rosa Parks was committed to the struggle for social justice and human rights until her death, inspiring millions of people around the world. Today, we celebrate her!
Rosa Parks was born on this day in 1913.
Read Across America Day: Celebrate a Nation of Diverse Readers
Bring the celebration of reading and literacy into your classroom, library, school, and home all year long.
Celebrate Digital Learning Day today.
Students reflect on recent learning and the role digital tools and media have played in supporting or enhancing it.
Celebrate John Venn's Birthday!
Students celebrate the birth of English logician, philosopher, and creator of the Venn Diagram by building community within the classroom by comparing and contrasting likes, dislikes, and characteristics about one another.
Today is World Read Aloud Day.
Students celebrate the power of words by reading aloud to their classmates and spreading the word of global literacy to their friends and family.
Memorial Day is observed in the United States today.
Observed on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the United States military. In addition to having celebrations with family and friends, many people visit cemeteries and memorials and place flags on the grave sites of fallen servicemen and women.
Poet Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943.
Using the poem "My First Memory (of Librarians)," students connect memory, their senses, and the language of poetry.
Gwendolyn Brooks published Bronzeville Boys and Girls in 1956.
After students have read and discussed several poems from Brooks' collection, they create a poetry anthology for their own family, neighborhood, or classroom.
President Barack Obama was born today in 1961.
Students are introduced to a passage by President Barack Obama in his book Dreams from My Father and are encouraged to engage in an examination of the ways they are portrayed by the media.
Google was formally incorporated this week in 1998.
Students are guided in an exploration of search tools and have a discussion about the purposes, benefits, and disadvantages of each.
Sherman Alexie was born in 1966.
Students imagine they have been asked to participate in a museum exhibit, take photos/videos of a significant location, and write or record reflections. Students can also create an exhibit from something they have read.
Oprah Winfrey launched her book club this week in 1996.
Book clubs are created within the classroom or with a grade level or different classes.
In 1931, Toni Morrison was born.
After retelling a familiar fable, students discover the differences in one of Morrison's retellings of a fable.
Celebrate El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day)!
Using the Book Cover Creator, students write and share their own multilingual stories.
Get ready for National Bullying Prevention Month!
Students create a poster to enter into a poster contest that educates others about issues surrounding bullying.
Seamus Heaney was born on this day in 1939.
Students focus on the figurative language in Heaney's poem, "Digging," and discuss the speaker's attitude, and how metaphor, simile, and image contribute to the poem.
Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928.
Students compare and contrast two views of the Holocaust from different authors. Students may also research stories of other survivors who may or may not be published and create a presentation on this survivor.
Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828.
After dividing students into small groups, students play a variation of the game Balderdash to celebrate the publication of Webster's dictionary.
In 1939, Marian Anderson was denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall.
Students view Eleanor Roosevelt's resignation letter to the DAR in response to Andersen being denied permission to sing. Students write a letter to a newspaper editor about social injustice.
Black Beauty author Anna Sewell was born in 1820.
Through Sewell's novel, students explore the cruelty to animals and extend the discussion to current events, eventually presenting the information.