Today's Thoughtful Thursday features a delightful video from PBS News Hour in which author Jason Reynolds explains how poetry can help reluctant readers learn to love literature. Reynolds notes, "The separate stanzas aid and perpetuate a kind of incremental reading one small chunk at a time" which makes it much more approachable and enjoyable. Definitely worth viewing--it will inspire [...]
Baby, it's cold outside! As the first day of winter approaches, here in the Northeast the temperature has been dropping and the wind has been whipping up. We've gone from light breezes to gusty gales, and we have had our few first snowfalls. Just in time for the holidays! Today's Thoughtful Thursday celebrates the chilly days of almost-winter, with [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday pays tribute to three African American women poets: Jessie Redmon Fausetz, Audre Lorde, and Natasha Trethewey. Jessie Redmon Fausetz (1882-1961) played an important part in the Harlem Renaissance as the literary editor of The Crisis, a magazine founded by W.E.B.Dubois. A graduate of Cornell University in 1905, she was a teacher before and after her stint [...]
With the wind kicking up here in New York City today, it finally is beginning to feel like fall. It is only fitting then that today's Thoughtful Thursday offers up some poems to celebrate the season. In "Merry Autumn" the great African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar notes how the festive fall colors brighten up the year. Pulitzer prize [...]
Thoughtful Thursdays are back! For those new to GCP, Thoughtful Thursdays feature poetry, quotes, and other literary delights for you to enjoy and share with your sons. The first Thoughtful Thursday of Black History Month 2017 features a classic poem by Langston Hughes, "I Too, Sing America". In this poem Hughes reminds us that Americans of all hues can [...]
Looking for a wonderful picture book celebrating culture and diversity that your sons (and your daughters) will love? Rice & Rocks introduces us to the delightful young Giovanni, who is looking forward to another great Sunday of hanging out with his pet parrot Jasper and playing with his friends who are coming to dinner, until he learns that his [...]
"Tell us about your first relative to come to the United States. Where did he or she come from?" A third grader had this question for homework the other day. His dad called me in a panic: "We haven't told him about slavery yet--he's too young. How is he supposed to answer this?" After commiserating with the dad about [...]
Just took a look at the list of finalists for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and was delighted to find these books on the list. They are great books to consider for your middle school sons! "Booked" by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt): This novel-in-verse tells the story of 12 year old Nick, a soccer-loving middle [...]
Summer is almost here! But along with summer fun comes summer slide, the learning loss that occurs when children do no educational activity during the summer months of no school. That loss is real: studies show that most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Experts also agree that [...]
Now is the time to focus on your sons' summer reading plans. If you have an avid reader, make time to stop at the library or the book store and pick up some fun books for the summer. If your son would rather do almost anything other than read, then you will need to give him some incentive to [...]