Teachers take the summer off, right? Ha!

I don’t know a single teacher who stops thinking and learning over the summer. Whether we’re teaching summer school, doing curriculum development, taking summer classes or observing flowers and insects at the pool, there’s a small piece of a teacher’s brain associated with sharing information with kids that doesn’t shut off (OK, there are no fMRI’s to support that statement, just a bunch of anecdotal evidence).

Here are a couple of relatively painless ways for teachers to stay in touch with teaching and learning this summer, besides of course browsing Reading Rockets!

IRA’s Gateway newsletter: While you might feel e-newslettered to death, this one always has links to free book chapters and downloadable materials. For example, The May Gateway contained free Storytelling Ideas for Developing Comprehension (opens in a new window), a free chapter on Supporting Reading Comprehension (opens in a new window), and a podcast on comprehension.

The Big Fresh: This newsletter from Choice Literacy (opens in a new window) is designed with literacy coaches, teachers, and school leaders in mind. There’s always something worth reading, and a video worth watching. Many articles are available to the public, others require a subscription.

Jen Robinson’s Book Page: I’ve just started reading this blog (opens in a new window) and her Growing Bookworms Newsletter pretty regularly. There are many, many, many children’s literature blogs, but this one came across my radar several times. I appreciate her friendly tone and the fact that Jen isn’t selling or endorsing any particular publisher.

Picture Book of the Day: This is one of several blogs (opens in a new window) written by Anastasia Suen, and I usually click through her various blogs (listed in the right nav) when I browse. In general, I like her simple presentation of a book paired with a teaching suggestion. This may introduce teachers to a new book or two to consider using next year.

So, there’s a random collection of things I routinely read and that I think teachers might enjoy getting to know this summer. If you’ve got something bookmarked you would like to share, please do!

Next Week: Sorting and sending home summer reading bags