Editorial Calendar

January

Features

• Use of technology in supporting reading
• Motivation
• Writing strategies (in support of Our White House letter writing contest)

Books & Authors

• Interview: Mary Brigid Barrett
• Interview: Mem Fox

Celebrations and Events

• Inauguration
• White House letters writing contest
• MLK, Jr. Day; National Day of Service

Featured Partners

• NCTI
• CITed

February

Features

• Comprehension (using fiction and nonfiction to build comprehension skills; building background knowledge; assessment)
• Small-group instruction and tutoring
• Volunteering (co-reading; peer tutoring)
• Standardized testing and "high-stakes tests" (test preparation strategies; accommodations)

Books & Authors

• Interview: Deborah Hopkinson
• Interview: Leonard Marcus

Celebrations and Events

• Black History Month
• NCTE Black Caucus African-American Read-In
• 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln
• National School Counseling Week

Featured Partners

• NCTE Black Caucus
• ASCA

March

Features

• Writing (strategies; assessment)
• Learning/reading and the brain
• Gender issues
• Differentiating instruction
• Kindergarten (readiness; children with disabilities)

Books & Authors

• Interview: Emily Gravett
• Interview: Eric Carle

Celebrations and Events

• Read Across America
• Brain Awareness Month
• 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Featured Partner

• NEA

April

Features

• Progress monitoring (portfolio assessments)
• Poetry
• Making the most of libraries (what parents/teachers should ask public librarians for)
• Principals/school leaders (what research means to/for them; how to build coalitions; engagement of key personnel; evaluations of specific reading programs (from BEE, WW, FCRR); extended day and/or other school reform models

Books & Authors

• Interview: Carole Boston Weatherford

Celebrations

• Dia de los Ninos/Libros
• D.E.A.R.
• National Poetry Month
• National Library Week
• Earth Day

Featured Partners

• ALA
• ALSC

May

Features

• Summer reading
• Educational programming and literacy
• ELL model programs

Books & Authors

• Interview: John Muth
• Summer reading booklists
• Professional development booklist

Celebrations and Events

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
• Teacher and paraprofessional appreciation (e-cards)
• National Children's Book Week
• Better Speech and Hearing Month
• Mother's Day

Featured Partners

• ASHA
• Joan Ganz Cooney Center

June

Features

• Tutoring & summer programs
• Fiction and nonfiction, related to vacation and children's free time
• Home resources (to help with home teaching/learning efforts)
• Father's role in child's literacy development
• Transferring schools (different types of schools including charter, homeschooling, magnet, and private; advice about getting your child settled; IEP implications

Books & Authors

• Interview: Marla Frazee

Celebrations and Events

• Father's Day

Featured Partners

• Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning
• Parents as Teachers

July

Features

• Tomorrow's leaders: kids who are problem solvers, critical readers and thinkers, able to understand "other literacies" such as visual, media, math, and financial
• Tomorrow's leaders: teachers, including pre-service, first-year teachers, teacher mentoring models, and literacy coaches
Tomorrow's leaders: school-wide literacy leaders
• Early Literacy and Preschool

Books & Authors

• Interview: Sneed Collard
• Interview: Greg Tang

Celebrations and Events

• Fourth of July

Featured Partners

• NHSA
• NAESP

August

Features

• Gearing up for the new school year (back-to-school "backpack" for teachers and parents
• Creating a welcoming classroom
• Creating a print-rich classroom
• Everyone has a role in teaching reading, including paraprofessionals, content-area teachers, school librarians, and specialists

Books & Authors

• Interview: Candace Fleming

Featured Partner

• National PTA

September

Features

• Phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and concepts of print (teaching strategies; assessment)
• Transitions: 3rd to 4th grade and kindergarten to school
• Home/school connections
• Individualized education plans (IEPs)
• Screening for reading abilities/deficits
• Update of Reading Rocket's "Target the Problem" section
• Student engagement, including how to engage and draw out reluctant speakers; silent period with ELLs

Books & Authors

• Interview: Sid Fleischman
• Booklist: Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrations and Events

• Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15-Oct 15)
• U.N. International Literacy Day
• Banned Books Week
• Constitution Day
• Festival of the Book (Washington, D.C.)

Featured Partner

• Reach Out and Read

October

Features

• Phonics
• Spelling
• Learning disabilities overview
• Social skills for children with LD
• Homework (study skills; book challenges; helping the kid who hates school)
• Parent/teacher conferences
• Response to intervention

Books & Authors

• Interview: Jacqueline Woodson

Celebrations and Events

• National LD Awareness Month
• Jumpstart's Read for the Record
• National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week

Featured Partner

• NCLD

November

Features

• Fluency
• High-low, just-right, and other ways to match books with readers
• Family literacy
• Oral storytelling
• Engaging parents with schools

Books & Authors

• Interview: McKissack family
• Booklist: National American Indian/Alaskan Native Heritage Month

Celebrations and events

• National American Indian/Alaskan Native Heritage Month
• Family Literacy Day
• School Psychology Awareness Week
• Thanksgiving

Featured Partners

• NCPIE, NCFL
• NASP

December

Features

• Vocabulary
• Academic language
• Background knowledge
• Community of learners (Joplin plan and other student grouping strategies for classroom)
• "It Takes a Village" pack (creating situations and environments that are welcoming to all sorts of people)
• Building a home library

Books & Authors

• Interview: John Bemelmans Marciano
• Books as Gifts holiday guide
• Holiday e-card

Featured Partners

• Newspapers in Education
• First Book