Kids love finding out about their favorite authors. Here are some popular middle grade writer and series websites for them, their families and their teachers to check out!
This is an update to the list, and we plan to update it again in the near future, so if you’d like to find out more about an author not here, let us know in the comments section.
Sometimes, as a teacher, you need resources right away – time is short and the need is huge to help a student find exactly what they need to practice a skill, or maybe you’re looking for one more idea to spark the discussion in class. I spent 15 years as an elementary educator, not as a classroom teacher, but as resource specialist, paraeducator and librarian. My job was always helping classroom teachers to do their jobs better. I think it will always be my job!
I’ve been working on a project for the past several months with other middle grade authors – including fellow MUF Julie Artz!- meant to help teachers and their students find what they’re looking for without having to search too much.
More about our project in a bit, but what I really wanted to do is touch on some great resources for all the core areas of a Middle Grade teacher’s curriculum needs. I’ve collected a few links that might be useful for you. Once a librarian, always a librarian, you know…
Math
I really appreciate Learn Zillion’s page, which shows at a glance the math skills expected for each grade. I would then be able to apply the resources I found at K-5MathTeach to those skills right away, without hunting through several webpages.
Science
When looking for great science resources, I always start at the NSTA website, at nsta.org. But how to wade through everything on offer?
Start at their Freebies page and search using their Books and Resources “Freebies for Teachers” search engine. [crop and insert screen shot] You can also click the link to their other free resources on the same page.
National Education Association also has a good website for STEM resources, with this list including both curriculum resources and professional development opportunities.
Arts
The J. Paul Getty Museum has a great page called ArtEdsNet, full of resources for the classroom, and there I found links to curriculum on all kinds of topics. A peek at one or two confirmed that there is not only online content you can use, but downloads with teacher and student content for the classroom. I wish there were time to follow every lead to explore more fun learning!
I wanted to make sure to provide resources that are available for teachers to use even without student access to computers, and though not all of the activities here: http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia/Search/Art and Design are printable, some, such as the buffalo hide project, are.
Humanities/Social Studies
The National Council for the Social Studies also has a site which allows you to search for resources by topic and grade level.
And now, a shameless plug! Gather Here: History for Young People is the site Julie Artz and other middle grade authors are building with me. Though our main focus is on Washington State history for the middle grades, the Resources page contains links to general topics on history and culture as well. As with the others listed above, we wanted to be sure that there is content for teachers to use even without Internet access for students. With that aim, many of the blog articles will soon be available in pdf form, too.
What types of resources do you love to use in the classroom? What are you having trouble finding? Let us know in the comments. I’d love to provide more posts that point you to resources you can use.
When you read an article like this about diversity in children’s literature, you are likely to see statistics cited. Those statistics often come from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, or CCBC, which has been tracking trends in children’s literature, with a special emphasis on diversity, for decades.
The CCBC is a research library on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus devoted to books for children and young adults. For over fifty years, the CCBC has been serving the University community as well as teachers, librarians, and book lovers statewide.
If you are in Madison, you can visit the CCBC and wander aimlessly through the stacks or you can have one of the very helpful librarians help you find what you are looking for. You can attend book discussions and presentations by the very helpful librarians, and lectures by famous writers and illustrators. For example, the Charlotte Zolotow Lecture is held every fall. Past lecturers included Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, and Rita Williams-Garcia. Some of the lectures have been archived on video. This year’s lecture will be presented by Yuyi Morales.
The CCBC has recently moved to a larger space. They took their old friend Paul Bunyan with them.
He’s been in the CCBC, wherever it’s been located, since 1963.
There’s a new feature in the new space, a mural based on Lois Ehlert’s Planting a Rainbow. (Since it’s on window instead of a wall, should it be called a fenestral?)
If you find yourself in Madison, check out the CCBC, but there’s one thing you can’t do at this library—check out books.
Even if you can’t get there in person, you can still use many of the resources at the CCBC. One of the most unique is the online exhibit of drafts of Ellen Raskin’s Newbery-award-winning book The Westing Game, along with notes, galleys, and an audio recording of Raskin talking about the manuscript. It provides a wonderful insight into the writing and book design process.
One of the most popular resources is CHOICES, the annual best-of-the-year book published by the CCBC. Each issue of CHOICES includes an essay on that year’s publishing trends, a description of each book (there are 259 in this year’s issue), and author/title/illustrator and subject indexes. You can get the list of this year’s books here. If you want to get your hands on the book itself, go here (or enter the giveaway at the end of this post).
The Charlotte Zolotow Award is presented by the CCBC every year and recognizes outstanding writing in picture books for children.
On the website, you will find pages full of information about Harry Potter and graphic novels. There are videos highlighting great new books, podcasts, webcasts, and interviews. The carefully curated bibliographies and booklists cover a wide range of topics from poetry to bullying to food. And don’t miss the CCBlogC for the latest news and books.
The CCBC provides services to Wisconsin librarians and teachers who are facing book challenges. There are also resources for anyone dealing with intellectual freedom issues.
Many of the activities of the CCBC are supported by the Friends of the CCBC. The Friends help out with the publication of CHOICES, the events and awards, and with outreach by the librarians. And the book sale. Oh, the book sale! The CCBC receives thousands of books each year. Even in the new, bigger space, they can’t keep them all. Twice a year, the Friends sell the extra books to raise funds for their activities. A couple of weeks ago, I scored a grocery bag full of some great books at the spring sale. I also picked up five issues of CHOICES (2011-2015) to send to one lucky winner. Enter here:
Jacqueline Houtman has used the collection at the CCBC to study books with autistic characters while she was working on The Reinvention of Edison Thomas, and to study biographies for young people while she was working on Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist. She served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the CCBC for three years.
