School must be starting soon. Ms Ghareeb is already hearing the sixth-grade voices:
“ My Teacher doesn’t like me. That’s why she gave me a D.”
“Middle school is TOO HARD. I can’t do it.”
” All the (books, teachers, kids, whatever) here are dumb. I liked my old school better.”
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this year I [...]
So, testing begins on Monday at our school. The Administration is all geared up. Pencils are being sharpened. Teachers are either a frenzied whirlwind of comma-usage review, or are are completely spent. Oh yeah, and the kids might be more than a little stressed.
This is a cute picture book I always wind up reading to some [...]
So far this week, I’m 0-for-3. I sent all three books I was reviewing for my library back to Library Services with the same post-it attached: Too mature for middle school, please send for high school review.
There has been much discussion in our district about where boundaries are between middle school and high school fiction. [...]
I read just about every new novel that comes into our library before the kids get hold of it. The Orca Sounding series offers high-interest books about topics teens will actually be interested in, but written at 3-5 th grade reading levels, making these short and relevant novels accessible even to struggling redaers. Here are [...]
I get this all the time: “I don’t like reading because there aren’t any good books.” The child who says this is immediately becomes my best friend. I WILL find a book for this kid, and you can bet he’ll read it and maybe even like it.
And I can’t entirely blame them. These kids are [...]
Ameelia Ghareeb is a middle school Librarian in Long Beach, CA, and has been employed in the field of education for 13 years. She is credentialed in English/Language Arts and School Librarianship, and holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education. Read More