Are you a read-aloud family? Do you want to read-aloud more? Are you ready to accept the 100 Book Read-Aloud Family Challenge and record your family's amazing adventure through 100 books? The rules are simple: 1. Read a book aloud with your kids. (A picture book, chapter book, novel, it's up to you.) 2. Record your family's book experience in your journal. (Favorite characters, favorite scenes, things that surprised you, things you loved, parts that made you laugh or cry, etc.) 3. Repeat 99 more times. (Share your progress with friends using #100BooksTogether) 4. Cherish your read-aloud memories forever! Families everywhere are discovering that reading-aloud is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your kids, and keep your family strong! Accept the challenge today, and record your family's one-and-only remarkable journey through 100 books!

Discover practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual. The stories we read--and the conversations we have about them--help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family--it has the power to change the world. But we all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn't always easy to do. Discover how to: Prepare your kids for academic success through reading to them Develop empathy and compassion in your kids through books Find time to read aloud in the midst of school, sports, and dinner dishes Choose books across a variety of sibling interests and ages Make reading aloud the best part of your family's day The Read-Aloud Family also offers age-appropriate book lists from infancy through adolescence. From a toddler's wonder to a teenager's resistance, you will find the inspiration you need to start a read-aloud movement in your own home.

A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction. A miraculous alchemy occurs when one person reads to another, transforming the simple stuff of a book, a voice, and a bit of time into complex and powerful fuel for the heart, brain, and imagination. Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too. Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures. Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

Follows a child through all the big first grade moments.

In the book of Philippians we are told to be anxious over nothing, and yet we are anxious over everything. We worry that our students will be "behind," that they won't score well on the SAT, get into a good college, or read enough of the Great Books. Our souls are restless, anxiously wondering if something else out there might be just a little bit better -- if maybe there is another way or another curriculum that might prove to be superior to what we are doing now. God doesn't call us to this work and then turn away to tend to other, more important matters. He promises to stay with us. He assures us that if we rely on Him alone, then He will provide all that we need. What that means on a practical level is that we have to stop fretting over every little detail. We need to stop comparing. We've got to drop the self-inflated view that we are the be-all-end-all of whether the education we are offering our students is going to be as successful as we hope it is. After all, our job is not to be successful -- success itself is entirely beside the point. It's faithfulness that He wants.

This stylish journal created exclusively for book lovers includes custom reading lists, charming literary quotes, and plenty of room to record what you've read and what you'd love to read. "Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind."--Toni Morrison Designed by a book lover for book lovers, My Reading Life is the ideal companion for all your literary adventures. Anne Bogel, better known online as The Modern Mrs. Darcy, provides you with insightful reading lists for every popular genre and each season. She even helps you determine the kinds of books you'd most like to read based on your interests. You'll also appreciate the sleek, compact design, perfect for taking on the go to the library, bookstore, or your next book club gathering. So much more than just a journal, this book is a joyful celebration of the written word, one that will significantly enrich every day of your reading life.

This honest, clearly written, and accessible book shows how to use Family Dialogue Journals (FDJs) to increase and deepen learning across grade levels. Written by K–12 teachers who have been implementing and studying the use of weekly journals for several years, it shares what they have learned and why they have found FDJs to be an invaluable tool for forming effective partnerships with families. Learn from first-hand accounts how students write weekly about one big idea they have studied, ask a family member a related question, and then solicit their writing in the journal. Through these journal entries, they share their family knowledge with classmates while actively engaging with the curriculum. In turn, teachers extend the academic discussion by writing to each family and incorporating their funds of knowledge into classroom lessons—writing about everything from the use of thermometers to life in Michoacán, Mexico. Family participation in the FDJs is remarkably high across ages, ethnicities, and economic realities. “This is an incredibly readable book that is highly useful for teachers, teacher educators, and university researchers interested in this powerful practice. The descriptions of the classrooms are riveting and exemplify the kind of teaching we would all like to see in every classroom.” —Kathy Schultz, dean and professor, Mills College “Family Dialogue Journals is a beautiful, socially conscious book offering so much wisdom for curriculum, classroom norms, and creating learning-focused contexts. Readers will be immersed in classroom contexts, teachers’ decisionmaking processes, and practical advice about how to foster a humble, genuine, ongoing dialogue built upon mutual respect and openness with their students and students’ families. Family Dialogue Journals doesn’t just demonstrate the power of interpersonal relationships, it links those dialogues and relationships directly to curriculum and supporting students’ critical literacies of both community and academic ways of knowing and being Family Dialogue Journals is a beautiful, socially conscious book offering so much wisdom for curriculum, classroom norms, and creating learning-focused contexts.” —Stephanie Jones, professor, University of Georgia