# data[].attributes.body
The Day My Teacher Burned the Popcorn- Annette Steele
Picnic at Mudstock Meadow- Patricia Polacco
Jamaica Sandwich- Brian P. Cleary
In The Night Kitchen- Maurice Sendak
What is Thanksgiving?- Harriet Ziefert
How Pizza Came to Queens- Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Pancakes, Pancakes!- Eric Carle
Zak's Lunch- Margie Palatini
Mouse Mess- Linnea Riley
Feathers for Lunch- Lois Ehlert
How Do Dinosaurs Eat their Lunch?- Jane Yolen
If You Plant a Seed- Kadir Melson

# data[].attributes.body
"When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.

The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to age five, through funding shared by Dolly Parton and local community partners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland.

Inspired by her father's inability to read and write Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 2 million free books each month to children around the world.

"When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.

The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.

# data[].attributes.body
"The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is focused on fulfilling its mission by providing low-income families across the nation with scholarships to learn together. We partner with a network of high-performing local family literacy programs that help both young children and their parents learn how to read and write. When families share a love of reading, children have a far greater chance to live more productive and healthier lives, graduate from high school and obtain a better job. Supporting family literacy programs is a win-win for parents and children where they acquire basic literacy skills that help them advance their education and provide greater opportunities to succeed."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Barbara Bush Foundation For Family Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Home - Barbara Bush Foundation For Family Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Barbara Bush's passion for literacy has impacted millions of families and will continue to do so for generations to come. The Barbara Bush Foundation is committed to carrying on her legacy of literacy. Learn more about our 2019 plans that will continue to strengthen and advance literacy in the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
"Informational texts generate wonderful conversations and help parents to enjoy being co-learners with their children," (Hoyt, 2002).

# data[].attributes.body
"Here is another problem: It is known that that children's preschool experiences with books and print also contribute to their success in learning to read once they arrive in school (Snow et. al., 1998; Teale &Sulzby, 1987). But low-income families have far less access to books than middle-class families do, " (Temple et. al., 2010).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.

Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.

Teacher Resources by Grade

Your students can save their work with Student Interactives.

More

Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan

Grades

K - 2

Lesson Plan Type

Recurring Lesson

Estimated Time

5-7 minutes per session

Lesson Author

Publisher

Featured Resources From Theory to Practice
OVERVIEW

Students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book to read with their families, art supplies, a topic to discuss, and a journal to complete as a family. The students then return the bag the following day and share their entries with the class. After every student has taken the bag home, the journal is bound into a book for the classroom library. The teacher then selects a new topic and book to start a second rotation. The goal is to invite parents to join their children in these literacy activities.
back to top
FEATURED RESOURCES
back to top
List of Suggested Books: This booklist includes tips for choosing quality books for a take-home literacy activity, as well as several examples of appropriate books.

Listening and Speaking Rubric: Students can use this rubric to self-assess any activity that requires speaking to the class and listening as classmates speak.

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

In her book Radical Reflections, Mem Fox states: "I'm certain that learning to read and learning to love reading owe a great deal (much more that we ever dreamed) to the nature of the human relationships that occur around and through books. If we could sneak into the homes of avid readers, I think we'd discover very often that the comfortable relationship between an older reader and a younger reader during the shared reading of a mutually loved book might be a key factor in the child's success." (136)

Engaging families in literacy activities can help foster this love of reading. Charlene Endrizzi urges, "When family-school partnerships are perceived as opportunities for families and teachers to learn together deliberately, they transform parent-teacher interactions. Each September, as teachers... recognize the need to respect a child's years of learning beyond their classroom, they intentionally set out to build bridges and work to unite community, home, and school learning experiences." (18)

This lesson offers one way to build a bridge between the home and school learning experience, through a fun, take-home literacy activity.

Further Reading
back to top
Mem Fox. 1993. Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living. Harcourt Brace & Company.

Endrizzi, Charlene Klassen. 2008. Becoming Teammates: Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Have Journal...Will Travel: Promoting Family Involvement in Literacy - ReadWriteThink

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.

# data[].attributes.body
CC.1.2.PREK.C:

With prompting and support, make connections between information in a text and personal experiences.

CC.1.1.K.E

Read emergent-reader text with purpose and understanding.

CC.1.2.1.J

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading, and being read to, and responding to texts, including words that signal connections and relationships between the words and phrases.

CC.1.3.2.J

Acquire and use grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases.

CC.1.3.3.J

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

CC.1.2.4.F

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade-level text, including figurative language

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Family Literacy Night, a 21st Century iClass event in partnership with Scholastic Book Fairs, was more than just an event for the parents and students to learn helpful literacy tips. It was also an evening where they were given the opportunity to meet one of the best linebackers in Tampa Bay Buccaneer history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
City Year decides to kick it old school in or

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.