Reading for All Seasons

When I spoke at the Nevada Reading Week Conference in Reno, Nevada on February 23 - 24, 2007 the conference had t-shirts designed by a local artist and sold as the official t-shirt. The conference was organized by the terrific Ellen Fockler who has been the main stay of this conference for many years.

The t-shirts were fun designs with ducks stacked in a "pile" and all reading books. Here is a picture of the cutest four children (in Nevada and beyond) wearing their shirts. From left to right: E.J. (age 6), Marissa (age 2 mo), Kylie (age 4), Kaydence (age 2).

In Nevada I gave a keynote address : What Does a Sixteen-Foot Gazoo Have to Do with Reading? and on the following day provided workshops showcasing great new books from 2006: 25 Best Books—Meet Marvelous Mattie, Owen, Mzee, and More; and Authors in the Kitchen: Connecting Books from Little Red Hen to Gator Stew (Feb. 24)

The Following week I was in Wichita, Kansas presenting four workshops for SDE for the first grade conference being held here.

• Top 25 Best New Books for the First Grade Classroom
• Poems, Prose and People-First Grade
• Picture Books and Six Trait Writing-First Grade
• Reading Across the First Grade Curriculum

If you are interested in some of the handouts used for these workshops can be located on my website -- http://www.mcelmeel.com. Click on curriculum and then on presentation handouts. Search around you might find some interesting things.