Teach Brightly

Tween

Tight Is a Reflection of Real-Life Kids and the Settings They Know

Kids will love the books if the books love them. I have taught middle school for nearly 20 years and I feel that is true. My dream as a teacher is my dream as an author: to provide books for kids to love, books that will love kids back, and to share stories that help them see things as more complex.

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Pre-K

Growing Reader

6 Picture Books and Classroom Activities To Introduce the Importance of Names

As students get to know one another, use these books and activities to discuss names, cultural backgrounds, and family stories.

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Pre-K

Growing Reader

A Printable Educator’s Guide to We’re All Wonders

Teach your students to Choose Kind with these discussion questions and classroom activities inspired by R. J. Palacio’s We’re All Wonders and aligned to Common Core Standards.

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Pre-K

Growing Reader

8 Classroom Read-Alouds and Activities to Start the School Year

Sharing great books encourages students’ critical thinking through rich discussion, coaxes them to come together as a group of learners, and fosters warmth, wonder, and respect among peers.

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Pre-K

Growing Reader

11 Picture Books That Teach Kids About Letter Writing

Despite the rise of technology, kids still need to know how to write a letter to someone, even if it’s via email. Use these playful picture books in the classroom to model communication, letter structure, and writing with voice.

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Growing Reader

Tween

A Printable Educator’s Guide to Mad Libs

This Mad Libs-inspired curriculum guide provides a fun and engaging way to reinforce your students’ grammar, reading comprehension, and vocabulary skills.

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Growing Reader

Mentor Texts To Teach Children Personal Narrative Writing

Studying fantastic mentor texts exposes students to examples that elevate their personal narrative writing. To expand your classroom’s collection of personal narrative mentor texts, consider these picture books.

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Tween

Teen

Brightly’s Book Club for Kids: The Night Diary

Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary is an empathy-building, engaging historical novel that middle grade, young adult, and grown-up readers can all enjoy. Dive deeper into the story with these discussion questions and activities for kids.

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Growing Reader

Tween

10 Imaginative Scenes for Teaching Children to Visualize as They Read

Whether students naturally imagine as they read or need to be taught to do so, they can all benefit from structured practice creating mental images with books like these.

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Pre-K

Growing Reader

A Printable Educator’s Guide to R Is for Rocket: An ABC Book

Explore Common Core Language Arts Anchor Standards with these accessible and engaging R Is for Rocket lesson plans.

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Growing Reader

Tween

Why Kids Say They Love Fairy Tales

Almost any young person can tell you the basic plot of Cinderella or Hansel & Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood. What is it about this genre of stories that make them so memorable and so loved by kids and adults?

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Grown-Up Reads

Tips & Advice

How to Model Your Own Love of Reading in the Classroom (and Why It’s Important)

As teachers, we work to create an impactful learning community in our classrooms, a place where children not only see themselves as readers but also love to read.

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