"The theme is that they tried harder and persevered." Sigh. Yeah, no. Keep reading to see what I do to teach theme (and to downloa...

  There are lots of good reasons to get your students involved in a March Madness Reading Challenge.  I'm only giving you three because ...

  There's no doubt in my mind why Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson won the Newbery this year!  It's historically accurate, filled wi...