In this book, leading researchers spotlight how dramatically the practice of adoption has changed both in North America and Europe in recent decades due to, among other factors, a falling rate of domestically born infants being placed for adoption. This has resulted in a rise in international adoption, children of color being placed with Caucasian parents, increased foster care and special needs adoptions including children exposed to prenatal alcohol and drug use as well as maltreatment by birth parents. Also examined is the far more diverse group of adults being granted adoption rights, including single and homosexual parents. Research findings demonstrate the trend across countries toward open adoption, wherein the birth parents and adoptive parents meet to share information. As the editors note, there is no longer a typical adopted child or a typical adoptive family.
Paralleling these changes has been a growing interest in the study of adopted children and adoptive parents. Although earlier research showed adoptees more likely to experience school problems and psychological disorders, recent studies show the differences in these areas between adoptees and non-adoptees to be relatively small. Models guiding adoption research are beginning to emphasize resilience and positive adaptation, rather than risk and psychopathology. This handbook will be of interest to all involved with adoption policy and practice.

I Am Reading: Nurturing Young Children's Meaning Making and Joyful Engagement with Any Book

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Glover, Matt

Collins, Kathy

Psychology & Counseling

Heinemann

It's vital that we support young children's reading in ways that nurture healthy reading identities, that foster an attraction to books and a love of reading, and that teach them how make meaning in any text they choose, whether or not they can read the words. -Kathy Collins and Matt Glover What do we see when young children interact with books before they can read the words? Kathy Collins and Matt Glover see real reading, characterized by purposeful meaning-making and opportunities for reading growth and language development. "One of our biggest hopes," write Kathy and Matt, "is to help you see and value all of the powerful work young children do as readers." With I Am Reading you'll see that fostering what little ones do before they can read the words is important early instruction. Kathy and Matt show how to nurture, nudge, and instruct young readers to make meaning in any text, whether or not they are reading the words. They share: <ul>
<li>observation guides for children reading any kind of book</li> <li>specific descriptions of language and independence development </li> <li>sample reading conferences and whole-class minilessons</li> <li>suggestions for creating reading opportunities in preschool and reading workshops in K-1</li> <li>action plans to get you going</li> <li>25 online video clips of children making meaning and teachers supporting them.</li> </ul>
I Am Reading pairs two important voices in early literacy to remind us that we're teaching children, not reading levels. "In the rush toward ever higher reading levels in the early years," write Kathy and Matt, "we may fail to value the strategy use and high-level thinking children do before they are reading conventionally." Join Kathy and Matt and look anew at your young readers so you can provide the kind of support that gets them off to a great start.

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

"In her inspirational, well-researched book, Renee describes the kinds of learning opportunities that all parents want for their own children. Her accessible writing style makes it easy to envision the environment, teaching, and community she describes with such clarity you'll want to get started on her ideas tomorrow." -Jennifer Serravallo "How refreshing it is in a test-driven climate to read a book stressing the nurturing of imagination and empathy that comes from inquiry, play and children making choices." -Deborah Meier "The bottom line is when children are at play, they're not just playing--they're learning machines, and play is the engine that drives them." -Renee Dinnerstein How do you define play and choice time in early childhood classrooms? According to Renee Dinnerstein,"During choice time, children choose to play in a variety of centers that have been carefully designed and equipped to scaffold children's natural instinct for play." In Choice Time, Renee gives you everything you need to set up choice-time centers that promote inquiry-based, guided play in your classroom. Renee summarizes the research, describing the different kinds of play and why they are important. Then she dives into the nitty gritty, providing: <ul>
<li>blueprints for six proven choice-time centers, with variations</li> <li>a guide to arranging your classroom space to maximize play's value and support the child's growing independence</li> <li>scheduling suggestions for different grade levels</li> <li>ideas to connect centers to the curriculum, giving children greater agency in designing and planning centers.</li> </ul>
Renee reveals what can happen when you embrace a culture of inquiry, providing opportunities for children to be explorative and creative in their thinking. She believes that, "A child's engagement is the most powerful asset we have for teaching and learning." Give your students choice time, and watch them engage in joyful, important, playful, age-appropriate work that will empower them to become lifelong learners.

Choice Time: How to Deepen Learning Through Inquiry and Play, PreK-2

Dinnerstein, Renee

While schools around the nation reconsider homework policies, teachers, students, and parents continue to ride the wave of either too much, too little, too easy, or too hard homework assignments. In the expectation that children complete homework, sometimes they are assigned mindless "busy work." Kathy Collins and Janine Bempechat take on the stormy topic of homework by re-focusing the conversation from "to assign or not to assign" to how we can design engaging homework that harnesses children's interests and fosters their learning. "Janine and I give you a research-based rationale and a more expansive view of homework that enables you to envision meaningful alternatives to worksheets, packets, and tasks that simply occupy children's afterschool time," Kathy writes. As Janine notes, "More than just 'getting it done,' homework can be an opportunity to foster positive beliefs about learning, establish meaningful habits of mind, and forge an academic identity." With strategies for adding choice, differentiation, relevance, and authentic feedback into homework assignments, you'll discover how to reimagine homework in ways that promote lifelong learning habits in your students.

No More Mindless Homework (NOT THIS, BUT THAT)

Keene, Ellin Oliver

Bempechat, Janine

Duke, Nell K.

Sherry Cole is a Cherokee woman who has escaped an abusive husband and raised her daughter alone. After her unhappy marriage and a second disillusioning relationship, she fears being hurt again. Although she is Christian, she has turned to the old ways of her people hoping to mend her broken heart.Russell Doyle is Kiowa and grew up with domestic violence to become an alcoholic and bar fighter. When his drinking almost costs his young son's life, he finds Jesus and Recovery. Believing that his Indian DNA is responsible for his problem, he has turned away from his traditions. When his wife is killed in a car crash, he transfers to the store where Sherry works.Can these two come full circle; find the balance and healing only the Lord can give and love again? Kathy Collins lives in eastern Virginia.She works in a Christian Elementary SchoolAnd is proud to be an enrolled member of theSoutheastern Cherokee Council, in Ochlocknee, Georgi

Full Circle

Parenting & Relationships

Family Relationships

Xulon Press

Primary-grade teachers face an important challenge: teaching children how to read while enabling them to build good habits so they fall in love with reading. Many teachers find the independent reading workshop to be the component of reading instruction that meets this challenge because it makes it possible to teach the reading skills and strategies children need and guides them toward independence, intention, and joy as readers. In Growing Readers, Kathy Collins helps teachers plan for independent reading workshops in their own classrooms. She describes the structure of the independent reading workshop and other components of a balanced literacy program that work together to ensure young students grow into strong, well-rounded readers. Kathy outlines a sequence of possible units of study for a yearlong curriculum. Chapters are devoted to the individual units of study and include a sample curriculum as well as examples of mini-lessons and reading conferences. There are also four “Getting Ready” sections that suggest some behind-the-scenes work teachers can do to prepare for the units. Topics explored in these units include:print and comprehension strategies;reading in genres such as poetry and nonfiction;connecting in-school reading and out-of-school reading;developing the strategies and habits of lifelong readers.
A series of planning sheets and management tips are presented throughout to help ensure smooth implementation.
We want our students to learn to read, and we want them to love to read. To do this we need to lay a foundation on which children build rich and purposeful reading lives that extend beyond the school day. The ideas found in Growing Readers create the kind of primary classrooms where that happens.

Growing Readers

Routledge

Take two to four kids, give them a basket of books that go together in some way, and then provide time for them to read, think, and talk together about their ideas, their questions, their wonderings. That's the simple recipe for a reading club, and Kathy Collins demonstrates the powerful results in her new book, Reading for Real. She writes, "The reading clubs I describe are a formal structure providing students with time to read and talk about books with a high level of engagement, purpose, and joy."
Just as adults join clubs to share and talk about common interests, reading clubs allow kids to immerse themselves in topics and ideas they care about -- whether it's turtles, fairy tales, a beloved author, a favorite new series, or the desire to get better at reading aloud to a baby brother or sister. While they are reading and talking about their interests and passions, students in reading clubs are also orchestrating all of the reading skills and strategies they've learned and applying them in real-life ways.
The book offers step-by-step support for implementing these classroom reading clubs, including:specific suggestions for planning cycles of reading clubs;detailed charts with a variety of teaching ideas that can be implemented immediately;ideas for mini-lessons and examples of reading conferences to support students as they learn strategies and hone their reading and discussion skills;suggestions for differentiating instruction; support for launching and fostering reading partnerships across the year;appendixes with examples of note-taking sheets and sample planning guides for several kinds of reading clubs.
While Kathy presents ideas for implementing reading clubs during reading workshop in a balanced literacy framework, the information she provides will be helpful for any teacher who wants to foster the joy of reading by offering students support and opportunities to read for authentic purposes and to have conversations about topics that interest and engage them. After all, we don't just want kids to learn to read, we want them to love to read.

Reading for Real: Teach Students to Read with Power, Intention, and Joy in K-3 Classrooms

Children's Books

Education & Reference

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Collins, Kathy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Collins, Kathy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Collins, Kathy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

I Am Reading: Nurturing Young Children's Meaning Making and Joyful Engagement with Any Book

I Am Reading: Nurturing Young Children's Meaning Making and Joyful Engagement with Any Book

Choice Time: How to Deepen Learning Through Inquiry and Play, PreK-2

No More Mindless Homework (NOT THIS, BUT THAT)

Full Circle

Growing Readers

Reading for Real: Teach Students to Read with Power, Intention, and Joy in K-3 Classrooms