Celebrate this year's TeenTober by encouraging your middle or high school students to:

• Join a book discussion group at their school or public library.
  
  
• Read biographies of their favorite musicians, comedians, politicians, or sports figures.
  
  
• Read books about a hobby that interests them.
  
  
• Read books that approach a subject through humor.
  
  
• Read what they want to read, just for the fun of it.

Bill of Rights Day is a good opportunity for students to explore a variety of students' rights issues. Ask students to identify an issue that has come up in your school, such as dress codes, drug testing, zero tolerance, privacy, religion, or freedom of expression. Have them explore the ways in which the Bill of Rights protects and does not protect students, as well as some of the past and recent challenges to students' rights. Have students write position papers or debate individuals or teams of students with opposing points of view. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Student Rights page has information and articles about recent court cases focused on students' rights.

Students can continue to explore the Bill of Rights by examining the ways in which it applies to current events and issues such as homeland security, prisoners' rights, the death penalty, and more. Provide access to a daily newspaper. Then ask students to construct a scrapbook or bulletin board display of articles that address Bill of Rights issues.

Explore the sites and online exhibitions listed below. Ask students what they can learn from these primary sources about why Rosa Parks took her stand against segregation, and about the organizations and movements that participated in the struggle. They might compare that to what they learn from a textbook or other secondary source and then write a possible update for the secondary source.

It's important that students understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. Visit here for a solid definition and see some examples.

Read Across America has celebrated books and reading since 1998. This year, there are even more opportunities:

• Encourage adults to spend more time reading to children

• Share stories that raise up the many voices that need to be amplified and heard

• Use books to help students discover their own voices and learn from the voices of others

• Encourage readers to believe in themselves and use their voices and stories for positive change

Use the Read Across America Day calendar, Build Your Stack® posts, and ReadWriteThink.org resources to support these efforts.

One trademark of Bunting's picture books is her ability to see events through the eyes of a child. Smoky Night deals with the Los Angeles race riots as seen from the perspective of a young boy watching the fires and the looters. His reactions to this event are, understandably, different from those of his mother and neighbors. Before reading this picture book aloud to students, read them a news article that relates the details of the events in Los Angeles. Ask students how a younger observer might be affected by these events and might see the events differently than an adult. After reading Smoky Night, assess the accuracy of students' perceptions.

As an alternative or follow-up activity, have students locate and read two different accounts of the events of September 11, 2001, one written by an adult and one written by a child. Ask them to compare the two accounts.

After sharing one or more of the winning, honored, or recommended titles as a classroom read-aloud, invite students write and illustrate their own story in which someone learned how to be more compassionate or to feel empathy for those who are different from themselves.

Allow students to decide to tell a story from their own lives or to create characters and imagined situations that would inspire others to be more compassionate.  Share tools such as the Story Map and Cube Creator to help students plan and generate ideas.  Arrange for a time for students to share their stories with classmates or with younger students.

Have your students conduct research and write original works of nonfiction on topics of their choice. Students may wish to work collaboratively on this project as coauthors or author-illustrator teams.

• First, have students brainstorm possible topics individually or in small groups.
   
• After each student or team has selected a topic, have them conduct research using appropriate Orbis Pictus Award-winners, Internet resources, and other reference sources.
   
• Have students plan and write informational picture books, biographies, or other works of nonfiction. You may wish to have students create a Flip Book to help them organize their information.

The African American Read-In will again be celebrated for the entire month of February, beginning February 1 and ending on February 28 (or 29).

Schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens can make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting and coordinating community Read-Ins.

Hosting a Read-In can be as simple as bringing together family and friends to share a book or as elaborate as arranging public readings and media presentations that feature professional African American writers.

To be counted as a participant, simply:

• Select books authored by African Americans;
• Conduct your Read-In(s) on the days designated; and
• Report your results by submitting the African American Read-In Host Report Card.

After reading several of Lionni's stories, play the game Guess the Story.  Invite a student to pull a sentence strip that describes one of Lionni's messages from a box. (Older students can create the sentence strips in collaborative groups.) Students should explain what the message means and the book it is from.  Some suggested messages include the following:

• Let's work together.
• Take time to smell the roses.
• You are never alone when you have a friend.
• Don't take your family for granted.
• Everybody is special.
• Be happy with who you are.

As a follow-up, have your students write and illustrate their messages with the ReadWriteThink Stapleless Book.

Provide students with a selection of texts about Thanksgiving. Invite students to partner-read their selected books, considering these questions:

• From whose perspective is the story told?

• Whose voices are active and passive?

• What words are used to describe the groups?

• Whose story has the most detail?

• What details were offered or implied in the text or illustrations about Thanksgiving and each group’s lifestyle (e.g., food, clothing, beliefs, and traditions)?

• Are the illustrations accurate? How do you know?

Next, share with students texts that are #OwnVoices. Oyate and American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) both provide critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books.

Select one of the #OwnVoice texts to read, like Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message, a children's picture book, by Chief Jake Swamp. This version of the Iroquois Thanksgiving Address, or Ganohonyohk, is written especially for children who want to know more about Six Nations Iroquois spirituality. The Thanksgiving Address is one of the key speeches of the Six Nations Iroquois.

End the session by allowing students to share "What are some things you are thankful for and where do they come from?"