News You Can Use

Estimates suggest that 80% of students with learning disabilities receive services for a reading disability. As many as 8 of 10 students with learning disabilities have reading problems so significant that they cannot read and understand grade-level material (Lerner, 2003). One way to help students access grade level material is using Text-to-Speech (TTS).

Low vision affects millions of Americans, including many students attending school. Low vision can impact many areas of a student’s educational experience including reading. There are many ways that students with low vision can access books and be more independent. AIM-VA can help by providing books in large print, audio (text to speech) and digital text.

Research has found that reading just 20 minutes a day exposes children to millions of words a year. Students have a chance to read for 14 days if they take advantage of every day over winter break. At the end of this article you will find a listing of Holiday/Winter books from AIM-VA to help. Also, here are a few ideas that may encourage your students to continue reading over this winter holiday.

As you create or use existing worksheets for your students, you need to think about accessibility. Just because your worksheets are digital it does not mean they are accessible.

Question: What American author of novels for young readers won a Newberry Medal in 1986 for Sarah, Plain and Tall which was later adapted as a TV movie, frequently focuses her stories on the family, and was born in March?

Q: Who dreamed of being a cowgirl, a detective, a spy, an actress or a ballerina but instead became a famous writer and has a birthday in February?

A: Judy Blume, author of Freckles and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing among others.

Jack London had a very interesting life. He was born in San Francisco on January 12, 1876. He grew up around the docks of San Francisco. He joined a gang of men who illegally caught oysters at night and sold them in the morning. He loved books and read while he practiced his pirate trade.

Henry Winkler is a well-known actor appearing as the Fonz in the series Happy Days, and for his role in films such as Holes and The Waterboy. Winkler is also an award-winning producer and director of children’s programming, as well as an entertainment industry leader committed to children’s welfare.

This is a message from a famous author born in November.

Did you know that the author of A Wrinkle in Time waited 2 ½ years to find a publisher for this famous book? Madeleine L'Engle won the Newbery award in 1963 for her book A Wrinkle in Time. When she wrote the book, the idea of space travel was new. It was a time when the Soviet Union and the United States were in competition for space exploration.

What famous author has written more than 300 books, wrote the Goosebumps series and was born Oct. 8?

If you guessed R.L. Stine you would be right! At age nine, Stine found a typewriter in his attic and began to type stories and joke books. In high school, he joined the school newspaper. When he went to college, he was the editor of a humor magazine. After college, he moved to New York City to start his career as a writer.