Marina looked across the broad flat back of the whale shark’s body and gently touched its side. She drew her hand back at the surprising coarse sandpaper texture. It looked so smooth!
The shark must have been five or six feet wide. There were several sharklike remora fish no more than a foot or so long attached to the underside of the whale shark. They slid around but stayed suckered on by their mouths—parasites waiting for a free meal. Rhee was on the other side flailing around and trying to stay upright while fiddling to get water out of her snorkel mask.
Marina ignored her and kicked farther up and over the checked pattern of stripes and spots across the whale shark’s three back ridges to inspect the small eye on the side of its head. She laughed out loud in delight, sending a plume of water shooting out of her snorkel tube. She was underwater. In the Caribbean. Looking into the eye of the biggest fish in the world! She grabbed Link’s passing hand and squeezed it. She just had to share the high of the experience. His mouth grinned around the snorkel mouthpiece, and together they kicked up the length of the shark. Her body was tingling from snorkel tube to fin tip.
Marina looked across the broad flat back of the whale shark’s body and gently touched its side. She drew her hand back at the surprising coarse sandpaper texture. It looked so smooth!
The shark must have been five or six feet wide. There were several sharklike remora fish no more than a foot or so long attached to the underside of the whale shark. They slid around but stayed suckered on by their mouths—parasites waiting for a free meal. Rhee was on the other side flailing around and trying to stay upright while fiddling to get water out of her snorkel mask.
Marina ignored her and kicked farther up and over the checked pattern of stripes and spots across the whale shark’s three back ridges to inspect the small eye on the side of its head. She laughed out loud in delight, sending a plume of water shooting out of her snorkel tube. She was underwater. In the Caribbean. Looking into the eye of the biggest fish in the world! She grabbed Link’s passing hand and squeezed it. She just had to share the high of the experience. His mouth grinned around the snorkel mouthpiece, and together they kicked up the length of the shark. Her body was tingling from snorkel tube to fin tip.
For National Poetry Month in April, we are sharing poetry collections and books about poetry by authors who share history, culture, beauty, and emotion through their work. Poetry Month – Middle School Titles Poetry Month – High School Titles
All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019) The Penguin Random House High
Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017) It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.
“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent
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