One hot summer day, four bored children start a watermelon seed-spitting battle that soon spreads throughout their town.

Young Jesse waits all summer for her watermelon to ripen.

Learn how to work more effectively with K–5 parents to increase student achievement in math and literacy. Research shows that parent involvement in schools leads to higher test scores and more engaged and enthusiastic students, but it isn’t always easy for teachers to bridge the gap between the home and the school. This insightful book provides helpful, research-based strategies to foster meaningful home–school partnerships and overcome the challenges teachers often face when trying to build relationships with parents. You’ll learn new ways to: Promote parent involvement at home and school; Share specific math and literacy strategies with parents to reinforce children’s learning; Plan and organize effective parent conferences that foster true dialogue about a child’s education; Communicate with parents about what you’re teaching and how you’re teaching it, so they can actively contribute to their child’s learning at home; Develop family nights and workshops to get parents involved in learning at school; Recommend games, activities, and projects that parents can use at home to help their children practice math and literacy skills; And much more! Each chapter is full of practical tools such as Common Core-aligned strategies, useful resources for parents, and sample parent letters that you can use to increase and improve your home–school communications. Bonus: Additional parent letters on a variety of topics are available on our website, www.routledge.com/ 9781138998698, to help you keep parents connected throughout the year.

Sixteen-year-old Rebekah joins her missionary father in the New World in the 1630s and, after being introduced to Indian culture, begins to question whether these "savages" need saving after all

Fresh, fun ideas for children's storytime fill this book. The author, a long-time storytime facilitator, has put together 52 weekly themes plus additional plans for holidays, all with detailed instructions for talking about the theme and choosing the books, crafts, songs, poems, games and snacks. Each storytime idea is illustrated with photographs of a suggested craft and snack for easy reference. Libraries, bookstores, preschools and parents alike can use this book to offer themed storytimes that include discussion, literature, art, music, movement and food. Options are provided for each storytime, so the ideas can be used year after year.

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

When his father moves away to find work and his mother becomes ill, Danny struggles to help his family during the Great Depression.