While on a book tour supporting the publication of her newest book "A Tale of Two Castles" Gail Carson Levine took a few minutes to speak with City Library Spokespuppet Earl. Gail chats about how she writes her books and even give tips on how kids can become writers!

Earl E. Literacy, Spokepuppet of the Salt Lake City Public Library, interviews young adult author Gary Schmidt about his books, how he started to read and write, and tips for kids on how to write.

City Library Spokespuppet Earl E. Literacy interviews "Ranger's Apprentice" series author John Flanagan. They talk about John's new book, his connection to his characters, how his books connect to his family and how young writers can better plan their stories.

Earl, spokespuppet for the Salt Lake City Public Library, interviews Johnathan Stroud, author of the Bartimeus Sequence, at the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah.

City Library Spokespuppet Ear E. Literacy interviews children's author Karl Beckstrand about his new book Bad Bananas.

City Library Spokespuppet Earl E. Literacy interviews gold-medal winning Olympic athlete turned children's author Kristi Yamaguchi. They talk about Kristi's Olympic history, review a couple of ice skating outfits that Earl tries on, and where Kristi gets her inspiration to write from.

Earl E. Literacy, spokespuppet for the Salt Lake City Public Library, interviews Marc Brown, author and illustrator of the Arthur Adventure series. Marc talks about the new Arthur book (Arthur Goes Green), the origins of the Arthur character, and gives kids some tips on how to become an author or illustrator themselves!

The City Library's spokespuppet, Earl E. Literacy, interviews author Richard Peck at the King's English Bookshop.

Earl E. Literacy, spokespuppet for the Salt Lake City Public Library, interviews children's author and illustrator Robert Neubecker. They talk about Robert's love of the ocean, his Wow! book series and his process for illustrating books.

Earl E. Literacy, spokespuppet for The City Library, travels to Lincoln Elementary to interview Chris Conard about the Playworks program. Watch the video to learn more about Playworks helps kids have more constructive fun during recess, teaches them conflict/resolution skills and cools them down to be more focused when they return to class.

The City Library's own spokespuppet, Earl E. Literacy, interviews the Salt Lake City Police Department's Chief of Police Chris Burbank. They talk about who safe people are, what number to call when you need to talk to the police and how to be safe while riding your bike.

Join Earl E. Literacy, official spokespuppet of the Salt Lake City Public Library, as he takes a tour of the new Natural History Museum of Utah with Youth Teaching Coordinator Linda Gillis. They explore the museum, talk about the LEAP Into Science program and even get to see fossils of a recently discovered dinosaur species!

The City Library's spokespuppet, Earl, interviews Tailgating Tracy when the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile stops by the Main Library in Salt Lake City.

Spokespuppet Earl E. Literacy visits The Leonardo, the new art and science museum on the south side of Library Square. He interviews Elizabeth Vincent, marketing and communications director at The Leonardo. They talk about the science, art and technology the Leo has, and what kinds of fun stuff you can do there.

The ink was barely dry on the Constitution when the first challenges to its protections arose. These early challenges to the new constitutional republic often involved the meaning of the Constitution itself. What did its words actually mean, and who would get to decide?

This microcredential represents a teacher’s understanding of early fraction concepts and the ability to respond to developmentally appropriate learning progressions related to early fraction concepts by planning and implementing instruction based on the Standards for Mathematical Practice and Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices. It includes selecting, using, and adapting mathematics curricula and teaching materials, including the integration of mathematical tools and technology, as well as using and analyzing formative and summative assessments to determine where students are in learning trajectories related to early fraction concepts. This is the first of seven microcredentials in the Elementary Mathematics Endorsement: Rational Numbers and Proportional Reasoning. These microcredentials can be earned in any order.

This article describes the progression from halves, to thirds and fourths, as well as fair sharing as a means of teaching more abstract fractions to young students. Throughout the article activities are suggested to support the learning, as well as a link to a six-minute video which shows two children working on a difficult sharing situation practically with a teacher who questions appropriately to get the thinking going. Two of the activities mentioned in the article, "Happy Halving" and "Bowl of Fruit" are cataloged separately.

The purpose of the Early Learning Program is to improve the Early Literacy and Early Mathematics classroom instruction and student outcomes in kindergarten through grade three. The Early Learning Program establishes an Early Learning Plan that includes early literacy, early mathematics, and goals. The Professional Learning Grant is a separate application but correlates with the Early Learning Plan.

The Early Math Project promotes awareness of the importance of math in early education (birth to age eight), provides tools to parents and educators, and collaborates with agencies and organizations working to advance mathematical learning.They also offer an annual Early Math Symposium annually. You can view past symposium recordings, and register for future symposiums here.

This microcredential represents a teacher’s understanding of early number concepts, their ability to plan appropriate learning trajectories, implement effective teaching practices to help students understand and use these concepts, and use/analyze formative assessments to determine where students are in learning trajectories. (Early number concepts include, but are not limited to: non-quantified comparisons, containment, notions of quantity and measurement, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, meaningful counting, and ordinality, composing, and decomposing whole numbers). This microcredential is the first of five in the Elementary Mathematics Endorsement: Numbers and Operations Stack. These microcredentials can be earned in any order.