The focus of this week's podcast is building connections beyond the classroom walls. Cathy Mere and Ruth Ayres join the conversation. Click here for ALL links discussed. Each week Choice Literacy shares the Big Fresh newsletter with a round-up of features around a key topic in literacy education. You can find the October 22, 2021 issue here.  Timeline 00:00  Welcome 00:28  Lead Essay by Leigh Anne Eck 03:18  Free For All Content Highlights 10:18  Classic Classroom Content Highlights 18:45 Literacy Leader Content Highlights Free for All Join the Choice Literacy Book Club! Leigh Anne Eck selected the young adult novel Enduring Freedom by Jawad Arash and Trent Reedy as our October read. Grab a copy, and join the conversation using the hashtag #ChoiceLiteracyBookClub.  Ruth Ayres and Cathy Mere discuss this week's theme, building bridges, on the podcast.  Katherine Sokolowski uses the Community Timeline Project to bring together students and older community members around history and writing. Includes a downloadable interview guide to help students record the interviewee's life story. (This article was first published in 2019.) Email is a terrific way to communicate with parents—Trish Prentice has practical tips for keeping it simple and saving time when using email. (This article was first published in 2012.) Become a Choice Literacy member! Click here to find out more about membership options.