Building Bridges From Early to Intermediate Literacy, Grades 2-4


Book Description

Help all learners transition successfully from beginning to intermediate literacy levels with these classroom-tested instructional strategies and specialized assessment tools for word study, reading, and writing.




Building Bridges From Early to Intermediate Literacy, Grades 2-4


Book Description

"Gives us an inside view of what children should experience in the primary grades and shows us how we can build them up to new experiences in the intermediate grades. A great resource for vertical team collaborations, teachers who are transitioning from teaching primary to intermediate grades or vice versa, teachers in multiage classrooms, and teacher education classes." —Helena Stevens, Intermediate Literacy Coach Ricardo Richards Elementary School, Kingshill, Virgin Islands "Full of practical, everyday ideas to implement immediately. Offers true student examples that teachers see and experience daily." —Scott Kovatch, Principal Horizon Elementary School, Granger, IN How can teachers help their primary students become competent intermediate readers and writers? Supporting students as they advance from beginning to intermediate literacy levels poses a unique challenge for teachers. In Building Bridges From Early to Intermediate Literacy, Grades 2–4, Sarah F. Mahurt, Ruth E. Metcalfe, and Margaret A. Gwyther show how teachers can meet the instructional needs of students in transition from one level to the next. The authors offer practical guidance and classroom-tested strategies that demonstrate how thoughtful instruction can help each student reach new levels of competency in reading and writing. This invaluable resource shows teachers how to examine and refine their instructional practices to more effectively meet the needs of all the students in their classrooms, whether they are struggling readers or advanced learners. Educators will find: Specialized assessment tools and instructional strategies for word study, reading, and writing Detailed examples of reading and writing instruction Methods for integrating language arts with science and social studies Charts to track students′ progress A teacher′s reflection section at the end of each chapter Written by experienced literacy educators, this accessible text helps ensure that all students confidently cross the bridge from the primary to the intermediate grades.







Reading to Learn in Secondary Classrooms


Book Description

"This text helps the reader understand that students do not just learn to read in the primary grades. Students must continue to grow and become more sophisticated readers if we expect them to master varied content information and concepts. The strategies in this book provide a framework to support content area teachers as they strive to engage students and increase content literacy as well as content mastery." —Crystal Leu, Director of Curriculum Lakeland School Corporation, LaGrange, IN Reading: a tool for learning in any subject area! Although reading is an essential skill for learning in any discipline, many students in today′s secondary classrooms find reading tasks difficult and often fail to complete those assignments. Now this proven, step-by-step instructional model shows secondary teachers how to help students boost their reading comprehension, acquire knowledge through their reading, and process the information that they′ve learned. Providing numerous classroom examples, the authors show teachers how to use research-based, high-effect strategies before, during, and after reading to increase student learning in various content and subject areas. Teachers learn how to help students: Prepare for learning and anticipate reading assignments through pre-lesson strategies such as previewing the text, activating prior knowledge, and developing questions Remain focused and engaged during reading assignments through strategies such as reciprocal teaching, jigsaw, and think-alouds Process and internalize newly learned information using strategies such as graphic organizers and summaries Easy to implement, this method helps secondary teachers improve students′ content learning and reading ability at the same time!







Shifting the Balance, 3-5


Book Description

In this much anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, together with co-author Katie Cunningham, extend the conversation in Shifting the Balance 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This new text is built in mind specifically for grades 3-5 teachers around best practices for the intermediate classroom. Shifting the Balance 3-5 introduces six more shifts across individual chapters that: Zoom in on a common (but not-as helpful-as-we-had-hoped) practice to reconsider Untangle a number of "misunderstandings" that have likely contributed to the use of the common practice Propose a more science-aligned shift to the current practice Provide solid scientific research to support the revised practice Offer a collection of high-leverage, easy-to-implement instructional routines to support the shift to more brain-friendly instruction The authors offer a refreshing approach that is respectful, accessible, and practical - grounded in an earnest commitment to building a bridge between research and classroom practice. As with the first Shifting the Balance, they aim to keep students at the forefront of reading instruction.




School Library Journal


Book Description




Every Child Can Write, Grades 2-5


Book Description

Empowering striving writers to thrive as writers! Somehow, in every classroom during every year, there are students who keep us up at night because of the instructional challenges they face as writers. These students—our striving writers—may find success exploring different entry points and pathways than those their classmates travel. Every Child Can Write will help you lead striving writers along their journey toward growth, confidence, and success. Filled with practical strategies, classroom-management ideas,and reproducible tools, this book also offers low- and high-tech solutions for increasing writing volume and boosting self-esteem. Plus, with suggestions for differentiating instruction based on standards and student needs, it will help you: Implement principles of UDL to optimize your classroom environment and student learning; Identify and honor students’ strengths throughout your writing instruction; Maximize the power of formative assessment to set goals with students; and Integrate the most appropriate technology that empowers students and leads them to independence. As essential as writing is in elementary school, it will be even more important when your students reach middle school. Now is the time to give them the skills, practice, and confidence they need to succeed. As we know, in distance learning caregivers and teachers partner more than ever to help students with writing. The Distance Learning companion to Every Child Can Write is for teachers to share with caregivers to help children develop their writing lives—even while learning at home. Each of the eight modules contains video clips that talk caregivers through tools for supporting their student writers, along with downloadable tools that can be used by teachers or caregivers.




This Bridge Will Not Be Gray


Book Description

A “witty [and] compelling” true story for kids about San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge—and why it’s orange—by the New York Times–bestselling author! (Fast Company). In this delightfully original nonfiction book, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dave Eggers tackles one of the most famous architectural monuments in the world: the Golden Gate Bridge—and all the arguments and debates about building it and what it should look like. Cut-paper illustrations by Tucker Nichols enliven the tale, and this revised edition also includes real-life letters from local constituents making the case for keeping the bridge orange. With sly humor and lots of fascinating historical facts, this is an accessible, enjoyable read for kids (or adults), transporting readers to the glorious Golden Gate no matter where they live. “Eggers’s featherlight humor provides laughs throughout.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review). “A love letter to infrastructure.” —The New York Times “A story compelling enough to keep adults interested as they read it (and re-read it and re-read it) each night at bedtime.” —Fast Company




Literacy Work Stations


Book Description

Ever wonder what the rest of your class should be doing while you are working with a small reading group? Debbie Diller offers practical suggestions in Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work for over a dozen literacy work stations that link to classroom instruction and make preparation and management easy for teachers. Learn how to set up work stations, how to manage them, and how to keep them going throughout the year. Each chapter includes: How to introduce each station Which materials to include at which station What to model the station as How to solve problems and differentiate How to assess while keeping students accountable Reflection questions for professional development Materials in both English and Spanish are provided in the extensive resource section. Throughout the book the author has included photos of literacy workstations from a variety of classrooms in which she has worked to illustrate the methods discussed in the text. Literacy Work Stations is a go-to classroom resource that will help you keep all students engaged while you focus in on small groups.