Leveled Books (K-8)


Book Description

For ten years and in two classic books, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell have described how to analyze the characteristics of texts and select just-right books to use for guided reading instruction. Now, for the first time, all of their thinking and research has been updated and brought together into Leveled Books, K-8 to form the ultimate guide to choosing and using books from kindergarten through middle school. Fountas and Pinnell take you through every aspect of leveled books, describing how to select and use them for different purposes in your literacy program and offering prototype descriptions of fiction and nonfiction books at each level. They share advice on: the role of leveled books in reading instruction, analyzing the characteristics of fiction and nonfiction texts, using benchmark books to assess instructional levels for guided reading, selecting books for both guided and independent reading, organizing high-quality classroom libraries, acquiring books and writing proposals to fund classroom-library purchases, creating a school book room. In addition, Fountas and Pinnell explain the leveling process in detail so that you can tentatively level any appropriate book that you want to use in your instruction. Best of all, Leveled Books, K-8 is one half of a new duo of resources that will change how you look at leveled books. Its companion-www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com-is a searchable and frequently updated website that includes more than 18,000 titles. With Leveled Books, K-8 you'll know how and why to choose books for your readers, and with www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com, you'll have the ideal tool at your fingertips for finding appropriate books for guided reading. Book jacket.




Creepy Carrots!


Book Description

In this Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, The Twilight Zone comes to the carrot patch as a rabbit fears his favorite treats are out to get him. Includes audio! Jasper Rabbit loves carrots—especially Crackenhopper Field carrots. He eats them on the way to school. He eats them going to Little League. He eats them walking home. Until the day the carrots start following him...or are they? Celebrated artist Peter Brown’s stylish illustrations pair perfectly with Aaron Reynold’s text in this hilarious picture book that shows it’s all fun and games…until you get too greedy.




Units of Study for Teaching Reading


Book Description

"In second grade, children move from a "little-kid" focus on print to a "big-kid" focus on meaning. The first unit, Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt, teaches children to take charge of their reading, drawing on everything they know to figure out hard words, understand author's craft, and build big ideas about the books they read. Children learn that books can be their teachers in the second unit, Becoming Experts: Reading Nonfiction, in which they learn more about familiar topics and grow understanding of new topics while working on word solving, vocabulary development, and comparing and contrasting information across texts. In the third unit, Bigger Books Mean Amping Up Reading Power, children learn strategies to build three foundational reading skills--fluency, understanding figurative language, and comprehension. In the final unit for second grade, Series Book Clubs, children work within book clubs to study author's craft to understand ways authors use word choice, figurative language, punctuation, and even patterns to construct a series and evoke feelings in readers"--Pearson.com.




Your Classroom Library


Book Description

Ready to go far beyond the usual classroom book collection to make your library a dynamic support for all your literacy teaching? In this practical, one-of-a-kind book, two veteran educators show you how to use your library as: A resource for mini-lessons on book selection, author's craft, comprehension strategies and other literacy lessons. A source for interactive read-alouds. An extension of your shared-reading and guided-reading instruction. A motivating place for students' independent reading in many genres. A gallery of student book responses, recommendations, and student-authored works. And much more!




The Classroom Library


Book Description

The Classroom Library: A Catalyst for Literacy Instruction serves two purposes by first providing classroom teachers with a how-to guide in setting up and using the classroom library to support literacy. Next, it provides teachers with excerpts and stories of practicing teachers who have successfully used their classroom library to teach literacy. A wide array of photos, documents, tips, ideas, and descriptions lead teachers to create a classroom library that will scaffold students in the classroom library to establish and extend their literacy development. Several chapters specifically focus on working with under-served students, including students in urban settings, those who are learning English as a second language, and students without access to other libraries. Content in this book is easy to use to help teachers establish a library oasis in their classroom to support learners in preschool through grade eight classrooms. This book is a companion book to More Mirrors in the Classroom: Using Urban Children’s Literature to Increase Literacy. Both volumes cover the selection of culturally responsive children’s literature.




Engaging Young Readers


Book Description

This volume demonstrates how promoting children's engagement with reading can greatly enhance reading achievement. From leading literacy researchers and educators, the book illuminates what a child needs to become an engaged reader and presents a set of instructional principles designed to facilitate this goal. Helping teachers offer a coordinated emphasis on competence and motivation in reading instruction, chapters blend research evidence with practical recommendations. Topics covered include ways to provide children with a good foundation at the word level, help if they are in trouble, ample time and materials for reading, opportunities to share in a community of learners, instruction that is coherent, motivating, and responsive to each child's strengths and weaknesses, school-wide coordination of instruction, and continuities between home and school.










Circular


Book Description




Caring Hearts and Critical Minds


Book Description

"Wolk demonstrates how to integrate inquiry learning, exciting and contemporary literature, and teaching for social responsibility across the curriculum. He takes teachers step-by-step through the process of designing an inquiry-based literature unit and then provides five full units used in real middle-grade classrooms. Featuring a remarkable range of recommended resources and hundreds of novels from across the literary genres, Caring Hearts & Critical Minds gives teachers a blueprint for creating dynamic units with rigorous lessons about topics kids care about--from media and the environment to personal happiness and global poverty. Wolk shows teachers how to find stimulating, real-world 'complex texts' called for in the Common Core State Standards and integrate them into literature units."--Publisher's website.