Expanding Reading Comprehension in Grades 3–6


Book Description

Students in grades 3–6 need to use increasingly sophisticated comprehension skills and strategies as they read and build knowledge across disciplinary content areas. Grounded in research, this book presents effective practices for integrating literacy instruction with literature, science, and social studies. Chapters address text selection, vocabulary development, strategy instruction, discussion formats, writing to express and expand comprehension, assessment, and more. Ways to meet the needs of emergent bilingual and culturally diverse students are highlighted throughout. Ideal for preservice and inservice teachers and professional staff development, the book includes classroom vignettes, text boxes with easy-to-read instructional procedures, and curriculum resources. Helpful reproducible forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. See also the authors' related book on the primary grades: Developing Reading Comprehension: Effective Instruction for All Students in PreK-2.







Making Connections in Elementary and Middle School Social Studies


Book Description

Making Connections in Elementary and Middle School Social Studies, Second Edition is the best text for teaching primary school teachers how to integrate social studies into other content areas. This book is a comprehensive, reader-friendly text that demonstrates how personal connections can be incorporated into social studies education while meeting the National Council for the Social Studiese(tm) thematic, pedagogical, and disciplinary standards. Praised for its eoewealth of strategies that go beyond social studies teaching,e including classroom strategies, pedagogical techniques, activities and lesson plan ideas, this book examines a variety of methods both novice and experienced teachers alike can use to integrate social studies into other content areas.




Social Science Research


Book Description

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.







Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms: English Language Arts, Grades 6-8


Book Description

Make every student fluent in the language of learning. Language has always been the center of English Language Arts, but with most states adopting CCSS, the focus on language and literacy across the content areas is required. Today it’s more essential than ever that English language learners and proficient English learners have the supports to access and achieve the language of school. The Common Core and ELD standards provide pathways to academic success through academic language. Using an integrated Curricular Framework, districts, schools and professional learning communities can: Design and implement thematic units for learning Draw from content and language standards to set targets for all students Examine standards-centered materials for academic language Collaborate in planning instruction and assessment within and across lessons Consider linguistic and cultural resources of the students Create differentiated content and language objectives Delve deeply into instructional strategies involving academic language Reflect on teaching and learning With dynamic classrooms and units of learning, this book gives you a streamlined path for designing and implementing curriculum that leads to student mastery of academic language—the key to school success. "These volumes are packed with practical ideas that will help all teachers attend to language within their classrooms from the discourse level to word/phrase levels. This is a road map for teaching Common Core content in language rich classrooms, and hence a resource every teacher needs within arm’s reach! It’s all here and clearly presented; this is pure gold for everyone who teaches students to speak, listen, read and write in school, with special attention to English language learners." —Tim Boals, Executive Director of WIDA




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




Teaching Elementary Social Studies


Book Description

Written for the elementary social studies methods course, this "interactive" program combines features of a textbook and a workbook, with thorough integration between the print text and a dynamic web site. Increasingly, majors in elementary education (if not the population at large) are more attuned to reading interactive material with relatively brief narrative, bulleted items, text boxes, and targeted messages (like web pages) rather than traditional, denser text. To accommodate these preferences, the layout of the print text features a larger-than-usual font, an 8 x 11" trim size, and spiral binding, and the content includes an abundance of bulleted lists, shaded text boxes, and contemporary graphics. The program's interactive approach and flexibility allow the professor to model the kinds of teaching principles and practices that students will want to use in their own elementary school classrooms. These principles and practices are integrated throughout the text and include a focus on active-learning strategies, application of constructivist principles, focus on Big Ideas and thinking skills, use of the Internet, and modeling of Best Practices and Performance-based assessments (based on INTASC and NCATE standard). Thus, the book will serve as a springboard for classroom activities, web site explorations, and/or instructor-led activities.