Teaching K-8 Reading


Book Description

Accessible and engaging, this methods textbook provides a roadmap for improving reading instruction. Leland, Lewison, and Harste explain why certain ineffective or debunked literacy techniques prevail in the classroom, identify the problematic assumptions that underly these popular myths, and offer better alternatives for literacy teaching. Grounded in a mantra that promotes critical thinking and agency—Enjoy! Dig Deeply! Take Action!—this book presents a clear framework, methods, and easy applications for designing and implementing effective literacy instruction. Numerous teaching strategies, classroom examples, teacher vignettes, and recommendations for using children’s and adolescent literature found in this book make it an ideal text for preservice teachers in elementary and middle school reading, and English language arts methods courses as well as a practical resource for professional in-service workshops and teachers. Key features include: Instructional engagements for supporting students as they read picture books, chapter books, and news articles, and interact with social media and participate in the arts and everyday life; Voices from the field that challenge mythical thinking and offer realworld examples of what effective reading and language arts instruction looks like in practice; Owl statements that alert readers to key ideas for use when planning reading and language arts instruction.




200+ Proven Strategies for Teaching Reading


Book Description

"200+ Proven Strategies for Teaching Reading, Grades K-8 is an easy-to-use reference guide for teachers who seek to invigorate their literacy practices. Author Kathy Perez provides practical, brain research-based invervention techniques and reading strategies K-8 teachers can use to help all students - especially those who are struggling - make strides in their literacy achievement. As an experienced general educator, special educator, reading specialist, and literacy coach, Perez has a deep understanding of the instructional practices and interventions necessary to help meet all learners' diverse needs. Teachers can motivate and engage all students to develop their reading abilities through practices this book highlights."--Back cover.




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.




Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency


Book Description

A practical guide for teaching comprehension and fluency in the kindergarten through eighth-grade classroom with instruction on reading levels, writing about reading, and interactive read-aloud and literature study; and contains a DVD with over 100 blackline masters, forms, and checklists.




Teaching Reading Across the Day, Grades K-8


Book Description

"Reading well across disciplines and within varied contexts will help students to be versatile, flexible, deep readers who can better learn from their reading, transfer skills across subjects, and use strategies to meet the unique demands of reading in each content area." – Jennifer Serravallo Research-based, easy-to-use lesson structures for explicit and engaging teaching In Teaching Reading Across the Day, literacy expert Jennifer Serravallo provides nine effective, predictable, research-based lesson structures that help busy teachers save planning time and focus their teaching—and student attention—on content rather than procedures. Each of the nine lesson structures (read aloud, phonics and spelling, vocabulary, focus, shared reading, close reading, guided inquiry, reader’s theater, and conversation) has its own chapter and features a wealth of resources that let you see the lessons in action in ELA, Science, and Social Studies classes, including: An annotated teaching vignette, lesson explanation, and research notes Tips for planning, structure and timing suggestions, and ideas for responsive teaching Detailed planning templates and 22 accompanying online videos covering over 3 hours of classroom footage Jen’s reflections, key look-fors, and ideas for next steps The nine lesson structures can be used with any curriculum or core program, text, and subject, making it easier for teachers to maximize explicit and engaging teaching time across the day, and simplify planning and preparation. Jen incorporates a wide range of compelling research about how best to teach reading to every student in your class and translates the research (or the science of teaching reading) into high-leverage moves you can count on to deliver powerful lessons again and again. She also honors the art of teaching reading, helping teachers tap into their experience and hone their expertise to make quick, effective classroom decisions that take student learning to the next level.




Spelling K-8


Book Description

Spelling K-8 meets the needs of schools and districts that want to put systematic teaching in place without compromising the principles of constructivist learning. Recognizing the professional expertise of classroom teachers, the authors consistently urge teachers to consider the suggested plan in relation to their children's spelling needs. Children are actively engaged in spelling explorations, being guided by their teachers, forming generalizations that reflect their current understanding about how written English works. Specific suggestions are also offered for children whose first language is not English. Spelling K-8 addresses the issues that administrators and parents are concerned about - especially phonics and learning high-frequency words - and offers teachers a wealth of strategies and resources to draw on. Spelling K-8 assists teachers in:understanding current beliefs about teaching and learning and means of translating these into classroom practice;implementing specific types of spelling investigations, such as sounds, spelling patterns or suffixes, by clearly outlining the general process involved in spelling explorations;identifying the possible spelling focuses for children in each grade level, taking into consideration their needs and the explorations they have been introduced to in previous years;relating the teaching of spelling to reading and writing experiences in a variety of curriculum areas;knowing the generalizations children need to learn to enable them to understand how written English works. Spelling K-8 will help you plan the teaching of spelling at a whole-school level and at each grade level.




Teaching Reading in Middle School


Book Description

Get the "big picture" of teaching reading in the middle school, including research, as well as the practical details you need to help every stydent become a better reader. Veteran teacher Laura Robb shares how to: teach reading strategies across the curriculum, present mini-lessons that deepen students' knowledge of how specific reading strategies work; help kids apply the strategies through guided practice; support struggling readers with a plan of action that improves their reading motivation; and much more.




Creating Critical Classrooms


Book Description

This popular text articulates a powerful theory of critical literacy—in all its complexity. Critical literacy practices encourage students to use language to question the everyday world, interrogate the relationship between language and power, analyze popular culture and media, understand how power relationships are socially constructed, and consider actions that can be taken to promote social justice. By providing both a model for critical literacy instruction and many examples of how critical practices can be enacted in daily school life in elementary and middle school classrooms, Creating Critical Classrooms meets a huge need for a practical, theoretically based text on this topic. Pedagogical features in each chapter • Teacher-researcher Vignette • Theories that Inform Practice • Critical Literacy Chart • Thought Piece • Invitations for Disruption • Lingering Questions New in the Second Edition • End-of-chapter "Voices from the Field" • More upper elementary-grade examples • New text sets drawn from "Classroom Resources" • Streamlined, restructured, revised, and updated throughout • Expanded Companion Website now includes annotated Classroom Resources; Text Sets; Resources by Chapter; Invitations for Students; Literacy Strategies; Additional Resources







Teach Them ALL to Read


Book Description

"The second edition of Elaine McEwan′s book is a user-friendly guide that integrates research into practice. It carefully explains the research behind reading development and provides truly clear, no-nonsense steps to implement the best practices of instruction. McEwan does not sugar-coat how difficult teaching reading can be, but she provides powerful methods for achieving it." —Jennifer Sandberg, Curriculum/Reading Coordinator Sutherland Public School, NE Provide effective reading instruction for every student in your classroom and schoolwide! To successfully teach reading, teachers have to first believe that all children can learn to read—and then they have to turn that belief into a reality. In this thoroughly updated and revised version of her best-selling book, Elaine K. McEwan guides educators through the challenging but crucial work of teaching every child how to read. Written for all teachers as well as administrators, this resource covers strategies for nine essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, fluency, developing a reading culture, providing opportunities to read, writing, word knowledge, and comprehension. This second edition features: The most up-to-date research in reading instruction Effective instructional practices and strategies Brief vignettes and graphic organizers that illustrate and summarize key concepts A comprehensive case study of one district′s remarkable success This resource reveals precisely how educators in successful schools are teaching students to read—and how all educators can achieve the same results in their schools!