Library
Choice Literacy Articles & Videos
The Choice Literacy library contains over 3,000 articles and 900 videos from 150+ contributors. Classic Classroom and Literacy Leadership subscribers have access to the entire library. Content is updated continuously, with five to six new features published each week.
Latest Content
Book Choice and Planning Lesson
Franki Sibberson teaches her students about book choice in this video from her grades 3-4 classroom.
Coaching in Kindergarten: Conferring
What’s in a name? For kindergartner Maria, it’s the start of learning how letters and sounds work. In this coaching session, Joan Moser of “The Sisters” helps Daniel understand how to use a child’s name as a beginning point for teaching letters and sounds.
Student Reading Interview: Assessing Ana
Principal Karen Szymusiak interviews Ana, a second grader, to learn more about her strengths and needs as a reader.
Sports Writing Group Discussion
Franki Sibberson finds sports writing is a powerful motivator for boys in her grades 3-4 classroom.
5th Grade Room Tour
Karen Terlecky’s classroom tour focuses on the anchor charts and wall displays she uses to promote literacy with her 5th grade students.
Talking About Tests
Franki Sibberson prepares her grades 3-4 students for state examinations by helping them observe attributes and patterns in test questions.
Literacy Chats: An Open Discussion Format
Literacy coach Pam Hahlen discusses the value and format of monthly “literacy chats” for teachers.
Supporting Thoughtful Book Choice
In this video filmed in the spring, Franki Sibberson helps her 3rd and 4th grade students think through what books they might select for independent reading.
Nonfiction Word Hunt Part I
Word study and nonfiction reading are combined in Franki Sibberson's nonfiction word hunt activity.
Kindergarten Room Tour
In this room tour, Maureen Knostman of Dublin, Ohio shares literacy areas in her kindergarten classroom.
5th Grade Strategy Group on Summarizing
In this strategy group, Karen Terlecky brings together three of her 5th graders to reread a nonfiction article shared with the whole class. They discuss main ideas, and do a writing activity together to build summarizing skills.
Nonfiction Word Hunt Part II
Franki Sibberson explains the value of the nonfiction word hunt activity.
Teaching Rereading During Class Read Alouds
Aimee Buckner teaches her fourth graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville.
Case Studies in Professional Learning Communities
In this brief video, Literacy Coach Pam Hahlen and Principal Karen Szymusiak meet with two teachers in a professional learning community group to discuss ongoing case studies.
Talking About Synthesis: Metaphors from 2nd Graders
In this remarkable discussion, Lauren Scott's second-grade students chat with their teacher and Principal Karen Szymusiak about metaphors for synthesis.
Teaching Rereading Strategies Through Read Aloud Day 2
Aimee Buckner uses rereading as a strategy to deepen student understanding during read alouds.
Test-Taking Skills: Reading Strategies for Word Problems Part I
Question It – Know It – Show It are the keys to test preparation in Andrea Smith's 4th grade classroom.
Conferring with Emily: Moving from Questions to Content
In this conference with six-year-old Emily, Ruth Shagoury looks for a way into a conversation by using Emily’s drawings, previous writing, and interests. Emily’s first language is Hmong, and she is experimenting with Chinese characters in her writing.
Old Elm Speaks: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this first installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks by Kristin O’Connell George.
Picture Reading in First Grade
In this read-aloud lesson from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie demonstrates the importance of picture reading using the wordless picture book The Zoo by Suzy Lee.
Data Cards: Assessment Profiles at a Glance
“Data cards” are ingeniously designed to allow an entire grade-level team to look at the reading levels of all students in the grade. In this four-minute video, “The Sisters” (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) explain how they work.
First Grade Guided Writing Group: Goldilocks and the 3 Writers
In this video of a first-grade guided writing group, Katie DiCesare works with three girls on spelling issues that have emerged in their writing.
Old Elm Speaks Day 2: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this second installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks by Kristin O'Connell George.
From Questions to Drafts
Aimee Buckner shares the mentor text Could You? Would You? with her 4th grade students. Aimee explains how questions are a springboard to interesting writing topics, and models connections she makes to the text.
Conferring Close-Up: Test-Taking Strategies Part II
Andrea Smith confers with two 4th graders in her classroom as part of test preparation.
4th Grade Room Tour
In this video tour of her 4th grade classroom, Aimee Buckner highlights how she arranges books, charts, and other resources to support the reading and writing of her students.
Writing Comics: Introducing the Activity
In this lesson from a fourth-grade classroom, Sarah Thibault introduces students to a writing activity. Students will be creating their own comic books, after extensive preparation and experience with mentor texts.
Test-Taking Strategies Part III: Whole Class Debrief
Andrea Smith’s 4th graders debrief together after a test preparation workshop.
5th Grade Sentence Observation
Karen Terlecky explains the sentence observation routine in her 5th grade classroom, and provides a video example of students in action analyzing sentences.
Managing Book Boxes
In this first video in our “Organizing Book Boxes” series, Joan Moser (of “The Sisters”) explains three strategies she uses to help students pick books for their book boxes.
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