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Field Experience: Small Group Reading Instruction

Small group reading instruction is an important part of elementary literacy. This field experience is a sampling of a variety of examples.

Field Experience: General Workshop Routines

This field experience invites us to consider the routines of opening the day, workshop norms, meeting areas and transitions to make workshop run smoothly.

Are Your Writers Talking During Writing Workshop?

Stella Villalba shares practical tips for helping young English language learners collaborate with classmates and receive feedback during writing workshop.

Book Matchmaker: Read Alouds for 1st Grade

Franki Sibberson helps a 1st grade teacher select read alouds for her class in this installment of Book Matchmaker.

Book Matchmaker: Texts for Young English Language Learners

Franki Sibberson shares some of her favorite new titles for young English language learners.

If You Like Junie B. Jones, You Might Like . . .

What young learner doesn’t love Junie B. Jones? Franki Sibberson shares great texts to recommend for readers who adore Junie and might be looking for similar characters and plots.

Fluency in Focus: Conferring with Jake

Gail Boushey confers with Jake, a seven-year-old who is setting a reading goal of developing fluency. After the conference, she debriefs with Joan Moser.

Capturing Student Learning with Evernote

It can be difficult to move from print to electronic records in the classroom. After using a spiral notebook for 10 years, Cathy Mere did just that.

Grades K-2 Fluency Lesson

In this video from a K-2 multiage classroom, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey ("The Sisters") present a fluency lesson to the whole class.

More Productive Writing Share Sessions in First Grade

In this video from a first-grade classroom, Katie DiCesare demonstrates how she has made writing share time more productive by linking student work to recent lessons.

Previewing Nonfiction

Teachers are adding more nonfiction to their classroom libraries, and looking for ways to promote nonfiction with students in light of the emphasis on nonfiction in the Common Core. Franki Sibberson share tips for previewing nonfiction with students.

Book Matchmaker: Texts for an Advanced First Grader

Joan is a first-grade teacher who has one reader in mind – a student who is reading well above grade-level expectations. Franki Sibberson has many intriguing book suggestions to help her.

Helping Young Readers Become Independent

Teachers speak often about the importance of helping students become independent, but what does that look like in practical terms? Katie DiCesare considers her interactions with Evan, an emergent reader, on the road to independence.

Books that Make Kids Squeal

Shari Frost shares books with “squeal appeal” — here is a booklist of texts that energize and delight kindergarten learners.

Spelling Rules — Or Does It?

Heather Rader introduces a new spelling series and maps out the topics she’ll be tackling.

Making Kids Aware of Their Thinking

If we stopped every time a child was thinking, wondering or connecting to our read aloud, we’d lose the continuity of the writing. Jennifer McDonough teaches students gestures to give her feedback about when and how kids are thinking.

Top 10 Technology Tools for Teachers

If you're overwhelmed with the slew of new technology tools coming out all the time (and who isn't?), you might appreciate Scott Sibberson's Top 10 Tech Tools for Teachers. You are probably using some of the tools daily, and may discover a few new ones too.

Readers’ Theater Revisited

Katie DiCesare becomes reacquainted with an old curricular friend.  But in trying reader’s theater again in her primary classroom, she finds ways to streamline the process and foster more independence in students.

Using Jackdaws to Build Community in Kindergarten

Mandy Robek gives us the how-to as she revises a community-building project to make it a better fit for Kindergarten students.

Books Struggling Readers Can and Will Want to Read: Building the Classroom Library

Sammy is an avid reader in the classroom, but his teacher Cathy Mere notices he “accidentally” is always leaving the backpack with his intervention books behind.  The challenge for classroom teachers is stocking books with titles that will interest Sammy, but still provide enough challenge and support to move him forward as a reader.

Teaching Stamina Strategies to First Graders

Tammy Mulligan works with two seven-year-olds to teach them strategies for building reading stamina.

Tech Tools for Our Youngest Learners with Kathy Cassidy (PODCAST)

Kathy Cassidy has the tips and tools of the trade for increasing technology in developmentally appropriate way for little ones.

Make it Personal

The connections we make with students and families are what we remember most when all is said and done. Trish Prentice has thoughts on what changes a respected teacher into a beloved teacher.

Injecting Writing into Everything: Prediction Stories

What happens between kindergarten and upper elementary grades to make students more hesitant about making predictions? Heather Rader has books and teaching suggestions for building prediction skills.

First Grade Guided Writing Group: Targeting Common Spelling Needs

In this video of a 1st grade guided writing group, Katie DiCesare works with children to address common issues with spelling and conventions. By grouping the students together, she is able to use her time well in addressing common needs among students.

Quick Take: Conferring with Young English Language Learners

In this short video, Ruth Shagoury gives advice to teachers conferring with young English language learners, explaining how other English language learners can be surprisingly helpful in conferences.

Purposeful First Grade Reading Share Sessions

Katie DiCesare prompts her 1st grade students during the reading share time at the end of workshop to make connections between the strategies they use during independent reading time and the day’s minilessons.

Drawing to Learn: Conferring with Kyle

In this conference with six-year-old Kyle, Ruth Shagoury listens to him explain the stories and meaning behind his drawings during writer's workshop. Kyle's first language is Vietnamese, though English is also spoken in the home.

Making Connections as a Reader and a Scientist

Heather Rader finds that reading is at the heart of scientists’ work.

Book Matchmaker: Texts to Build Stamina

In this installment of Book Matchmaker, Franki Sibberson has suggestions for books to build reading stamina in students.

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