Reading Strategies
Are your students buried in post-its? Oversharing with those text-to-self connections? Parroting back comprehension tips but rarely applying them when they are actually reading? Our contributors sort through what works with strategy instruction, and have wise advice for avoiding superficial approaches to developing comprehension skills.
Latest Content
Graphic Novels for Beginning Readers
If you are looking to increase the quantity and quality of graphic novels for your learners in your classroom library Shari Frost has a new booklist to get you started.
Deep Reading of Picture Books in Middle School
Christy Rush-Levine shows the power of using picture books with young adolescents to model close reading and deepen comprehension of sophisticated texts.
Kindergarten Reading Conference: Building Confidence
Mandy Robek finds that kindergartner Mikey is lost in knowing how to use his time well during reading workshop. Her conference moves him from deflated to inspired.
Extended Inquiry with Article of the Week
Gretchen Schroeder finds the article of the week activity is an excellent vehicle for learning about content literacy gaps in student background knowledge and how to fill them.
Understanding Character Traits: Part 3
Jason DiCarlo completes his lesson on character traits in third grade. This is the final installment in a three-part series.
Teaching Inference Through Picture Books
Katherine Sokolowski explains why picture books are useful for teaching inference to intermediate students, and shares some of her favorites.
Stamina Bubbles
“Why do you always say ‘Happy reading!’ to us?” This question from a first grader leads Katrina Edwards to develop visual support tools for building stamina during reading workshops.
Literary Analysis and Authenticity in Middle School
Christy Rush-Levine finds the best way to help her middle school students learn to read closely for literary analysis is through student writing. They begin with analyzing student exemplars from the Common Core, and then move to shared texts as they hone their skills.
Close Reading for Comparison in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski uses a fascinating picture book to build close reading skills with her fifth graders. The key is selecting a text that holds up well through multiple readings.
Close Encounters with Text: Reading Many Ways
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris find their reading processes as adults informs the way they view close reading with students.
Beginning a Novel with Close Reading
Aimee Buckner helps a fourth-grade boy tease out emerging themes in the first pages of the novel Morning Girl.
Understanding Fiction and Nonfiction in First Grade
This is a demonstration lesson in a first-grade classroom on understanding the difference between fiction and nonfiction led by Erin Quealy. It is the first video in a three-part series.
Second-Grade Reading Group
Heather Rader demonstrates the importance of a varied reading diet to a second-grade group, sharing her own stack of books.
Just Reading?
Christy Rush-Levine challenges the notion that there is anything easy or natural about getting young teens to select and read books independently in classrooms.
Fourth-Grade Read Aloud: Checking In
In this video from a fourth-grade classroom, Gi Reed reads aloud Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Gi continually checks in with her students, making sure they are visualizing, noticing new vocabulary, and making connections to earlier incidents in the texts—all without breaking the flow of the story.
Using a Strategy Card in a Reading Conference
Deb Gaby confers with second grader Reagan early in the school year. She is reading her first chapter book, and using a reading strategies “tool kit” for support.
Book Clubs Then and Now: Change Is the Constant
Mary Lee Hahn considers how book clubs have changed over time in her fifth-grade classroom.
Provoking Young Readers
Melanie Meehan finds read aloud is a great time for children to connect opinions and experiences.
Owl Research Notes Group
Andrea Smith helps a group of boys take notes during an owl research project.
Favorite Wordless Picture Books for Teaching Inference
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris present some of their favorite children’s books for teaching inference.
Working Hard and Reading Carefully: On Theme and Rereading
Jennifer Allen uses commercials to promote the importance of rereading to students while teaching theme.
Supporting Readers with Nonfiction Text
Cathy Mere finds that criteria for “just-rightness” varies with genre.
Redefining Just-Right Books
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris share advice for rethinking how teachers and students define “just-right” texts.
Setting Goals with Students
Melanie Meehan shares anchor charts and strategies for goal-setting.
Intervening with Read Aloud
Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris are using read alouds as an intervention strategy with struggling learners.
Percy Jackson Read-Aloud in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer demonstrates how he makes his read-alouds interactive, and explains why he selected Percy Jackson to use with this group of fourth graders.
Notebook Sketching: Conferring with Sarah
Aimee Buckner confers with Sarah about sketching in her notebook.
Catching Up with Anna
Katie Doherty Czerwinski tackles the challenging issue of helping a student catch up in book clubs and reading workshop when they have missed a lot of class time.
Using Google Earth to Support Readers
Justin Stygles finds Google Earth is a marvelous tool for helping students research settings in novels.
Using Lord of the Flies to Teach Argument
Gretchen Schroeder has suggestions for using short texts and close reading to help students comprehend The Lord of the Flies.
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