Teaching Reading
Our contributors lead reading workshops in classrooms with creative flair. Over the past 12 years, we've filled our site with loads of suggestions, tools, and tips for using engaging books throughout the curriculum to hook kids on reading. Here is where you will find many stories of successful and not-so-successful workshop days, and what we learned from them. We bring these stories to life through hundreds of video examples.
Latest Content
Teacher/Principal Conferring: Reflecting on Readers’ Notebooks
In this conference, Principal Karen Szymusiak and 5th grade teacher Liz Cramer discuss the ways Liz uses readers’ notebooks in her classroom.
Staying Focused in Literacy Workshops
Clare Landrigan meets with a group of fifth graders to talk about what’s going well in literacy workshops, and to set individual goals.
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.
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.
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.
Learning from Graphica: Conferring with Students
In this lesson series from a 4th grade classroom, Sarah Thibault introduces students to a writing activity. Students will be creating their own comic books, after extensive preparation and experience with graphica. In this installment, Sarah confers with students during writer's workshop as they brainstorm character traits. Students will be creating their own comic books, after extensive preparation and multiple reading and writing activities.
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.
Helping Young Readers Become Independent: The “Next-Read” Stack and Peer Groups
Franki Sibberson explains how "next-read" stack conferences work in her grades 3-4 classroom.
Helping Students Set Nonfiction Reading Goals
Franki Sibberson finds nonfiction reading goals elevate the value of nonfiction in her grades 3-4 classroom.
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.
Book Choice and Planning Lesson
Franki Sibberson teaches her students about book choice in this video from her grades 3-4 classroom.
Differentiating Book Boxes
In this second video in our "Organizing Book Boxes" series, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") explains how she differentiates the content of book boxes for students with different skills and needs.
Nonfiction Word Hunt Part I
Word study and nonfiction reading are combined in Franki Sibberson's nonfiction word hunt activity.
Book Boxes Nuts and Bolts
In this third video in our "Organizing Book Boxes" series, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") tackles the issue of what types of books and what levels are appropriate for student book boxes.
Nonfiction Word Hunt Part II
Franki Sibberson explains the value of the nonfiction word hunt activity.
Main Ideas in Nonfiction
In this whole-class lesson, 5th grade teacher Karen Terlecky and her students consider how main ideas work in nonfiction texts.
Conferring Close-Up: Test-Taking Strategies Part II
Andrea Smith confers with two 4th graders in her classroom as part of test preparation.
Student Reading Interview: Assessing Ana
Principal Karen Szymusiak interviews Ana, a second grader, to learn more about her strengths and needs as a reader.
Test-Taking Strategies Part III: Whole Class Debrief
Andrea Smith’s 4th graders debrief together after a test preparation workshop.
Inferring Read Aloud Part I
Katie Doherty demonstrates how she uses picture books to teach inferring strategies to her sixth graders in this video series. Part I is a presentation of the book to students.
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.
Teaching Inferring with Picture Books Part II: Partner Shares
Katie Doherty’s 6th grade students discuss the read-aloud through partner shares.
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.
Teaching Inferring with Picture Books Part III: Whole-Class Debrief
Katie Doherty's 6th grade students debrief after a read-aloud and partner share focused on inferring.
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.
Keeping the M
Melissa Kolb confers with three-year-old Daniela and explains why approximations are crucial for young literacy learners.
Teaching Rereading Strategies Through Read Aloud Day 2
Aimee Buckner uses rereading as a strategy to deepen student understanding during read alouds.
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.
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.
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.
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