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
Important Book, Important Notes: Guiding Young Students Through Notetaking
Suzy Kaback catches a young learner near and dear to her in the process of plagiarizing. She uses the experience to develop a template to help students and colleagues with notetaking.
A Strategy Lesson for “Drive-Thru” Readers
Who is a “drive-thru” reader? One who zips through the start of a book and discards it before finishing, moving ever more quickly through random books. Aimee Buckner has some minilesson suggestions for dealing with those students who can’t or won’t finish any books they start.
Teaching About Words, Grammar, and Mechanics Through Children’s Literature (BOOKLIST)
Franki Sibberson wants her students to be more than just good spellers — she wants them to understand words in sophisticated ways, from many different angles. Children's books are a tool for reaching that goal.
Photo Booth and Young Readers
Stella Villalba uses the Photo Booth app to build stamina in a young English language learner, as well as reinforce the learning and practice at home.
Book Matchmaker: Read Alouds That Invite Young Readers to Participate
Franki Sibberson shares her latest suggestions for read alouds that invite participation from young readers.
Launching a Classroom Library
Melissa Styger slows down the launch of the classroom library to ensure it is a valuable resource all year.
Field Experience: Supporting Independent Reading, Choice and Stamina
Helping students learn to choose books and develop stamina are important to developing independent readers. Ruth Ayres designed a field experience with opportunities to see minilessons, small group instruction, team meetings and a share session that support independence in readers.
Partnering with Families on Reading
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share ways to make families partners in the pursuit of creating lifelong readers. They share research that makes a case for “just” reading and compelling suggestions for families to support the reading lives of their children.
Moving from Whole-Class Texts to Independent Reading: Characterization
Gretchen Schroeder offers a starting point to help her high school students prepare to write an in-depth character analysis essay.
The Shades of Sadness: Character Feelings and Traits
Melissa Quimby is disappointed with the way her students expressed depth of character traits and feelings. By building on their strengths, Melissa creates a tool for students to use and adapt as they learn to be more specific and intentional about describing characters.
Book Matchmaker: 3rd Graders Reading Below Grade Level
In this installment of Book Matchmaker, Franki Sibberson shares her favorite books for 3rd graders who are not at grade level, but don’t want to read texts that will embarrass them in front of their peers.
Activities Linking Books and Visual Learners for Early in the Year
What are the best books for the visual learners in your classroom? Carol Wilcox draws on her experience as a mom to two boys who do not love her “world of words” in coming up with suggestions.
Teaching Rereading During Class Read Alouds
Aimee Buckner teaches her 4th graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville.
Revising Titles Minilesson
In this minilesson from Franki Sibberson’s grades 3 and 4 classroom, Franki takes students through the process of selecting and revising titles. She uses the poem “Confessions of a Reader” by Carol Wilcox as a mentor text.
Integrating Vocabulary and Retelling Strategies into Read-Aloud
Stella Villalba scaffolds the language development of her first- and second-grade English language learners during read-aloud by highlighting vocabulary and providing a tool to assist with a partner retelling activity.
Quick Take: Special Library Shelves
Christy Rush-Levine shares a few special shelves in her classroom library.
Author Studies for Primary Students
Jen Court shares the benefits of an author or illustrator study and offers tips for getting started in primary grades.
Field Experience: Kindergarten Writers
Spend time with the youngest writers and you will be mesmerized by their writing processes. Ruth Ayres assembled a field experience focused on kindergarten writers.
Teaching Punctuation Through Shared Reading in Kindergarten
Mandy Robek explains with a video example how “interruptions” from students can deepen the shared reading experience. In this case, her kindergarten class is exploring punctuation.
Prompting and Support: Understanding the Language of the Common Core in Kindergarten
The words prompting and support appear often in the kindergarten Common Core State Standards. Mandy Robek analyzes what prompting and support looks and sounds like in her kindergarten classroom by using a video example.
First Day of School Read-Alouds with Global and Multicultural Perspectives
Welcome your students to school by honoring their cultures — this diverse list is just right for diverse classrooms.
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