Katie DiCesare finds her guided reading practices are rusty, so she develops some new strategies to improve her work.
Heather Rader demonstrates the importance of a varied reading diet to a second-grade group, sharing her own stack of books.
What makes a teacher memorable? Recognizing a child's passions from the very first day of school. Jennifer Schwanke recounts how her second-grade teacher did just that.
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.
Katie DiCesare thinks about what language supports student independence early in the year and how to share this in an anchor chart with her first graders.
In these brief writing conferences with second graders, Sean Moore reinforces an earlier minilesson on using descriptive language.
Stella Villalba finds what English language learners need more than almost anything else is patience with silence and time to formulate responses.
Melanie Meehan finds read aloud is a great time for children to connect opinions and experiences.
Ruth Ayres uses a student text to demonstrate the importance of paragraph breaks in this second-grade minilesson.
Cathy Mere finds that criteria for “just-rightness” varies with genre.
Gigi McAllister uses picture books to strengthen her fourth-grade classroom community.
Bill Bass has advice for teaching web-based search skills to students.
Max Brand uses written blind word sorts to build student word learning skills.
Cathy Mere provides grouping guidelines for primary teachers.
Many beloved characters from picture books are showing up in beginning readers, and in the process can lose a lot of their appeal. Shari Frost provides teachers with criteria for choosing between picture books or beginning readers.
Julie Johnson has advice on classroom uses of tech resources.
Sean Moore leads his second graders in a whole-class discussion of nonfiction writing, including a partner share.
Max Brand explains the basics of word work, including a list of reflective questions teachers can ask themselves and students.
Christi Overman teaches her second graders about onomatopoeia in a brief minilesson.
Shari Frost asks a provocative question: Can books harm children? She explores practical ways for teachers to walk the fine line between support and censorship in matching books to students.
Cathy Mere finds many authentic ways for her first graders to share reading insights.
Mandy Robek compiles a list of her favorite books for brain breaks with young learners.
Sean Moore demonstrates two different quick kinesthetic movements to help his second-grade students focus and transition between whole-class instruction segments.
Stella Villalba gives a tour of her classroom library and publishing corner designed to support the grades 1-5 English language learners she works with daily.
Help students transition back to school with minilessons that give children a strong sense of the purpose of literacy workshops.
Ruth Ayres has tips for organizing desks, tables, chairs, and materials to support literacy learning.
Sean Moore leads a second-grade whole-class reading share early in the year. This quick video shows that this instruction time is as much about establishing social norms as talking about reading.
Launching a sort with primary students early in the year begins not with words, but with leaves for Max Brand.
Mandy Robek shares her favorite texts to use early in the year with young students to introduce them to everything from places to read to how to handle books.
Sean Moore meets with a group of second graders to remind them how to use sticky notes strategically while they are reading.
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