Choice Lit Topic: 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.
Results
Making Summer Reading Plans
Just like we prepare for summer—cleaning the barbecue grill, planting a garden, cleaning closets, or making vacation plans—readers prepare for summer too. Each June we teach one final unit of...
Reading Through Spring
Most school districts have a spring vacation. Here in the Northeast our vacation is in late April. After a long, cold, and snow-filled winter, people are eager to get outside...
End-of-Year Literacy Interviews
When we turn the corner into the warm days of spring and early summer, teachers’ thoughts turn to that final countdown. We wonder if we’ll have time for all that...
April Literacy Contracts: Discovery
Since April is National Poetry Month, we have incorporated novels in verse and poetry anthologies for our reading focus, and students will be creating their own poetry reflection books. Poetry...
Conferring About Independent Reading
Karen Terlecky confers with fifth grader Alex about making wise choices during independent reading time.
Character Study Share Session in First Grade
First graders in Katie DiCesare's class discuss character traits in books from independent reading during a whole-class share session.
Celebrating Screen-Free Week (BOOKLIST)
At our school, we have attempted for the last several years to get children and families talking about screen time during Screen-Free Week. Screen-Free Week is scheduled for May 5-11...
Getting Started with Blogging in Fifth Grade
We’ve all heard that kids today have no fear when it comes to technology. I have found that to be true for some children. However, many of my students seem...
A Booklist for Earth Day
On April 22, people everywhere try to do their part to make the world a cleaner, greener place. We can use literature to impart lessons to our students about protecting...
Mentor Reader: Words
It is the beginning of our morning literacy block in my fourth-grade classroom. A bit of text is being projected onto the whiteboard screen for the students to see. As...
Conferring About Word Learning
Sean Moore confers with Mikhail about his reading and strategies for highlighting new vocabulary.
Expanding the Literacy Classroom with Flipped Minilessons
When I first heard about the “flipped” classroom learning model, I was absolutely against it. I could not wrap my mind around the idea that watching a video at home...
Simplifying Word Study
Recently I was hiking. A bright yellow T-shirt with bold print caught my eye. “Life is simple,” read the slogan. Somewhere we all have encountered the message this hiker was...
Bridge to Comprehension Minilesson
Deb Gaby uses images of a bridge to help second graders understand the importance of pausing and reflecting while reading.
March Literacy Contracts: Nonfiction Curiosities
Spring is arriving in March, and with it, a renewed sense of curiosity and enthusiasm. Spring gives us a bounce in our step, more energy, and a desire to learn...
Bracketology
It was March 2013. Brackets were everywhere you turned. March Madness had taken over NBA basketball. I was participating in Madness poetry-writing tournament. Our fifth graders were writing persuasively and...
Conferring About Lemony Snicket and Vocabulary
Aimee Buckner confers with fourth grader Samantha about reading a series and tackling challenging vocabulary at the same time in this brief video.
The Power of Mystery Series for Teens and Tweens
It’s what every book lover dreams about: finding a book with wonderful characters and a gripping plot, only to discover that the story doesn’t end with this book. You do...
Conversational Skills in a Boys Book Club
Linda Karamatic observes a second-grade boys book club using tokens as a cue for turn taking, and then discusses her observations with the students.
More Sophisticated Mysteries: Conferring with Yuki
Franki Sibberson confers with fourth grader Yuki to expand his reading options. You can access the list of books Franki shares by clicking here.
“Article of the Week” Activity in Fourth Grade
Tony Keefer demonstrates how the article-of-the-week activity adapted from the work of Kelly Gallagher is a powerful tool for building skills and community in his fourth-grade classroom.
