Summarizing is a great way to know if a student is understandning the main point of the reading. In this activity from The Big Book of Literacy Tasks, Grades K-8, the student will write a news story to another student explaining the most important points to know from the text read the day before.
This lesson from No More Fake Reading provides teachers tips on how to manage your students during independent reading time.
Read this blog post from Pamela Koutrakos, author of Word Study that Sticks, to learn three ready-to-go ways to infuse word study into the content areas.
These three lessons from The Ramped-Up Read Aloud will teach students to: notice how characters change from the beginning to the end of a story; think about the differences in the way they think and act; and talk, write, or draw about how they change.
Use these two activities from What Are You Grouping For? to quickly build a sense of community, establish shared values around collaborative work, and "break the ice" in newly-formed groups.
These five moves from What Are You Grouping For? are founded on knowing students and providing opportunities for them to regularly meet in small groups to read, discuss, and make meaning of texts that are matched to their interest.
In this webinar, Julie Wright and Barry Hoonan, authors of What Are You Grouping For?, walk you through five teacher moves for growing students’ reading muscles through small-group learning experiences: kidwatching, pivoting, assessing, curating, and planning.
Informational texts facilitate reading development, help shape students’ understanding of the world, and build their habits of inquiry. Use this chapter from Text Complexity to learn more about selecting informational texts for your students.
Much like the adage “a rising tide lifts all boats,” displaying students’ writing about reading gives all students the opportunity to learn from—and aspire to— the ways of thinking of peers. Check out this activity from What Do I Teach Readers Tomorrow? Nonfiction, Grades 3-8 to learn how to create an effective inspiration wall for your classroom.
Use these tips from What Do I Teach Readers Tomorrow? Fiction, Grades 3-8, to engage your students in fiction read alouds.
Just giving students complex text doesn’t mean they will read and understand it. Read this excerpt from Rigorous Reading to learn more about how you can ramp up complex texts.
There's no sense to learning to spell words we don't understand. This activity from Word Study That Sticks helps you review with your K-2 students the words they understand (or don't) for greater clarity.