Children's brains develop faster in the early years than at any other time in their lives. If you want to make the most of this pivotal period, there is no time to waste. With newly updated research, the second edition of this bestseller provides parents and educators with strategies for building a brain-compatible environment where young learners…

There is something quite magical about forming a connection to a book: the way in which the words on the page can conjure feelings of excitement, fun, joy, laughter or tears, channeling the part of our being that fundamentally makes us human. The journey that children take as they travel towards becoming a competent and confident reader can be a…

Discover the language and learning possibilities of young children's active engagement with book experiences, in which they talk with one another as they make meaning from literature centered around their lives and interests. Drawing from their backgrounds as teachers and researchers, as well as their many experiences facilitating and observing…

"This Book Is Not About Drama" explores issues around storytelling, silent speech, writing and imagination and shows teachers how to use role play and discussion to build language experiences that are meaningful for learners. This authoritative resource is full of simple strategies that begin with the simple and evolve in to more complex…

The most effective way to understand what a child knows about the reading process is to take a running record. In "Running Records", Mary Shea demonstrates how teachers can use this powerful tool to design lessons that decrease reading difficulties, build on strengths, and stimulate motivation, ensuring that children develop self-sustaining…

This volume in the TESOL Classroom Practice Series asks one fundamental question, "How can teachers teach the students, not the book?" The response, given within "Using Textbooks Effectively", is to move beyond the textbook as a separate entity and view it instead as part of the ESOL curriculum process and as a tool for student learning. The…

This practical guidebook aims to show preschool, kindergarten, and primary teachers how to refine their literacy evaluation practices through careful "kidwatching." By observing and recording children's literacy development, teachers also develop new understandings of the ways children think and learn. Ultimately, through kidwatching,…

The editors of "What Research Has to Say about Reading Instruction" present the most recent research on fluency and show how it can be put into practice. A resource for classroom teachers and teacher educators alike, the reader-friendly text offers a range of expert perspectives on the key aspects of fluency such as: (1) history and…

This book provides 234 tested, easy-to-use exercises, games, and activities to help reading specialists and classroom teachers correct students' individual reading skill deficiencies at the primary, intermediate, and upper levels. The activities in the book are sequentially organized in the basic skill areas of phonic analysis, structural…

Intended for elementary school teachers and librarians, this book was designed to help in the development of reading programs for young children. Five sections are included: (1) planning ahead, which includes getting organized, making decorations, collecting "junque" (craft materials and other items needed for craft activities); (2) conducting…

The authors advocate that a high-quality curriculum is an important first step toward good teaching and successful learning. Good curriculum comes from knowing what students can do, can almost do, and need to learn how to do as readers, writers, and language users. In this book, the authors combine their experience and learning in literacy…

Designed as a concise, easy-to-read, easy-to-use guide, this book provides suggestions for remediating aspects of a student's reading disability as diagnosed through an experienced teacher's observations and through the use of an Informal Reading Inventory. The book contains teaching ideas specifically designed for handling a wide range of reading…

Written for teachers who are moving toward a greater use of literature for reading and writing instruction, this book discusses planning and implementing a reading and writing program for pupils that uses literature as a major component in teaching children how to read. Chapters in the book contain boxed sections with practical suggestions for…

This publication investigates what happened when a Chicago public school first-grade teacher radically changed her teaching practice and embraced a holistic literary approach. The practice of shifting patterns of control in the classroom and the construction of knowledge in a setting where most children are bilingual is explored. The nine chapters…

This book discusses what can be done to extend literacy and raise literacy standards for all sections of the population, the relationship between home learning and school learning, and the role of parents in their children's education, focusing on the situation in England. It is designed to assist teachers who work cooperatively with parents in…