Biographies are one of our best tools for diversifying the curriculum. In this article, we describe The Biography Clearinghouse, a free resource designed to inspire teachers to use high-quality biographies in their classrooms. We then elaborate on curricular possibilities in K-8 classrooms. We end with a discussion of the Investigate, Explore, and…

This article describes a comprehensive framework (iDISC) for the close reading of informational texts for elementary students that may need additional language, social, memory, or behavioral supports. The article introduces concrete tools that are used before, during, and after close reading, including cue-cards, language stems, discussion…

In this Teaching Tips article four time-saving systems to organize an elementary classroom library for successful inquiry instruction are shared. These systems include: Topic, Genre, Author, and Craft. Examples to assist teachers in organizing their own classroom libraries using one or more of these systems are also provided.

As part of a large study aiming to understand how kindergarten children in Colombia used translanguaging during independent play, Paula (the teacher) along with Dr. Moses (lead researcher) co-designed a 6-week play-based intervention that included a variety of learning experiences such as partner reading, small-group reading, and supported play,…

Classroom libraries are an important component of elementary classrooms. These collections support readers' literate identities, their motivation to read, and their access to texts that reflect a world outside of the classroom. Yet, many classrooms lack texts that mirror the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of students and their lived…

Evidence-based core instruction partnered with evidence-based supplemental interventions are vital for students' literacy learning, particularly for students who need additional support (Petscher et al., 2020). Identifying instructional materials that reflect the translation of effective practices is challenging, (Solari et al., 2020) and made…

This teaching tip highlights three writing minilessons that help students construct vivid sensory detail (textual detail related to the five senses) in their fiction and creative nonfiction writing. Learning to show, not tell, is a difficult task for novice writers. The author explores reasons why this is the case and provides directions for the…

People who have impacted generations have left legacies we can explore today through biographies. The 5L instructional design introduced in this article includes five components: Listen, Learn, Locate, Link, and Legacy. In the "Listen" section, teachers use storytelling and read-alouds to introduce individuals who shaped history. During…

This article addresses approaches to differentiating instruction to meet the needs of students whose literacy needs, interests, and strengths vary widely. This article was designed to support classroom teachers who understand the importance of differentiating instruction, but are unsure of how best to design and implement differentiation within…

Picturebooks tell stories in both words and pictures. Interacting with the printed word, the technical elements of illustration--color, line, shape and composition--work to establish and enhance the story. Sometimes simply by adding description of characters and setting, and, at times, by challenging the veracity of the text with ironic or…

Teachers often use science trade books in the classroom for a number of reasons: to enhance science instruction, to augment an adopted science textbook, or to integrate literacy with subject-area content. Using Patricia Hunsader's mathematics trade book evaluation rubric published in the April 2004 issue of "Reading Teacher" as a model, the…

This article presents well-written and visually exciting informational series books on a range of topics. As children progress through a series, the predictability of the external and the internal characteristics allows them to learn to negotiate various aspects of nonfiction while delighting in the content and deepening conceptual understanding.…

The ability to draw conclusions while reading is an important comprehension skill. It requires readers to connect background knowledge and experiences with information in the text in order to go beyond the literal meaning of words on the page. Even with careful teaching, this skill, like most others, needs to be reinforced at different levels of…

This research synthesis examines 21 content-analysis studies conducted between 1966 and 2003 that focused on Hispanic portrayal in children's books. Specifically, it looks at how the literature has evolved in terms of amount of representation, characters' roles, and stereotyping. Findings vary by book type, Hispanic subgroup, and comparative…

A growing body of research in the fields of mathematics education and literacy supports the inclusion of children's literature with the teaching and learning of mathematics. When mathematics is couched within a story and presented using pictures and informal, familiar language, students can more readily grasp the mathematical ideas and concepts.…