Three assessment strategies to help elementary teachers gather information about their students' reading (and thus direct their teaching) include keeping running records of students' oral reading, requesting retellings of stories to determine students' comprehension, and talking seriously about reading with students to determine their overall…

Presents a basic vocabulary strategy to boost elementary students' reading comprehension and success. The three steps include identifying vocabulary words that students will need to comprehend the reading; preteaching only three to five words; and connecting the new words to concepts that students already know. (SM)

To motivate students to read, it is important for teachers to teach the reader, not the reading. This article presents three strategies for accomplishing this: studying the child, not the book; focusing on students' reading lives and knowing them as readers; and thinking of students as readers. (SM)

Consultant discusses useful guidelines for using oral reading wisely. (GB)

Figurative Language can be a more effective way for authors to say what they mean, but young readers need help from teachers to ensure their understanding of these figures of speech. (Author)

Music, which moves a child as it does an adult through song and dance, can very well stimulate, support, and inspire a beginning reading program. (Author)

Describes the organization of classroom Reading Learning Stations as one way to provide individualized learning experiences. (RB)

Here are 15 reading games you can adapt to any level, complete with easy-to-copy illustrations. Make them sturdy the first around--they'll get used and used! (Editor/RK)

Presents two cross-checking activities to help K-3 students learn decoding. The cross-checking involves decoding by using the consonants in a word along with the context. Children learn to decode by thinking about two things simultaneously (what word would make sense in a sentence and the word's letters and sounds). (SM)

Most students who lag in reading can progress with the help of both classroom attention and individual tutoring. They do best when reading materials they enjoy and can read at a certain level. This article explains the 10 steps to successful tutoring and discusses what to do if students are nonreaders. (SM)

The most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children at home and in the classroom. At school, reading aloud is important for starting the day, presenting reading and writing mini-lessons, supporting social studies and science curricula, supporting whole-class book studies, and…

Presents suggestions to help struggling readers in upper elementary grades. The suggestions focus on: how to select the right books, how to introduce the books, and how to read the books. A sidebar presents a below-level readers' gripe list (e.g., people think they are dumb, treat them like they cannot think, and make them invisible). (SM)

Presents a sample lesson to support teachers as they guide students toward becoming more strategic, independent readers. The lesson involves using context clues to understand tough words and scaffolding reading with other word-building strategies (preteaching vocabulary and strengthening students' word knowledge) when there are no context clues.…

How to motivate children and provide opportunities for learning. (SP)

Author suggests ways-including games- to help children develop the very important but often neglected reading-study skills. (Author/RK)