In today's differentiated classroom, each individual student receives from their teacher student-centered instruction and customized assignments to reflect their skills and knowledge. Teachers differentiate their assignments so each of their students may access the Common Core State Standards, interact with complex nonfiction texts, integrate…

Given increased attention to disciplinary literacy in K-5 contexts, there is a need to explore how elementary preservice teachers are trained to engage in disciplinary instruction. The authors present a curriculum for fostering disciplinary language and literacy awareness in elementary teacher preparation. First, they explain how and why they…

Twenty-first century literacy requires students to analyze and create images for communication across and within academic disciplines. Thus, literacy teachers are now responsible for supporting students as they engage with visual texts. We must carefully and intentionally choose images for teaching practice and consider the reader, instructional…

Students' vocabulary knowledge is a significant predictor of their overall comprehension. The Common Core State Standards are raising the expectations for word learning and there are now 4 distinct standards related to vocabulary as well as expectations in other standards, including content areas. To address these expectations, teachers need…

With the development and institution of the Common Core Standards, teachers must be prepared to integrate content areas such as social studies within the language arts curriculum. Teachers following the suggestions of the Common Core Standards should develop practical and meaningful strategies within their classrooms that encourage and support…

A question being asked by teachers across the country is, How can I teach students to acquire both the skills and knowledge demanded by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) while simultaneously guiding them to read challenging texts such as those presented in Appendix B of the CCSS? Answering this invites the integration of ideas and the…

This teaching tip focuses on using hand-clapping to teach content area material across the curriculum. We begin with a brief history of hand-clap songs, followed by a rationale for using them in content area literacy. Then, we describe the instructional lesson, share samples that resulted, and discuss lesson extensions. Our goal is to have…

As teachers struggle to balance the needs of their students with the requirements of commercial reading materials, educators need to consider how teachers will create space for children's literature in today's classrooms. In this article, 10 practical recommendations for incorporating children's literature in the reading instructional framework…

This article describes one attempt to use singing as an instructional strategy to help all students learn across the curriculum. It begins with background on the author's early experiences with singing. Then, it shares professional literature on the relationship between singing, song, and literacy development. Next, it describes singing as an…

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the elementary grades. Teachers are increasingly looking for ways to help their students integrate literacy instruction with content area learning. This article highlights some of the similarities between reading comprehension and mathematical…

Students whose language, ethnicity, and race are not represented in a school's dominant culture experience varying degrees of success in reading achievement, resulting in persistent gaps in reading achievement. Culturally responsive instruction can help to close that gap. This teaching strategy capitalizes on the knowledge and literacy strategies…

Offers adaptations of content area reading techniques that can help teachers integrate mainstreamed children into small groups with other members of their classes. Techniques include (1) the Jigsaw strategy, (2) the list-group-label strategy, and (3) the small group structured overview. (FL)

Offers a set of lesson plans that use simple semantic word maps to help students improve their vocabulary knowledge and comprehension in all subject areas. (FL)

Describes the uses and benefits of reciprocal teaching, a strategy that promotes both comprehension of text and comprehension monitoring. (HOD)

Suggests that children's literature used skillfully in tandem with textbooks makes the content curriculum more palatable, comprehensible, and memorable. Offers several teaching ideas. (FL)