Students in the 3rd and 4th grade often encounter what has been called a reading "slump" when their class curriculums increasingly ask them to comprehend and learn from texts. Students are more likely to struggle if they have not been offered sufficient opportunities to build world and domain knowledge and engage in challenging…

Literature circles, or book clubs, are a long-standing pedagogical tradition designed to support students' reading and response to literature. However, critics of these student-led literature discussions have argued that this format can limit opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with political, social, and cultural issues. The purpose…

Teaching children to inquire, discuss ideas, and defend thinking about a literary text is a key aim of the common core state standards (CCSS). This article describes how four third-grade, male struggling readers successfully co-constructed meaning during a discussion based reading intervention rooted in philosophical inquiry. Three elements that…

The purpose of this article is to describe a strategy called the Poetry Academy used to boost reading skills in elementary school students. The Poetry Academy paired struggling readers with a community volunteer to read poetry on a weekly schedule to practice fluency, work on word recognition abilities, and build confidence. A research study took…

If children are to read to learn, they must acquire skill in processing and comprehending expository texts. However, teaching children to read and comprehend informational texts takes time, because there are so many complex skills associated with this reading. Building children's knowledge of the content to be studied and introducing new…

Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

The purpose of this article is to provide teachers with examples of how to perform effective think-alouds. Twelve think-alouds are described. A rationale for their use in kindergarten through grade 5 is also included. In addition, this article was designed to provide teachers with lessons and activities to assist students in developing the ability…