Abstract This article provides an overview of the importance of and the steps to undertaking a classroom library diversity audit. It begins by situating the importance of the classroom library in children's development because literature can reflect and expand worldviews. Next, statistics of U.S. children's literature publishing and U.S. classroom…

During the first year of life, children begin to develop preferences for their own racial group over others. To interrupt the development of these and other biases during infancy and toddlerhood, educators can use books to promote anti-racist and anti-bias thinking and behaviors in children, while also supporting children's emergent literacy. This…

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,…

More and more students with learning disabilities and other diverse learners are placed for instruction in general education classrooms, which often leaves teachers grappling to design successful peer interactions and literacy activities to meet the needs of all learners in their classrooms. As the shift is made to align literacy instruction to…

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…

Finding culturally relevant informational books for a classroom library can be difficult. However, expanding the definition of informational text to include procedural forms, specifically cookbooks, can enhance the cultural relevance, range, and number of books available for students to read. Reasons for placing cookbooks in the classroom library…

Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

Children's literature plays an essential role in the literacy development of children. This department column focuses on the teaching and use of children's literature and provides educators with information about a wide range of books across multiple genres that are representative of the diverse world in which we live. A strong emphasis is placed…

The Common Core State Standards for English language arts expect that teachers will use narrative and informational texts to teach content area material across the curriculum. However, many teachers at all grade levels struggle to incorporate both kinds of text, especially given the vast amount of specialized content they are required to teach.…

In 2010, more than 40 states adopted the Common Core State Standards. Initially, the standards were quickly and easily embraced, but over the past year the standards have become enmeshed in various controversies, raising many questions about how the standards were written and what they include. This article attempts to provide authoritative…

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…