Interactive writing is a developmentally appropriate activity used to enhance children's literacy development in the preschool setting. This article describes the unique needs of preschoolers as emerging writers, including their developing fine motor skills, early literacy skills, and social skills related to group writing. Strategies are provided…

This formative and design study examined how the Complex Text Analysis (CTA) instructional approach provided support for first-grade students to increase their comprehension of texts of increasing complexity. The students in the diverse class participated in weekly lessons during which fictional texts were read aloud and analyzed in terms of key…

Vocabulary instruction is a key component of reading comprehension but is often not addressed sufficiently in classrooms. The authors worked with a team of fifth-grade teachers in professional development targeted to learning instructional strategies for developing students' vocabularies. In this article, the authors share two strategies that the…

This article presents four practical principles that lead to enhanced word-meaning instruction in the elementary grades. The authors, a collaborative team of researchers and classroom teachers, identified and developed these principles and related instructional activities during a three-year vocabulary instruction research project. The principles…

High-level comprehension instruction is the focus of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts. However, it has been a challenge for states to provide the professional development (PD) needed to support teachers' implementation of the CCSS. Professional learning communities (PLC) are a means of providing school-embedded PD to…

This article presents strategies for integrating explicit vocabulary instruction within a reading workshop. The author begins by describing a process for involving students in word selection. The author then provides a weeklong instructional sequence using student-selected words. Finally, the author briefly examines the role of vocabulary…

This article presents an arts integration program that uses drama and dance to promote foundational literacy skills, with an emphasis on the oral development of English Language Learners (ELLs). Previous research indicates that arts activities afford a beneficial opportunity for young students to practice language skills, but many teachers have…

The purpose of this teaching tip is to share a new tool for identifying high-utility academic words from instructional texts. The Word and Phrase Tool, when paired with teacher knowledge about students and objectives, can help teachers promote the academic vocabulary development of their students.

Students who can use a term conversantly in academic environments know how to use it precisely in their writing and in their interactions with others; they can be said to deeply know, not just the word term in alphabetic or spoken forms, but the connections to ideas the term embodies. When students are intrigued by words and ideas, they want to…

Throughout its history, the ecology of the picturebook has been impacted by various social and cultural changes. Postmodernism is one perspective, among other conceptual and theoretical frameworks, that has been proposed to explain some of the fundamental changes evident in many contemporary picturebooks. A review of the literature (Pantaleo &…

Educators can take advantage of Latino English learners' linguistic backgrounds by teaching Spanish-English cognate vocabulary using the Children's Choices picture books. Cognates are words that have identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in two languages because of their Latin and Greek origins. Students can learn to recognize…

In this article the authors share how they use global literature picturebooks with pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade children in the context of A Curriculum That is International to develop the children's intercultural understandings. The picturebooks, shared through read alouds, individual and partner reading, and browsing, is…

Vocabulary development is critical for children's ability to learn to read and their success at school. Vocabulary has also been identified as a key factor in the achievement gap, with children from low-income families knowing significantly fewer words when they enter school. Although book reading has long been celebrated as an effective way for…

This article bridges research to practice by summarizing an interactive content-enriched shared book reading approach that Spanish-speaking parents of preschool-age children can easily use in the home to accelerate content vocabulary knowledge in Spanish. The approach was implemented in preschool classrooms using a transitional bilingual education…

Connectives (e.g., although, consequently, in contrast) are often considered the "signposts" of texts. In this article we argue that connectives represent a special kind of vocabulary knowledge that students need to develop both in order to read challenging, academic texts with understanding and to produce academic writing. Yet tapping…