Reading Education Articles for Teachers

Once you have a book club set up, there are a few essential elements you’ll want to include in each meeting. These include: A snack, preferably relating to the book. Literary discussion for about twenty minutes. A project for about thirty minutes. Within this framework, you have lo...

“We are all storytellers. It’s been going on as long as there have been people…” Jane Treat. Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Passover, Bastille Day, and all of the special days that are celebrated around the world have one thing in common: their traditions have been p...

Utilizing youth or adolescent literature books in the classroom can take many forms and functions. It is the stepping stone for which pupils not only learn to choose independent reading materials and study more complex pieces of literature, but it is also a stepping stone to getting to know your ...

On May 8, 2012 the world said goodbye to award-winning author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak. Sendak is best known for expanding the boundaries of children’s literature through many of his books, including the widely known Where the Wild Things Are. It was through his writing and illustrations t...

Maurice Sendak’s passing provides educators, parents, children — indeed, readers of all ages — an opportunity to revisit the pleasures of both his vivid writing and his evocative illustrations. How many of us pulled out our home, or classroom-library copies of his 1963 Caldecott...

As children, we all read books that we would classify as unforgettable. For me, those books include Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, and Socks by Beverly Cleary. Since this month we will celebrate Children’s Book Week, it is a good time to dust off ...

We live in a fast-paced time with new software, applications, and devices introduced to the market on a daily basis. Young learners in this digital age often rapidly outpace teachers in their understanding and willingness to push boundaries of the various technologies available. While some believ...

My favorite teacher used to say that books seem to expand after every reading, as they soak in the reader's thoughts and ideas. As a child, I loved this concept and would carefully examine my books. I imagined that they would magically gain width as I moved between the first and last page. As a t...

During our language arts unit this month, we focused on persuasive writing. Students practiced higher-order thinking skills, and learned to develop the reasoning to defend their convictions. To introduce this concept, I started with a mini-lesson to help students develop a definition of persuasi...

For our writing unit this month we focused on constructing a class big book about cheetahs. This provided a fantastic way to give students a model for upcoming science research projects that the children will be working on. This has always been my favorite writing unit, as I love to see the stude...

Tomie dePaola is a wonderful author to focus on in the primary grades. Tomie dePaola is an author and illustrator of both picture books and chapter books. Because of his strong characters and beautiful illustrations, children thoroughly enjoy his books during this unit of study. As with most of ...

It is essential for students to make connections to text as they read. For some students this comes naturally, however, for most students this skill has to be learned and reinforced by making written responses to texts. Recently, I have had the students in my class focus on making text to self co...

Writer's Workshop is an effective way to build a classroom of authors. However, it can be a challenge to keep your students, and yourself, organized. But eventhough it may require more planning, I have found that implementing a successful Writer’s Workshop in the classroom is worth the effort. Be...

Conducting an author study in your classroom has many advantages. When you focus on a specific, well-known author and his or her books, you give students a chance to analyze writing styles, themes, characters, and subjects. Kevin Henkes is a great way to introduce students to the idea of an autho...

How do students use a writer’s notebook? What exactly is a writer’s notebook? These are questions that came up during my first year of teaching. I found that even seasoned teachers struggled with the idea of how to get students to produce writer's notebooks that were unique and meaningful. A writ...

Readers' Theater is a fun and interesting way to get students reading. As most teachers know, it is an activity in which students, while reading directly from scripts, are able to tell a story in an entertaining form. This is a reading activity, so students are not asked to memorize their lines. ...

In teaching the comprehension concept of drawing conclusions, most teachers know that a conclusion is the decision you make using the information you already know, and the information you gather as you read a text. For example, it is common knowledge that wolves are considered carnivores or wild ...

Guided reading is the piece during the language arts block in which the teacher provides guidance for small, flexible groups of beginning readers. The teacher helps students learn to use reading strategies, such as context clues, letter and sound knowledge, and syntax or word structure as they re...

Most teachers know and understand that reading fluency includes the speed or rate of reading, as well as the ability to read text with expression. Fluency has been defined as "the ability to read connected text rapidly and effortlessly with little attention to the mechanics of reading." Children ...

Most teachers recognize that the primary focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes) to form letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns, and to help them learn how to apply this knowledge in their reading. Phonics instru...

As we begin to reinforce strong comprehension skills, we must remember that one of the hardest skills to teach students is summarizing. It is hard for kids to distinguish between main ideas and supporting details, and it is this confusion that clouds students' understanding. Summarization include...

"How has the character changed from the beginning of the passage to the end?" Compare the feelings of the character at the beginning of the passage and at the middle, how are they alike or different?" These are the types of questions teachers should be asking when teaching the comprehension skill...

Most teachers recognize that teaching the concept of “main idea” is very difficult. Students are not always able to determine the gist of a passage in one reading. Sometimes, the length of a passage is an issue, or whether it is fiction or nonfiction can baffle a student. As teachers, we know tha...

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills primary students can develop in their educational endeavors. As all teachers know, comprehension is the process of analyzing and visualizing text while reading. Most teachers recognize that reading comprehension is important because of its...

As students read, they should use strategies to break down the text into manageable, understandable chunks. They should be completing tasks before, during, and after reading. This process allows students to build their understanding, and knowledge. Before students begin reading a text, they ...

Once students have become skilled at using strategies to break down text into manageable sections, they will need guidance to help process the information. When students read, they can use reading strategies, such as sequencing. Sequencing is the process of putting story events in the order in wh...