In an inclusive class, plans must be responsive to students with learning differences, physical challenges, or social/emotional needs. An expert in inclusion shares some of her successful classroom management ideas, including use of color coding, student planners, and the morning “sponge.”
To comprehend a story or text, young readers need a threshold of knowledge about the topic, and tougher state standards place increasing demands on children’s prior knowledge. This article offers practical classroom strategies to build background knowledge such as using contrasts and comparisons and encouraging topic-focused wide reading.
Reading stamina is a child’s ability to focus and read independently for long-ish periods of time without being distracted or without distracting others. Find out how you can help your child develop reading stamina.
In this guide, each section targets one grade level in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. It also includes instructional examples aligned to the sub-skills and instruction for students who are either struggling and need extra support or intervention, or for students performing above grade-level expectations and require enrichment.
Exposing young children to informational text early on can help them to handle the literacy demands of fourth grade and beyond. Practical instructional techniques can be used to promote understanding and enjoyment of informational texts. The three techniques described here — Text Impression, Guiding Questions, and the Retelling Pyramid — can help children become familiar with the language and structure of non-fiction books.
ELL expert Susan Lafond provides an overview of the ways in which Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy differ from the standards that states currently use. She also discusses the ways in which these shifts will impact ELL instruction.
A concept map is a graphical tool that represents the relationships between concepts. It is a visual representation of knowledge that helps to organize and structure information in a way that makes it easier to understand and remember.
Semantic maps (or graphic organizers) help students, especially struggling students and those with disabilities, to identify, understand, and recall the meaning of words they read in the text.
