Teaching vocabulary is complex. What words are important for a child to know and in what context? In this excerpt from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authors consider what principles might be used for selecting which words to explicitly teach.
When spelling is taught in ways that emphasize the patterns of the English language, it can be a beneficial use of class time. Get tips on how to choose word lists that help students learn these patterns and their exceptions.
Choral reading is a teaching strategy that enhances reading skills and promotes fluency. In choral reading, a group of students reads a text together in unison, with the teacher often leading the way.
Choral reading gives students practice in reading texts aloud, but individual feedback is tough to provide. Integrate other fluency strategies — such as paired reading — that give you more opportunity to observe and respond to each student.
Chris d’Lacey got a late start on his writing career, but he’s made up for lost time — he’s the author of more than 25 books for kids. Though he’s best known for his dragon novels, The Last Dragon Chronicles and The Dragons of Wayward Crescent, he’s also written about polar bears, pigeons, squirrels, snails, pirates, ducks, and soccer (called football outside the U.S.) Some of his books are based on real life, others are pure fantasy, but they all share d’Lacey’s warm and quirky sense of humor.
Chris Raschka is the award-winning author and illustrator of more than 50 books for children. Raschka has received two Caldecott Medals (The Hello, Goodbye Window and the wordless A Ball for Daisy) as well as a Caldecott Honor Award for Yo? Yes! His fresh, lively and sometimes abstract illustration style captures the deeply-felt experiences of young children, the expressiveness of poetry (A Poke in the I) and the playfulness of urban music (Hip Hop Dog, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop).
