Classroom Strategies
Our library provides teachers with effective, research-based classroom strategies to help build and strengthen literacy skills in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.
When using any teaching strategy, teachers should (1) help students to understand why a strategy is useful, and (2) describe explicitly how the strategy should be used. Teacher demonstration, modeling, and follow-up independent practice are critical factors for success. Student discussion following strategy instruction is also helpful.
Each strategy in the library includes:
- Instructions on how to use the strategy
- Classroom video
- Downloadable templates
- Examples
- Recommended children's books to use with the strategy
- Differentiation for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, students with learning disabilities, and younger learners
- Supporting research
Which strategy?
The chart below lists all of the strategies currently in our library, with guidance on when to use each strategy. It allows you to see right away if a particular strategy should be used before, during, and/or after reading.
| Before reading | During reading | After reading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet Matching |
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| Matching Books to Phonics Features |
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| Before reading | During reading | After reading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio-Assisted Reading |
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| Choral Reading |
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| Paired (or Partner) Reading |
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| Reader’s Theater |
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| Shared Reading |
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| Timed Repeated Readings |
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| Before reading | During reading | After reading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blending and Segmenting Games |
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| Concept of Word Games |
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| Elkonin Boxes |
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| Onset/Rime Games |
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| Rhyming Games |
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| Syllable Games |
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| Before reading | During reading | After reading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descriptive Writing |
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| Dictation |
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| Framed Paragraphs |
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| Paragraph Hamburger |
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| Persuasive Writing |
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| RAFT |
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| Revision |
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| Sentence Combining |
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| Transition Words |
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| Writing Conferences |
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| Before reading | During reading | After reading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| List-Group-Label |
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| Possible Sentences |
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| Semantic Feature Analysis |
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| Semantic Gradients |
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| Word Hunts |
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| Word Maps |
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| Word Walls |
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