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
- Differentiation for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, students with learning disabilities, and younger learners
- Supporting research
- Recommended children's books to use with the strategy
Which strategy?
The chart below lists all of the strategies currently in our library. To quickly find the strategies you need, use the filters below.
For the comprehension strategies, you can also see which strategies are best used before, during, and/or after reading (B/D/A). “Before” strategies activate students’ prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. “During” strategies help students make connections, monitor their understanding, generate questions, and stay focused. “After” strategies provide students an opportunity to summarize, question, reflect, discuss, and respond to text.
| Strategy | Focus | B/D/A | Template |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet Matching | Phonics | ||
| Anticipation Guide | Comprehension |
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| Audio-Assisted Reading | Fluency |
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| Blending and Segmenting Games | Phonological awareness | ||
| Choral Reading | Fluency |
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| Concept Maps | Comprehension |
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| Concept of Word Games | Phonological awareness |
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| Concept Sort | Comprehension |
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| Descriptive Writing | Writing | ||
| Dictation | Writing | ||
| Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) | Comprehension |
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| Elkonin Boxes | Phonological awareness | ||
| Exit Slips | Comprehension |
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| First Lines | Comprehension |
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| Framed Paragraphs | Writing | ||
| Inference | Comprehension | ||
| Inquiry Chart | Comprehension |
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| Jigsaw | Comprehension |
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| List-Group-Label | Vocabulary |
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| Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) | Comprehension |
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| Matching Books to Phonics Features | Phonics | ||
| Onset/Rime Games | Phonological awareness | ||
| Paired (or Partner) Reading | Fluency |
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| Paragraph Hamburger | Writing | ||
| Paragraph Shrinking | Comprehension |
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| Partner Reading | Comprehension |
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| Persuasive Writing | Writing | ||
| Possible Sentences | Vocabulary |
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| Question the Author | Comprehension |
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| Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) | Comprehension |
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| RAFT | Writing | ||
| Reader’s Theater | Fluency |
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| Reading Guide | Comprehension |
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| Reciprocal Teaching | Comprehension |
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| Revision | Writing | ||
| Rhyming Games | Phonological awareness | ||
| Semantic Feature Analysis | Vocabulary | ||
| Semantic Gradients | Vocabulary | ||
| Sentence Combining | Writing | ||
| Shared Reading | Fluency |
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| Story Maps | Comprehension |
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| Story Sequence | Comprehension |
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| Summarizing | Comprehension |
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| Syllable Games | Phonological awareness | ||
| Think-alouds | Comprehension |
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| Think-Pair-Share | Comprehension |
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| Timed Repeated Readings | Fluency |
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| Transition Words | Writing | ||
| Visual Imagery | Comprehension |
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| Word Hunts | Vocabulary |
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| Word Maps | Vocabulary | ||
| Word Walls | Vocabulary |
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| Writing Conferences | Writing |
