Teaching Reading

From the building blocks of reading to classroom strategies to creating inclusive classrooms — everything you need to know to help young and struggling readers succeed. Here you'll find proven ideas for the classroom, tips to share with parents, video of best practices, expert interviews, and the latest research — on print awareness, the sounds of speech, phonemic awareness, phonics, informal assessment, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and writing.

Looking to improve your literacy instruction skills? Visit Reading 101: A Guide to Teaching Reading and Writing, our self-paced online course on teaching reading and writing.

In the classroom

Classroom Strategies

Our library of effective, research-based strategies for print awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

Teacher and student reading intervention

Looking at Reading Interventions

In our special video series, reading expert Linda Farrell works one-on-one with students in grades K-3 to help ensure that they master the skills they need to become proficient readers.

Reading Basics

What you should know about print awareness, sounds of speech, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, informal assessment, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, writing, and text comprehension.

Pre-K: Getting Ready to Read and Write

This overview introduces parents, teachers and caregivers to the building blocks of early literacy, including the sounds of speech, print awareness, phonemic awareness, and letters.

Content Area Literacy

Learn more about strategies for navigating different kinds of texts as well as writing in social studies, science, and the arts.

Looking at Writing

Writing samples from real kids (preK to grade 3) provide examples of writing milestones, classroom strategies, assessment, and next-step guidance for teachers.

Inclusive Classrooms: A Primer for Teachers

An inclusive classroom is a general education classroom where students with and without learning differences learn together. Discover more about what inclusion is, how it benefits all learners, and how to implement an inclusion program in your classroom and school-wide.

The Common Core State Standards

Find links to classroom and professional development resources for K–3 teachers, as well as tips and resources to help librarians and parents support the goals of the Common Core. Get an overview of the standards and how they have shifted English Language Arts teaching and learning.

Especially for parents

Reading expert Linda Farrell reads a question from a parent

Reading SOS: Expert Answers to Family Questions About Reading

NEW! In our special video series, experts answer real questions from families about reading and how to support their children at home.

Mother and daughter at home reading together

Reading 101: A Guide for Parents

NEW! In this guide, parents will get the basics on what it takes to learn to read (and write) and how parents can help their children grow as readers, writers, and learners.

Professional development

Reading 101 Course

Our free, self-study online course — 9 modules on teaching the elements of reading and writing, plus guidance on informal assessment. You'll also find resources on helping struggling readers.

Books About Reading, Writing, and Instruction

Here are books we recommend for parents and educators on the cognitive science of reading, best practices in reading and writing instruction, reading motivation, and the benefits of reading aloud to children.

Video Interviews with Experts

Learn from nationally known researchers and experts in literacy and early education. Topics include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, writing, summer learning, early childhood education, dyslexia, and more.

Webcasts

Stay up-to-date with the Reading Rockets professional development webcast series. Listen, watch, and learn from top experts in the field of reading.

More about reading

Who’s at Risk?

Some kids have a disability that makes reading difficult to learn. Others come to school without the literacy experiences they need to become readers. Some children struggle because they've received poor or inadequate reading instruction. The more risk factors a child has, the more likely it is that he or she will encounter reading problems.

What Else Matters in Teaching Reading

In addition to an excellent reading curriculum, these factors play a critical role in helping students become strong readers: a teacher's skill with classroom management, differentiated instruction, working with the students' parents, and other interventions to help struggling readers.

Literacy Apps

Find the very best educational apps that provide practice with essential skills in print awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. We've also included apps for children with dyslexia, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder that support organization and goal-setting, communication, and emotional regulation.

Glossary

Don't know a morpheme from a phoneme? Find out what these and other words mean in this glossary of commonly used terms related to reading, literacy, and reading instruction.