Catch up with the recordings from our 6-part book study on Teaching Skills for Complex Text by Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer. This series is designed to deepen close reading practices in the classroom, with a strong focus on exploring instructional routines to support students’ reading comprehension. Grounded in Strand C of the revised Ontario Language curriculum, this…
This newly updated book (Third Edition) is a great resource for teachers of all grades looking to support their students’ reading comprehension. It’s particularly helpful for instructing students who have learning difficulties, but is a valuable read for all educators. The book includes chapters on Vocabulary, Promoting Content-Area Literacy, Supporting English Learners, Intensive Interventions, Multicomponent…
In this brief video, Nancy Hennessy shares insights into the elements of comprehension and how educators can facilitate comprehension for students through Structured Literacy instruction.
Modeled after Core Knowledge Language Arts units, this language and social studies unit is designed for use in Canadian kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms. The unit is comprised of 10 lessons, each about an Important Canadian, with a teacher read-aloud document and accompanying slideshow for student viewing during the lessons. Explicit vocabulary instruction and comprehension…
The chapters in this anthology, by a range of expert authors, delve into the relationship between writing and reading (as well as oral language), offering both extensive research and ideas for practice. While the research can be a bit heavy at times (this is not a “quick tips to use tomorrow” kind of book), there…
This structured journal template, based on the work of David Liben and Meredith Liben, can be used to introduce students to the use of structured journals in their close reading of texts. While this work can be started orally with younger students, this template will be best-suited for Grades 3 and up. Before using this…
Vocabulary knowledge must be intentionally nurtured to ensure that students are ready for the greater vocabulary demands of reading complex texts and writing multi-paragraph essays, but we need to pay attention to cracks in the foundation and scaffold our lessons accordingly, or it all falls apart. This workshop equips participants to consider the role of…
The “Teaching TV: Television as a Story Teller” lesson, within Elizabeth Verrall’s comprehensive five-part unit, equips teachers with creative strategies for TV education in elementary classrooms. This lesson guides students in exploring television’s role as a narrative medium. Key learning outcomes encompass understanding how media products convey stories, recognizing elements like characters, mood, setting, and…
When it comes to choosing texts for the classroom, educators have a lot of questions. Should we be looking at levels, lexiles or other readability criteria? Do we limit kids to “just-right” books? How can we scaffold instruction to help struggling readers access age- and grade-appropriate material? This book has answers! The authors cover quantitative…
Kate chats with Clara Fiorentini this week. Tune in to explore novels in the classroom: how class novel studies fit into structured literacy, how complex text can be scaffolded, using “read-alikes” to choose texts, and avoiding the perils of “extractitis” – don’t miss this thoughtful conversation about chapter books!
In this Reading Rockets article, the authors outline critical literacy and how to achieve this in your K-3 classroom using high-quality read alouds and provide a step-by-step model using an actual book.
In this lesson, students delve into how media constructs reality through the lens of TV families, paralleling them with their real-life counterparts—personal and peer families. The session commences with a survey of students’ beloved family-oriented TV shows and their allures. Organized in groups, students opt for a family-centered show to monitor and assess. Post presentations,…
