In Reading For Life, author Lyn Stone holds nothing back when sharing research and best practices for literacy instruction, and outlining why some past beliefs and practices have to go for the sake of our students and their reading and writing development. Section 1 covers […]
In Brain Words, the authors share information about the reading brain, and how teachers can support its development. The book includes science-based, practical classroom activities for the teaching and assessment of reading and writing (including the helpful “Monster Test” which helps to determine a student’s […]
This infographic provides a comprehensive visual guide to structured literacy, an evidence-based approach to teaching language and literacy. By illustrating both the “how” and “what” of structured literacy, the infographic serves as a valuable resource for educators committed to fostering strong foundational literacy skills in […]
Maya’s Book Nook is a website created by Speech-Language Pathologist Dr. Lakeisha Johnson. The Behind the Book section houses a bank of materials to accompany a diverse, culturally relevant children’s book. Equally useful for both parents/caregivers and educators, these handouts include target vocabulary words, as well as questions […]
Children’s books reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily […]
Dr. Lakeisha Johnson, Speech-Language Pathologist, highlights the importance of shared book reading with diverse, culturally relevant texts in this PaTTAN webinar.
This article highlights practical activities to support structured instruction of writing, including word-, sentence-, and paragraph-level techniques.
Mystery Bag is an engaging classroom activity designed to enhance students’ oral language skills. Students generate clues about a mystery object, and their classmates use question sticks to prompt and structure discussion.
This visible thinking routine developed by Harvard Project Zero uses observations, inferences, and questions to develop vocabulary and background knowledge, and foster conversations among students.
In this article, the authors present some considerations for abandoning decontextualized strategy instruction and instead provide some ideas for how to shape comprehension instruction around the texts we use in the classroom. They offer some guiding theories, some key considerations, and they present examples for […]
The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read inquiry concluded that running records and reading level assessments have not been effective in identifying students who need additional support or in providing teachers with accurate information to guide instruction. We now know that there are more […]
Fostering partnerships between school and home is key to supporting strong student outcomes. Jenni vanRees and other educators at Blue Heron Public School (WRDSB) have created this collection of materials to support a home reading program aligned with structured literacy and the science of reading. […]
