Accessing ONlit Book Study Texts in the OCT Library
The wonderful Jenni vanRees created this brief video, highlighting how to access the books used in ONlit book studies in the OCT Library. Thanks, Jenni!
Syntax: Knowledge to Practice
This book, from the Literacy How Professional Learning Series, covers relevant research, knowledge that educators need, activities, assessment and information on selecting and using texts to support syntax instruction in the classroom. Classroom educators from K-3 and those who provide intervention for older learners would benefit from this book, which is also informative professional development…
Reading For Life: High Quality Literacy Instruction For All
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 structured literacy components such as oral language, phonological awareness, phonics,…
Brain Words: How the Science of Reading Informs Teaching
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 developmental phase). This book is designed for educators in K…
Structured Literacy Infographic
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 all learners. To support printing, there is both a dark…
Maya’s Book Nook: Beyond the Book Resources
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 to support dialogic reading to build language comprehension.
Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books
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 influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the…
I See Me In What I Read: Exploring & Integrating Diverse Children’s Literature
Dr. Lakeisha Johnson, Speech-Language Pathologist, highlights the importance of shared book reading with diverse, culturally relevant texts in this PaTTAN webinar.
Structured Literacy Approaches to Teaching Written Expression
This article highlights practical activities to support structured instruction of writing, including word-, sentence-, and paragraph-level techniques.
Mystery Bag: Promoting Oral Language
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.
See-Think-Wonder
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.
“No More Strategy of the Week”: Considerations for Connecting Comprehension Instruction Back to the Book
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 classroom teachers.
