Latest Reading Posts from the Blog

A Fresh Perspective on Theme: 5 Things Students Need to Know
Have you ever repeated a word so many times that it seems to lose all of its meaning? In reading instruction, “theme” can be one

Character Profiles: How to Inspire Readers to Connect Literature and Life
Some reading skills that we teach in elementary translate directly to real life, and vice versa….these are basically a two-for-one deal! Work on an important

What is Standards-Based Grading? Why is It So Hard? And How to Tackle It!
What is Standards-Based Grading, Why is It So Hard, and How to Tackle It! Standards-based grading’s advent came around in 2012, two years after the

Tracking Student Data: Why Measuring Student Reading Progress is Vital in Today’s Classroom
Over the last few years, education has adopted many new endeavors that rely on data to tailor the student learning experience. For example, your school

QAR: 4 Question and Answer Relationships to Help Students Clarify Text
QAR: 4 Question and Answer Relationships to Help Students Clarify Text Teachers like to keep things fresh! We want to hold our students’ attention and

Bringing Text Alive: How to Use Pictures and Videos to Deepen Understanding
Bringing Text Alive: How to Use Pictures or Videos to Deepen Understanding A striking image, a funny video, a fascinating picture of a faraway place…what

3 Effective Strategies to Use With ANY Informational Text
Picture books and other fictional literature have long been a focus in elementary school, and that won’t be changing anytime soon. What has shifted in

The Power of Charts, Graphs, and Timelines: Can They Really Help Students Understand the Text?
Sometimes it seems like most information that adults encounter these days is condensed into a visual format. We just don’t have the attention span to

How to Inspire Students to Ask and Answer Meaningful Questions About Informational Text
Most teachers out there would agree that questioning is an essential part of reading comprehension. Students have to be able to answer questions about what

3 Ways to Help Students Learn from Illustrations in Informational Text
Students are very used to seeing illustrations in the texts that they read. When reading fiction, illustrations can add rich details or set the mood

Stories, Poetry, & Drama: Fun, Effective Ways to Review Throughout the Year
Stories, Poetry, & Drama: Fun, Effective Ways to Review Throughout the Year Imagine…you reach the end of your fiction reading unit, your students have worked

Text & Illustrations: Why Pictures Really Are Worth A Thousand Words
Text & Illustrations: Why Pictures Really Are Worth A Thousand Words We’ve all heard the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,”