Through specific examples, real-life scenarios, and diagrams, this book vividly conveys the most fundamental and effective tactics for boosting reading proficiency while enhancing student and teacher performance.

"The clear explanations and examples make the book easy to read and understand so strategies can be immediately implemented in the classroom. This text will be an excellent addition to any teacher′s professional library." —Carol Gallegos, Literacy Coach Hanford Elementary School District, CA Give your elementary school students the tools to become thoughtful, high-achieving readers! Strong reading skills are critical for students as they progress through the grade levels and face the reading challenges of the 21st century. Using research-based, differentiated strategies, Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver, and Matthew J. Perini show how you can teach average or low-performing readers to become A+ readers who can comprehend, analyze, and summarize different kinds of texts. Starting with a concise overview of recent research on successful readers, the authors explore seven key areas and corresponding strategies to help all readers achieve at high levels: identifying the main idea, reading fluency, vocabulary, inferential reading, questioning techniques, informal writing, and reading styles. Complementing the best-selling Reading for Academic Success for grades 7–12, this hands-on guide features: Practical applications that can be used across content areas and to support individual learning styles The five common characteristics of A+ readers and special tips for nurturing those abilities in all students Recommendations and tools for helping English Language Learners and students with special needs Examples of student work and reproducible graphic organizers Expressly designed for elementary school teachers, Reading for Academic Success, Grades 2–6, offers proven methods that can produce significant gains for all students and far-reaching results for your school!

This is Balanced Literacy: Grades K-6 Students learn to read and write best when their teachers balance literacy instruction. But how do you strike the right balance of skills and knowledge, reading and writing, small and whole group instruction, and direct and dialogic instruction, so that all students can learn to their maximum potential? The answer lies in the intentional design of learning activities, purposeful selection of instructional materials, evidence-based teaching methods, and in strategic groupings of students based on assessment data. Together, these create the perfect balance of high impact learning experiences that engage and excite learners. In this hands-on essential guide, best-selling authors Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Nancy Akhavan help you define that balance for your students, lighting the path to implementing balanced literacy in your classroom. Their plan empowers you to integrate evidence-based approaches that include: • Instructional materials comprised of both informational and narrative texts. • The best uses of instructional delivery modes, including direct and dialogic instruction. • Grouping patterns that work best to accomplish learning aims for different learners at different stages. • Instruction in foundational skills and meaning making, including oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. • Technology used as a tool for increasing learning of a specific literary process. All the tips and tools you need to realize the goal of balanced literacy learning are included, with classroom videos that show strategies in action. Tap your intuition, collaborate with your peers, and put the research-based strategies embedded in this roadmap to work in your classroom to implement or deepen a strong, successful balanced literacy program. Grow as a reading and writing teacher while leading your students to grow as readers and writers.

Mastering second grade reading and writing is fun and exciting with this book that combines language arts activities with puzzles and humor to lower the barriers to learning and build essential skills. Reading and writing are two of the most important building blocks for future learning, and Highlights(TM) brings Fun with a Purpose® into these essential activities for second graders. Our award-winning content blends reading and writing skills with puzzles, humor, and playful art, which makes learning exciting and fun. Second grade reading and writing skills such as phonics, word recognition, and key ideas will help students improve and will build confidence in the classroom.

"In this book, structured literacy is conceptualized as an umbrella term encompassing a variety of intervention methods, instructional approaches, and commercial programs. In addition to focusing on SL approaches to intervention, this book is organized around common poor reader profiles that have been identified in research. The chapters in this volume are written by experts who are well known as researchers but who are also highly skilled at writing for practitioners. Chapters were written with a strong foundation of research that is summarized, but with a concentration on translating research into practice, including case studies, sample intervention activities, and lesson plans. Each chapter includes application activities at the end to check for and extend readers' understanding"--