Foster young children′s early literacy skills and build a strong foundation for reading! Emphasizing the importance of providing emerging readers with the skills for future literacy success, Early Reading First and Beyond is a comprehensive resource that helps early childhood educators develop children′s readiness for kindergarten by providing creative learning experiences based on the most current literacy research. In reader-friendly terms, Susan E. Israel illustrates how to create rich learning environments, provide activities to engage young minds, and promote the important language, cognitive, and early reading skills necessary to encourage learners′ self-confidence. Teachers will find proven practices, assessment tools, guidelines for meeting individual learning needs, examples, advice for professional development sessions, and connections to International Reading Association standards. This book presents essential information for understanding and implementing the core components of an Early Reading First program: Designing early childhood programs of excellence School-parent partnerships Oral language development Phonological awareness Print awareness Alphabetic knowledge Early metacognitive thinking Advocating strong connections between home and school, this accessible text offers teachers, early childhood education specialists, literacy coaches, administrators, and parents the appropriate tools to make a significant, positive difference in young children′s futures.

What are today's best practices in early literacy instruction--and what should schools and programs focus on in the future? More than 20 of the biggest names in early literacy research give you balanced, insightful answers, using the landmark NELP

This simple yet powerful picture book--from a New York Times bestselling husband-and-wife team--tells the story of one girl who inspires a community to stand up to bullying. The perfect back-to-school read for every kid, family and classroom! Don't miss the companion book, I Forgive Alex, about the importance of compassion and forgiveness. Inspired by real events, I Walk with Vanessa explores the feelings of helplessness and anger that arise in the wake of seeing a classmate treated badly, and shows how a single act of kindness can lead to an entire community joining in to help. By choosing only pictures to tell their story, the creators underscore the idea that someone can be an ally without having to say a word. With themes of acceptance, kindness, and strength in numbers, this timeless and profound feel-good story will resonate with readers young and old. A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year "This beautifully illustrated story shows young readers how to become caring and supportive upstanders. Love it!" --Trudy Ludwig, bestselling author of The Invisible Boy

For early childhood classrooms – where curriculum is increasingly shaped by standards and teachers are pressed for time – Beyond Early Literacy offers a literacy method that goes beyond simply developing language arts skills. Known as Shared Journal, this process promotes young children’s learning across content areas – including their communication and language abilities, writing skills, sense of community, grasp of diverse social and cultural worlds, and understanding of history, counting, numeracy, and time. Pairing interactive talk with individual writing in the classroom community, this rich method develops the whole child. Special features include: sample lesson plans, rubrics, and templates throughout the book children’s artifacts, including examples of oral and written work teacher accounts examining the use of Shared Journal in the classroom, including strategies and suggestions a Companion Website with templates, additional resources, and video clips of in-classroom teaching and examples of exciting ways to use new technologies. This two-part book is first framed by current theory and research about children’s cognitive, language, and literacy development, and an extensive body of research and case studies on the efficacy of the method. The second part features strategies from on-the-ground teachers who have used the process with their students and explores how Shared Journal can be used with new technologies, can meet standards, and can be appropriate for diverse populations of children. This is a fantastic resource for use in early childhood education courses in emergent literacy, language arts, and curriculum.

Current research increasingly highlights the role of early literacy in young children's development--and informs practices and policies that promote success among diverse learners. The Handbook of Early Literacy Research presents cutting-edge knowledge on all aspects of literacy learning in the early years. Volume 2 provides additional perspectives on important topics covered in Volume 1 and addresses critical new topics: the transition to school, the teacher-child relationship, sociodramatic play, vocabulary development, neuroimaging work, Vygotskian theory, findings from international studies, and more.