Reading

Click/Tap to view entire poem/download (Direct DownloadSource: Julia Donaldson Website

Reading Resources

Video Interviews with Top Children’s Authors and Illustrators

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Watch Reading Rockets’ exclusive video interviews with top children’s book authors and illustrators. There are more than 150 engaging interviews!

The video interviews are a great resource for your classroom author studies. For ideas on how to plan and implement author study units, see our Author Study Toolkit.

What Do We Do All Day: Books, Books and More Books

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The 'What We Do All Day' website provides a plethora of engaging screen-free activities for children, along with book recommendations and straightforward learning ideas readily accessible to you. Explore a wide array of topics! I recommend that you utilize the search feature to discover specific books or topics, including read-aloud books, chapter books, science, math, art, and more.

Shifting the Balance: 

6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom - K-2

By: Jan Burkins, Kari Yates

The current emphasis on the body of research known as the "Science of Reading" has renewed the reading wars and raised challenging questions for balanced literacy teachers about the best way to teach reading. Instead of fueling the debate, Dr. Jan Burkins and Kari Yates have immersed themselves in the research and produced Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom.

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Amazon.com: ISBN-13: 978-1625315106 / Stenhouse Publishers (February 18, 2021) / 200pp / Paperback.  (View a sample of the book Here.)

This concise and practical guide integrates effective reading strategies from each perspective. Every chapter of Shifting the Balance focuses on one of the six simple and scientifically sound shifts reading teachers can make to strengthen their approach to early reading instruction in these areas:

Practical Instruction for Primary Grades: Whether your students are just learning to read or building more advanced reading comprehensive skills, Shifting the Balance is designed to help teachers meet the instructional needs of K-2 students.

Six Manageable Shifts: Each chapter focuses on a key shift that helps educators understand common misconceptions and adjust their thinking around some common instructional practices that teachers have been using for decades.

Evidence-Based Instruction: Burkins and Yates offer busy educators a blueprint for integrating finding from brain research, cognitive science, and child development into their daily instruction, while keeping meaningful experiences with books a priority.

Classroom Applications: Shifting the Balance is full of sample activities and classroom vignettes that paint a picture of what these shifts look like in action with roomful of learners.

The book has already helped countless educators by taking the guesswork out of how to blend best practices with the latest research while keeping students at the forefront of reading instruction. "We've written this book to support you in making sound decisions anchored in the best of science, the truth of responsiveness, and a relentless focus on providing all children learning experiences saturated with meaning," the authors write.

Link: Read Along website

Last year (2022) Google launched a website, which helps children learn to read using speech recognition and text-to-speech technology. 

The website works with Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers on Desktop and Android, and supports several languages including English, Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, and more. The app's virtual assistant, Diya, helps children pronounce words and can be used to speak unknown words. 

Google's Read Along program can be used by teachers to support reading and differentiation in several ways. Firstly, the app can be used to support struggling readers by providing speech recognition and text-to-speech technology to help them pronounce and understand words. 

Secondly, teachers can use the app to differentiate instruction by assigning different stories and activities to students based on their reading level or language proficiency. 

Thirdly, the app can be used to support English language learners by providing pronunciation assistance. 

Finally, the app can be used to support independent reading and practice by providing a fun and engaging platform for students to read and learn on their own.

Google claims that all speech recognition occurs locally on the browser, protecting children's privacy. The website requires Google account sign-ins to track progress. Google plans to add new stories from content providers..

Bringing Stories to Life: 10 Techniques for Storytelling

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Source: Toddle

These engaging storytelling techniques compiled by Toddle feature storytelling experts; each showcasing a technique that will bring sparkle to your shared reading sessions. They have been thoughtfully selected and coupled with a list of what you will need – to get started in weaving your own tales of wonder!

The intention is to inspire – showing the children that words can be expressed in many ways.