This article seeks to empower teachers to create a literacy environment in which children begin to identify as writers: confident, willing to take risks, engaged, excited, persistent, resilient, resourceful, and self-starting. The teaching methods provided in the article are centered around the writer's workshop model, applied in a Kindergarten…

The purpose of this article is to provide preservice and new STEM teachers with an understanding of the benefits of using science trade books to foster comprehension of the science content in the classroom and explain how to supplement science instruction with children's literature. By using children's literature in the science classroom, students…

This is a practical article for teachers in the primary grades and for other teachers and reading specialists whose students experience difficulty responding automatically to high-frequency words. In this article, we will begin by providing some helpful information about vocabulary and high-frequency words in particular. You will learn why…

This article introduces an approach that middle-school teachers can follow to help their students carry out linguistic-based literary analyses. As an example, it draws on Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) to show how J.K. Rowling used language to characterize Hermione as an intelligent female in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."…

Close Reading utilizes several strategies to help readers think more critically about a text. Close reading can be performed within the context of shared readings, read-alouds by the teacher, literature discussion groups, and guided reading groups. Students attempting to more closely read difficult texts may benefit from technologies and platforms…

A speech-language pathologist and former primary teacher who is now a researcher conducting action research with kindergarten teachers in northern rural Canadian classrooms collaborate in an analysis of one teacher's interactions with her students in a dramatic play center. We use three principles to show how the teacher supports children's…