Reading
Reading Resources
Video Interviews with Top Children’s Authors and Illustrators
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
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.
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:
Reading Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
High-Frequency Words
Cueing Systems
Text Selection
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.
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Unlocking the Magic of Children’s Literature: Essential Resources for Parents and Educators, explores how children can benefit from and engage with different types of children's literature. The act of reading can transform a child's life for the better; the authors hope that the guide's fairly large list of different literacy games, plays, poems, award-winning books, popular authors, and movie adaptations of children's literature can give parents and teachers ideas on how to jumpstart or continue to encourage children to explore reading as an intellectual hobby.
Key Points
Children's literature plays a crucial role in developing linguistic skills and emotional awareness in children, fostering a love for reading.
The genre encompasses a variety of forms, including nursery rhymes, novels, and illustrated stories that engage young readers.
The evolution of children's literature, particularly from the 18th century, was influenced by increased literacy rates and changing societal norms.
Key authors such as Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and J.K. Rowling have shaped modern children's literature through imaginative storytelling and relatable characters.
Integrating games into reading experiences aids children's linguistic development and enhances their engagement with literature.
Multicultural children's books have become increasingly prominent, promoting understanding and empathy towards diverse cultures.
Activities like school plays and poetry reading can effectively spark children's interest in storytelling and enhance their comprehension skills.
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
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.