What does good elementary literacy instruction look like? In this article, Allington identifies and discusses about these six features: time, texts, teach, talk, tasks, and test.
Use the power of stories to explore what’s different and the same, new and shared, about ourselves and our experiences. These nine books find wonderful ways to express universal themes through African Americans, both fictional and real.
Are students who use assistive technology getting an unfair advantage? Will AT fix a student’s learning challenges? Here are the top three misconceptions about AT and how it is used in the classroom and at home.
Take this simple quiz to help you become more mindful in using digital technology with young children. It’s all about content that is educational and developmentally appropriate, a context that encourages conversation and learning, and the needs of each individual child.
The birth of a child with a disability, or the discovery that a child has a disability, can have profound effects on the family. In this article, you’ll find information to support the life cycle, health, and well-being of the family when a son or daughter has a disability.
One of the most misunderstood topics in reading instruction involves the extent to which children should be encouraged to rely on context cues in reading.
Science learning involves lots of new vocabulary words. Focusing on root words, prefixes and suffixes can help your child learn new science words more quickly and become a word detective!
The teacher’s use of language provides an important model for children’s vocabulary development. By modeling the use of sophisticated words, teachers can promote students’ vocabulary growth and word consciousness. In this article, the research support for this approach is explained, suggestions are provided for how teachers might accomplish this goal, and examples are shared from teachers who have done it successfully.
Actor and author Henry Winkler reminisces about how dyslexia impacted his school years in this article from Highlights for Children magazine. “Now I know,” he writes, “that even if a person learns differently, he or she can still be filled with greatness.”
Teach your students to avoid the avoidance of writing. Learn how to lead them down the path of enthusiasm and self-confidence about writing through research-proven strategies.
Learn about the “writing rope” — a new model for understanding the interwoven elements that support writing. Get the basics on the five key strands and how to provide explicit instruction for each strand.
Inclusion is a belief that ALL students, regardless of labels, should be members of the general education community. The philosophy of inclusion encourages the elimination of the dual special and general education systems, and the creation of a merged system that is responsive to the needs of all students.
Children learn when they make connections between what they hear and what they know. One method parents can use to help make these connections is called a think aloud, where you talk through your thoughts as you read.
Fostering a creative spirit will give your child experience identifying a problem and coming up with new ideas for solving it. Here are four ways to encourage creativity in your young child.
In addition to explicit phonics instruction, teachers need to support students’ ability to understand complex text and build background knowledge. Teachers also deserve access to high-quality curriculum materials — a thoughtfully arranged, comprehensive, sequential curriculum that embeds standards, the science of reading, and key instructional shifts.
Sesame Workshop has introduced Julia, a muppet with autism, to the world of Sesame Street. Using selected clips of Julia from the program, a psychologist explains practical ways teachers can support children with autism.
In this excerpt from the book Time to Learn: How a New School Schedule Is Making Smarter Kids, Happier Parents & Safer Neighborhoods, the authors discuss how a longer school day can support achievement in reading and math while providing a richer, broader curriculum. The book discusses extended day success stories in public schools throughout the country, the impact on teachers and families, and benefits for English language learners and children with learning disabilities.
Book talks are a great way to get students excited about books and reading — including nonfiction! Here are some tips on bringing nonfiction book talks into your classroom.
We asked the parents and teachers who frequent our web site for their ideas about how to encourage kids, especially those who aren’t excited about books, to do more reading. Thanks to all you tip-sters out there, we received tons of advice, which we’ve summarized in the seven tips below.
The U.S. Department of Education developed this brief guide for reading tutors. It lists ways that tutoring helps both the learner and the tutor, and provides practical tips that can help tutors be more effective in their work.
In this article especially for parents of English language learners, get answers to your questions about parent-teacher conferences and find tips about how you can prepare for the conference, including suggested questions and topics to discuss.
Discover simple at-home activities you can use to help your child understand the connection between the letters of the alphabet and the sound associated with each letter.
