Reading a book with your class should be an engaging and immersive experience. One storybook strategy we often draw attention to is questioning, since it is something that should occur before, during and after reading activities. Traditional questions are often aimed at retrieval of information from a text, whereas the focus of querying is to… Read More Testing vs. Teaching Questions
Free digital resources for students in Virginia
A great free digital resource for students is Find It Virginia. Managed by the Library of Virginia it includes many databases that students can use for literacy, learning, and research. Free to residents of Virginia are e-books and digital resources including newspapers, magazines, and encyclopedias for elementary, middle, and high school students. It is a great… Read More Free digital resources for students in Virginia
Read Aloud Google Tools for Reading
Using Text-to-Speech (TTS) narration has been found to be helpful for struggling readers in the areas of increased reading rate and improved reading comprehension. Although it has been around since the 1960s, it has become cheaper and more accessible to the general public in the past decade. Now, there are user-friendly technology tools to support reading… Read More Read Aloud Google Tools for Reading
eBooks Can Improve Phonological Awareness Skills, Alphabetic Knowledge, and Vocabulary
Research on the efficacy of digital books supporting literacy development for young children is overwhelmingly positive for children with and without disabilities. Electronic books can support literacy development in the areas of phonological awareness skills, alphabetic knowledge, and vocabulary development (Salmon, 2013). Research Even with the knowledge of benefits children derive from electronic books, the… Read More eBooks Can Improve Phonological Awareness Skills, Alphabetic Knowledge, and Vocabulary
Reading Aloud Is Allowed
Having daily opportunities to listen to an adult read aloud increases students’ own comprehension and fluency. This is especially important for students with intellectual disabilities. Here are some examples of how reading aloud can blend with and support some of the other five elements of literacy instruction. Research Does reading aloud to your class… Read More Reading Aloud Is Allowed
Developing Early Literacy Skills through Shared-Reading
One shared-reading practice is called dialogic reading. In dialogic reading, the adult prompts the children by asking questions about the story or the pictures in the book, and provides feedback in the form of repetitions, expansions, and modeling of answers (National Early Literacy Panel, 2009). Research Shared-reading is often recommended as the single most… Read More Developing Early Literacy Skills through Shared-Reading
From Research to Practice: News You Can Use
In a recent Superintendent’s memo, the Virginia Department of Education announced a new Web site for elementary teachers in kindergarten through grade three to support reading comprehension and vocabulary development. In a recent Superintendent’s memo, the Virginia Department of Education announced a new Web site for elementary teachers in kindergarten through grade three to… Read More From Research to Practice: News You Can Use
