The concept of close reading is an important consideration when addressing the Common Core State Standards. In addition, "close reading" permeates the CCSS and suggests a particular way of reading and responding to texts. Trying to help students become successful readers in both school based settings and in the world outside of school is…

Reading comprehension requires thoughtful interactions between the reader, the text, and the author. The author may assist the reader in building meaning by creating purposefully crafted conversations that are organized into predictable patterns also known as patterned books. In this article, three predictable patterns found within children's text…

This article examines the writing of three Grade 3 students and discusses how these girls drew upon their symbolic tools, specifically those developed as a result of their experiences with particular kinds of texts. The students were participants in a multifaceted study that explored Grades 3 and 4 students' understandings of and responses to…

Provides a theoretical framework for thinking about how students read literature through the notions of envisionment-building and stories. Discusses possibilities for instruction. (MG)

Explores aesthetic responses to literature by examining the responses of fifth graders to a variety of books and films. Finds three main characteristics of students' responses: picturing a story in their minds; extending a story or hypothesize about it while reading; and relating associations and feelings evoked while reading and responding.…

Illuminates patterns in responses to literature by analyzing one sixth grader's entries written in her literature response journal. Finds that the student's responses reveal her as an active reader and writer with unique thoughts, feelings. and opinions generated by quality children's literature. (MG)

Argues against ritualized approaches to literature. Endorses four aesthetic teaching stances which vary the conversations that can occur between student and student, student and teacher, and student and literature, and which pursue a "playful" literature curriculum, value the unexpected, and allow conversations where children talk their…

Reading aloud to children is an important facet of the literate home environment and the best preparation for the establishment of preschool literacy skills. David was read to at every opportunity, and a diary was kept to observe, record, and study his emergent literacy events in the home. Since David often asked to have the same books read to…