Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social-emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent-child relationships. With "Sing & Sign for Young Children," early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and…

Storytime is an important fixture in many school libraries that helps foster students' reading abilities. With a history of success, why would librarians want to alter storytime by incorporating technology? This article discusses how Laura Fleming, a long-time school librarian, addressed decreased student engagement in traditional reading…

This is a companion to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide, "Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade" (ED566956). This guide is organized according to the four recommendations and how-to steps from the WWC practice guide. The activities follow the typical developmental…

Literature supports children's literacy growth in many ways. It helps children extend their understanding and clarify different situations in their lives, recognize and deal with feelings, and be more empathetic. Hands-on activities based on stories support children in giving shape to their thoughts. These creative activities not only empower the…

Recent efforts to motivate parents' involvement in their child's literacy development involve informing parents about how to incorporate literacy development into daily routines. Teacher leadership and communication are critical--the more teachers encourage and assist parents and caregivers in supporting their child's literacy development, the…

Bullying prevention starts with helping young children understand and accept diversity--the earlier the better. That's why your school team needs this ready-to-use resource, a simple, fun, and effective way to promote social acceptance in the critical early years of attitude development. Perfect for K-2 classrooms, this book presents the…

Addressing a key skill in reading, writing, and speaking, this comprehensive book is grounded in cutting-edge research on vocabulary development. It presents evidence-based instructional approaches for at-risk students, including English language learners and those with learning difficulties. Coverage ranges from storybook reading interventions…

Sharing high-quality storybooks and nonfiction books not only is enjoyable for young children and teachers--it is also a powerful way to build crucial literacy skills. This engaging guide provides effective strategies for selecting books and using read-alouds to develop children's oral language, vocabulary, concepts of print, alphabet knowledge,…

Nervous about teaching math to young children? Too pressed for time to teach all of the math concepts children need to know? Now there's a practical, stress-free guide to one of the most effective ways to enhance children's mathematical thinking in pre-K-Grade 3--by weaving math concepts into storytime. Ready for any educator to pick up and start…

Preschool teachers and early childhood professionals know that storybook reading is important, but they may not know how to maximize its benefits for later reading achievement. This indispensable guide presents research-based techniques for using reading aloud to intentionally and systematically build children's knowledge of print. Simple yet…

With many learning goals to be met, preschool teachers may wonder how to accomplish all of them. This book is intended to show teachers how to maximize the scope and power of instruction through integration across content domains and learning contexts. Focusing on language, literacy, and mathematics, the author introduces strategies to bolster…

Discusses Character Perspective Charting, an instructional technique useful in elementary reading classes that fosters story understanding. Discusses how it was developed, how the authors have used it, how other teachers have used it, and what children learn from it. (SR)

Describes a high school unit which combines the writing of children's stories with the reading of the finished stories to primary school students. (DD)

These two story-based lesson plans were designed to address the lack of motivation and interest by students in a sixth grade English class in Greece. The lessons appeal to young learners who want to be creative and imaginative by making learning entertaining. The animal stories are authentic texts, not graded readers, with helpful visuals. They…

Presents guidelines for reading/listening activities for the holiday season. Eight suggested stories about Christmas or Hanukkah for grades 2 through 6 are listed. (MES)