Studies on nature-based education represent a growing field in early childhood education. Nature-based settings are not only influential on children's cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development but also offer an engaging environment for children to learn and interact with each other to learn the subject matter. Particularly, reading…

The science of reading is the latest version of the reading wars brought to national attention by the popular press. Although most of the popular press has focused on phonics and early reading, in this article, we chose to study what happened to the research on reading comprehension. By the beginning of the 21st century, there had emerged a…

Close reading has been a key shift in classroom instruction under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS positions evidence extraction as the purpose for reading in school and is clear that close reading is the means by which this should occur. Using alternate readings of the picture book, "Letting Swift River Go", I'll argue…

An inservice training session triggered a crisis of confidence for the author, a veteran teacher, but it also inspired the author to rethink their approach to teaching reading and writing. While the author attended a conference, the state presenter explained that the new curriculum represents "shifts" in philosophy about teaching…

The Common Core has emphasized reading for comprehension, including making inferences. However, little is known about the instructional materials included in core literacy programs for teaching inferences. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of background, anaphoric, predictive, and retrospective inferences in instructional…

Due to the Common Core State Standards, close reading is becoming a common practice in today's elementary and middle school classrooms. Qualitative content analysis of journal publications was used to determine the (a) prevalence of close reading in the existing literature, (b) knowledge about close reading from the research literature, (c) themes…

The Common Core State Standards bring the importance of connecting texts to the forefront by sharing that students must be able to "analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches authors take" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council…

The Common Core State Standards have placed more emphasis on the close reading of all texts, and have made a point of increasing the use of nonfiction in secondary English classrooms. In this article, the author describes an approach for implementing close reading of literary nonfiction. The approach comes from a small-scale classroom-based…

This Teaching Tip describes the use of children's literature to help second-grade students meet Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and for Mathematics. During a shared reading experience, students used manipulatives to represent plot and characters while demonstrating mathematical reasoning. The article offers instructional…

The reemergence of grammar instruction in the Common Core State Standards has likely left teachers confused. On the one hand, they have been told repeatedly that grammar instruction does not improve student outcomes, and can, in fact, be "harmful" to students. However, on the other hand, many Anglophone countries, including the United…

One component of the United States' public school curriculum core is social studies. Since the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), elementary social studies has been marginalized, and in some cases, eliminated from the school day in favor of increased time for literacy and mathematics instruction. Kentucky's adoption of the ELA Common Core standards…

This article examines the issues of how Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will impact adaptive teaching. It focuses on 2 of the major differences between conventional standards and CCSS: the increased complexity of text and the addition of disciplinary literacy standards to reading instruction. The article argues that adaptive teaching under CCSS…

Teachers who meet Common Core recommendations about teaching with multicultural literature need to recognize the traditions, values, and customs of various cultures so they can make sound decisions about the authenticity of the books they select for their students. Furthermore, teachers who support students' literacy achievements with exemplary…

Comprehending expository reading material is a challenge for many students. Research has shown that students' expository reading comprehension can improve with the help of text structure instruction. The purpose of this article is to present teachers with a framework for effectively implementing text structure instruction in their classrooms.…

Students often have difficulty comprehending informational text. Results from a meta-analysis by Hebert, Bohaty, Nelson and Brown (2016) indicated that text structure instruction is effective for improving reading comprehension of expository text. This article presents evidence-based practices for teaching informational text structures to improve…