1. Fitting it All in: Creating a Balanced Literacy Framework K-2
There are so many components to balanced literacy. In this workshop we will look at each component, analyze its purpose, and create an action plan to get your balance literacy plan up and running for next school year.
Fitting it all in: Creating a Balanced Literacy Framework K-2
There are so many components to balanced literacy. In this workshop we will look at each component, analyze its purpose, and create an action plan to get your balance literacy plan up and running for next school year

2. The goal of a balanced literacy program is to include the strongest elements of each. The components of a 'balanced literacy' approach are as follows:
A Balanced literacy program strikes a balance between both whole language and phonics. The strongest elements of each are incorporated into a literacy program that aims to guide students toward proficient and lifelong reading.
There are five different components of balanced literacy: The read aloud, guided reading, shared reading, independent reading, and Word study.
Balanced Literacy Instruction (Pressley & Allington 2014) incorporates explicit, systematic, and direct teaching of literacy skills and strategies: offers frequent opportunities for students to apply those skills and strategies during reading, writing and discussion of engaging and authentic literature and informational texts; and provides teacher guidance and feedback.

3. Reading Workshop

4. Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000
“Reading aloud is the foundation for literacy development. It is the single most important activity for reading success “
Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000
Read Aloud
For many fortunate students, the read aloud strategy was first introduced to them on their parent’s knee. Long before they were developmentally capable of learning to read they experienced the joy and pleasure of reading. These students were not only given a strong foundation for becoming lifelong readers, they were also given a head start on vocabulary, thinking skills, and listening skills.
This is the cornerstone of balanced literacy instruction in the primary grades. When we read aloud to children they learn to enjoy stories and anticipate reading on their own. Children begin to grasp that reading can be fun, especially when an adult reads fluently and expressively.
Reading Aloud in the Classroom
During a read aloud the teacher doesn’t simply read students a book or story and call it a day. It involves much more than that. Teachers verbally interact with the class throughout the process. This process includes pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading activities to ensure they understand and make connections with the story. The read loud selection can be a variety of genres — fiction, nonfiction, a simple picture book, or poetry.
Though a read-aloud seems pretty straight forward, there are actually a lot activities going on for the teacher.  These include
Previewing the selections and choosing those that allow students to make predictions and relate to prior knowledge
Emphasizing story elements
Guiding students with questions
And closing the selection with oral or written responses to what they heard.
Why is it So important to Read Aloud?
Words are the primary foundation for constructing meaning. You can either help students internalize the words through their eyes or through the ears. And because the first several years of a child’s life their eyes aren’t ready for reading, the best way to help children internalize words is through hearing. The sounds of words children experience in the younger years will help them make sense of what they’re reading later on.
Read Aloud Teaching methods — what to keep in mind
First and foremost, teachers should understand that the read aloud strategy involves creating a time for oral reading on a consistent basis using selections that exceed student’s independent reading level yet are at the correct listening level.  This is crucial in order to progress comprehension.
Also, be aware that teachers can use read alouds to achieve different goals:
To introduce a new theme
To get students talking and thinking about literature
To help students explore new worlds
And to familiarize students with different genres.
And if you think it’s not worth your time to fit reading aloud into the day, consider this. When teachers read aloud to their students they’re helping them achieve the following:
Learn what fluid and expressive reading sounds like.
Learn how to think aloud.
Make connections to real life experiences or other pieces of literature.
All the above is essential in constructing knowledge.
An interactive experience in which readers are engaged in discussing a text throughout the reading
Develops high-level thinking and discourse
An opportunity to deepen comprehension through discourse and active thinking
Using cognitive resources that actively engage students in thinking about the text, such as the DOK and Bloom's levels will increase rigor and raise the caliber of conversation
Children can listen on a higher language level than they can read, so reading aloud makes complex ideas more accessible and exposes children to vocabulary and language patterns that are not part of everyday speech. This, in turn, helps them understand the structure of books when they read independently (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It exposes less able readers to the same rich and engaging books that fluent readers read on their own, and entices them to become better readers. Students of any age benefit from hearing an experienced reading of a wonderful book.

5. Tools to use for Read Alouds:
Tools to use for Read Alouds: high-interest novels, picture books, reader’s theater scripts
In the read aloud strategy the teacher reads out loud to the classroom. This way the teacher can model the correct strategies and behaviors. It’s important that teachers read with enthusiasm, rhythm, and the proper intonation.  This is also where so many standards are introduced.  Read alouds are ideal tools to engage readers and set the stage for more in-depth instruction.
Reading Aloud to Children
Read-alouds can stimulate the brain as much or more than any scheduled or routine lesson. After all, hearing stories is a precursor to reading and writing them. However, the time spent on read alouds doesn’t have to be long or laborious. In fact, a five-minute read-aloud two or three times a day is the perfect way to make every minute count by taking advantage of transitional times throughout the day.
“While most books on your bookshelf will result in a decent read aloud experience, I find that some books light the literacy fire more effectively than others:
books that contain chunks of musical, rhythmical, visual text.
humorous and suspenseful; after all, who doesn’t want to find out “what happens next?”
books that are highly descriptive and filled with rich language that paints beautiful pictures in the mind.
stories ripe with dialogue and conversation, as these targeted examples of speech enhance oral language learning.
One thing to remember about read-alouds is this: We can have all the right books, but in order to incorporate it into a successful balanced literacy lesson, children need to hear expression and excitement!

6. Read Aloud: Before, During and After Questions: Promoting Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking

7. Shared Reading
During shared reading, teachers provide explicit comprehension instruction.
In kindergarten and first grade, shared reading is the anchor of a Balanced Literacy program.  But what exactly is it?  What does shared reading look like?
Here’s an illustration…
In Ms. Avery’s classroom, kindergarten students are sitting on a colorful rug waiting for the “show” to begin.  It’s shared reading time, one of their favorite times of the day.  Ms. Avery is sitting in a rocking chair with a giant easel to her right.  Perched on the easel is a Big Book.  It’s a brand new big book, one Ms. Avery has picked specifically for shared reading.
But before she begins, Ms. Avery warms–up by rereading a big book the students are already familiar with.  She reinforces some concepts of printed words or models a new reading strategy.  Now the students are prepared for the new book.
Ms. Avery takes the book from the easel, shows the children the cover, reads the title and author.  She returns the book to the easel.  Now she’s ready to open the book, turn the pages and most importantly, open wide the doors to new adventures through reading.
First, the students excitedly predict what the book is about.  There’s a lot of sharing going on as they talk about their background knowledge and similar experiences related to the book.  Ms. Avery prompts the sharing by asking guiding questions, such as:
“What do you think our new book is about?”
“Who has been to the circus?”
“Have you ever had trouble getting out of bed in the morning?”
Then finally, it’s time for the story.
Ms. Avery reads the tale with enthusiasm and fluent expression.  No stopping the first time through.  The first reading is to let the students simply enjoy the story and note the rhythmic pattern of the words.  During the second reading, Ms. Avery will point to the words as she reads them again.  The students know they’re invited to read along if they want.
The following day, Ms. Avery reads the book for the third time.  Now she implements other shared reading strategies into the lesson. Most students will be eager to read along by this time.
Ms. Avery has covered several words with index cards or post-it notes and asks the students to think of words that would make sense.   They can use predicting skills to help them identify the word, such as looking at the first and last letter of the word.  When the shared reading lesson is over, she puts the new big book in the class library so students can revisit it during independent reading.
Why is shared reading so important?
As with all components of balanced literacy instruction, shared reading provides rich opportunities for students to discover the pleasures of reading.  Because students gather around the teacher in groups, a sense of community is established and students feel encouraged and confident to read along in enthusiastic environment.  Also, young readers are introduced to different genres and authors.  A variety of reading strategies are demonstrated during shared reading, dependent upon what is appropriate for the context of the story and the genre.
Benefits of Shared Reading
Shared reading can take on a playful or structured approach to learning to read.  In either case, students have the opportunity to:
Actively participate in reading
Learn to predict how a story will progress
Understand that illustrations can help construct meaning
Increase and develop new vocabulary
Discover and implement reading strategies
Recognize letters and sounds in the context of the words of the story
Understand concepts of the printed word
Use structural and visual cues to aid them in the reading process
Sequence story events
The list goes on to include skills they learn during rereading, such as information recall, increased sight word development, and phonics.
Shared Reading Strategies
Here are two strategies or shared reading activities teachers use with much success:
1.  Echo reading – In this strategy, the developing reader echoes a more advanced reader.  By imitating skilled reading, the young reader gains confidence, attempts to read text they couldn’t read on their own, and learns to use proper expression and phrasing during oral reading.
2. Choral reading – During choral reading the class reads aloud with the teacher.  Students less confident in their reading ability aren’t as anxious about reading aloud when they’re part of a community of readers.
Students are reading a common text with teacher support
The text is re-read over the course of several days with various teaching points in mind
Fluency is a key goal of this component ultimately leading to higher levels of comprehension

8. Tools to use for Shared Reading:
During shared reading the students and teacher read together. This is an opportunity for students to discover new words and their meanings.  I love to incorporate reader’s theater into this shared reading time in order to engage readers of varying levels.
Tools to use for Shared Reading: fiction and nonfiction close reads, novels, reader’s theater scripts
Shared Reading
Shared reading -- big books, repeated readings, participating, and chanting along with rhyming text – is a crucial part of the balanced literacy equation. Not only do young children love to join in when they know the words of a text, but repetitive, rhyming, and even musical texts make reading so much more memorable. When children can predict when to chime in and when the language is easy to remember and repeat, that’s when language is truly caught. If the book contains large visuals, illustrative text, and a humorous storyline, it’s even better.
Poetry (During Shared Reading)
Poetry can be a wonderful activity during shared reading because its very nature is rhyming and rhythmic. In the same way big books are used, poetry can be used to develop literacy skills in comprehension and fluency, as well as in important areas like vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and word work.

9. Guided Reading
The Guided Reading lesson plans for every Leveled Book provide a scaffolded approach to instruction. See the Books by Skills Chart for a list of major skills covered in each lesson.
Reading A-Z's collection of leveled readers spanning levels of difficulty represents a variety of text types and genres and includes a balance of fiction and nonfiction.
Use Benchmark Books or Benchmark Passages to determine where to start students within the levels and to monitor their progress as their reading improves.
Guided Reading is Part of a Balanced Literacy Approach
Guided reading is one component of a balanced literacy program that allows teachers to meet the needs of all students – regardless of their level of proficiency – so they become stronger, more confident readers.   Through this strategy, students are met right where they are in ability.  Because they’re with students who are on their level, they’re much less likely to feel anxious or embarrassed about how they measure up to the skills other students.  This is so important.
One component that makes this so successful is the teacher works in a small group setting.   That way, students quickly learn workable strategies to process and construct meaning of words. This is what drives balanced literacy instruction. As their reading skills strengthen they gradually move on to more difficult reading with concentrated teacher guidance.
The Big Benefit of Guided Reading
With guided reading, instruction can be streamlined to meet the individual needs of each student within a group. That is so essential in teaching a critical skill such as reading. Instruction is easily managed in small groups and the teacher is able to give individual attention to the group members. The teacher meets them where they are, moving them along so they can progress with confidence.
How is using guided reading different?
Guided reading is similar to shared reading but zeroes in on the needs of each child within a group. The importance of individualized attention can’t be over emphasized. Because the reading materials gradually become more difficult, students have the opportunity to apply the strategies they learn within their group and feel like successful readers!
It’s important to keep in mind the reading session should last no longer than 25 minutes.  Also the pre-reading, reading, and post-reading phases of guided reading are key success factors – don’t skip a step!
The chief goal of guided reading is to foster confidence, proficiency, and foster a love for reading. Grouping students by guided reading levels and providing the attention they need makes this critical task much easier.

10. Tools to use for Guided Reading:
Through guided reading teachers are able to work with students who are on the same level. Students are put into small groups, given their own books or reading selections, and the teacher works with students to help develop the skills they need.  Gathering data on each student to determine strengths, reading level, and areas needing enrichment or intervention are key to developing the most effective guided reading groups.
Tools to use for Guided Reading: novels, basal readers, fiction and nonfiction reading selections
Guided Reading
Guided reading is another essential part of balanced literacy. It helps teachers ensure that critical literacy skills are mastered. The leveled, small-group nature of guided reading works best for teaching the “details” of emergent and early reading.
Through its use of carefully constructed, leveled texts, guided reading ensures that critical literacy skills are mastered. “Just right books,” coupled with the support of teacher-directed, small group instruction, provide students an opportunity to practice, apply, and ultimately deepen their knowledge of skills learned through other aspects of the balanced literacy model.

11. Jan Richardson: Guided Reading Resources

12. Independent Reading
Independent reading provides students the opportunity to apply reading strategies and skills in a text of personal interest.
Successful independent reading is the end result of a well-executed balanced literacy program.  It allows students the chance to “practice” the strategies they’ve learned through guided reading, shared reading, and teacher read alouds – the other components of balanced literacy.  With level appropriate materials, students now have the skills they need to read on their own.  That means they can read confidently and are actually excited about their ability to read.
Why Should Independent Reading Be Encouraged?
When students have a voice in the reading process, they’re learning to contribute to their own knowledge.  Because they can select the books they wish to read, they have greater control over what they want to learn. Students are much more likely to view reading as a priority when they have some ownership in the reading process.
However, this doesn’t mean students can make their reading choices willy-nilly.  There does have to be some structure involved. First of all, the selection must be at their reading level.  No “easy” books during independent reading. “At their reading level” means students should be able to read their selections with 95%-100% accuracy.
Also, students should choose books that don’t need teacher support.  That rather defeats the purpose.  In order to experience improvement in fluency, comprehension and vocabulary, reading needs to be truly independent.
How To Incorporate Independent Reading Into The Classroom
While students have much control over what they choose to read, teachers need to encourage them to choose from different genres. One of the goals of independent reading is to help students feel confident with their ability.  This is accomplished by reading on a level they feel comfortable with.  And when given the opportunities and the right environment, students are much more likely to develop a love for reading.
That’s why independent reading is more than just letting students pick a book and read while the teacher does something else.  Teachers have a responsibility in this as well.  They’re the ones that need to provide the tools students need to be independent, life long readers.  That leads to the four essential elements of independent reading:
Essential Element #1 – Choice
Children are thrilled when they’re given a choice of what to read.  They’re much more motivated.  Who wouldn’t be?  However, since students must make a selection that’s on their reading level, teachers need to have an exceptional classroom library.  That means books on many different levels, topics, as well as genres.  And like any library, classroom books need to be organized so students can easily make a selection.
Element #2 – Strategies
Before students can become proficient independent readers, they must have the tools they need to be successful.  Inside the toolbox are two basic strategies; decoding strategies and comprehension strategies.  Decoding strategies help children move forward when they stumble upon a word they don’t know.  They know what to do to figure it out.
Comprehension strategies guide students to think about what they’re reading – to make connections, use visualization, ask questions, and make inferences… all to synthesize the words they read into something they comprehend.  How do students learn these strategies?  The teacher models them.  Independent reading time is when the students apply them.
Element #3 – Time
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!  How do you get to be a proficient (even prolific) reader? Practice, practice, practice!  As all musicians and athletes know, practice takes time.  That’s why time should be set aside to practice reading as well.  Also, by dedicating long blocks of time to independent reading, students quickly get the idea that reading is important.
Element #4 – Goals
Encourage students to set reading goals but teachers do need to specify what kind of goal.  Otherwise, a student’s goal could be to get to the end of the book.  Because there is already a long period of time set aside for independent reading, the teacher can use this time to conference with the students.  Listen to their reading and see how they apply the strategies. Then help students set a reading goal based on the strategy they need to strengthen.
Independent Reading Activities
If you’re like most people, after reading a really good book you want to tell someone about it – you want to share.  Why not give students the same opportunity?  Here are 5 activities that will engage students in sharing what they read.
Illustrate an important character or event in the story.
Create an advertisement to promote the book.
Have students pick out words they are unfamiliar with and make a word wall.
Make a bookmark that represents the theme or main idea of the book.
Write a question to the author or a character in the book.
Creative as well as analytical students will enjoy these activities.  If all goes well, other students will want to read the books shared, too!
The Big Benefit of Independent Reading
Aside from higher test scores and ensuring that students read something everyday, there is an overarching benefit of independent reading.  And that is the fact that independent reading lays the foundation for becoming enthusiastic lifelong readers, not simply school time readers.
CONFERRING:
The teacher meets with students individually in order to discuss and document specific needs and the progress of the individual reader
The teacher may review a skill or strategy from a previous conference or may set a new goal with the student
Conferences with students can be based on formal (pre-and post-assessments) and informal (observations & reader's response journal) data
Questions during a conference can be focused on the data collected, or can be used as a means to decide what levels the individual still needs work on
Goals around the levels can be set with the student
Format: research >> decide >> teach

13. Tools to use for Independent Reading:
During independent reading students are allowed to choose the books they want to read. This is important for many reasons — one being that reading becomes a more enjoyable experience. Also, when students realize teachers value reading time, they begin to realize that reading must be an important skill.  A well-stocked classroom library or individual student book boxes are a few ways to have essential reading materials available for students at all times.
Tools to use for Independent Reading: novels, picture books, magazines, newspapers
What’s important to remember is that the goal of independent reading is practice. And, for practice to be productive, students need access to books on their independent (not instructional) reading level. Books that are too challenging are simply a recipe for disengagement and distraction.
For emergent and early readers, familiar books work best because they have heard the story before and know what’s coming next. As children move up in the reading stages, however, they need to practice reading unseen texts independently.

14. Conference CONFERRING:
The teacher meets with students individually in order to discuss and document specific needs and the progress of the individual reader
The teacher may review a skill or strategy from a previous conference or may set a new goal with the student
Conferences with students can be based on formal (pre-and post-assessments) and informal (observations & reader's response journal) data
Questions during a conference can be focused on the data collected, or can be used as a means to decide what levels the individual still needs work on
Goals around the levels can be set with the student
Format: research >> decide >> teach

15. Tools to use for Conferencing:

16. Jenn Serravallo Independent Reading: Research-Decide-Teach Conference

17. Writing Workshop
Students work with words through fun and engaging activities.  At the 6th grade level, students focus on root words, suffixes and prefixes, and how to derive meaning of words.  While I incorporate spelling into this word work time, vocabulary is a weakness for my students.  I am always in search of context clue word work resources to enhance vocabulary and word work strategies with my students.
Tools to use for Word Study and Writing: Word of the Day, context clue word work, spelling words, task cards

18. Process Writing
Writing Workshop begins with teacher-directed lessons followed by time for students to write.
Teachers confer with students and guide their writing development.

19. Shared and Independent Writing
Day 4 in each Shared Reading Book's 5-Day Lesson Plan contains a shared writing activity, allowing students structured practice with specific skills. Find the 5-Day Shared Reading Lesson on each book's homepage.
Selected Leveled Books provide a Writer's Response activity for independent practice. Simply click on "With Writer's Response" in the filter options.
Poetry Writing Lessons provide a lesson plan, examples, and scaffolded writing worksheets for 11 types of poetry.

20. Word Work

21. Phonemic Awareness & Phonics
Phonemic awareness and phonics help the youngest students learn letter-sound relationships.
Reading A-Z's Phonological Awareness Lessons and Decodable Books & Phonics Lessons along with flash cards, activity sheets, Sound/Symbol Books and Read-Aloud Books provide practice with words, phrases, sentences, and continuous text to build vocabulary and fluency.
That’s because reading ability dramatically improves as students use meaningful games and activities to discover:
Letters and the sounds they make
How to pick out root words, and how suffixes and prefixes can change the meaning
Spelling involves finding patterns
How to get clues to word meaning and pronunciation by examining the parts of a word.
But word study isn’t all fun and games.  It actually involves problem solving in the form of developing hypotheses, searching for patterns, predicting outcomes, and experimenting to find out if they’re right.  Using word study activities, students compare new words to words they already know and look for similarities.
Why is Word Study Important?
In order to become fully literate, students must have the ability to accurately recognize words.  They also have to adequately use written words to convey meaning.  Because word study is based on phonics spelling and vocabulary, it’s a way for students to manipulate and fully examine words.
At once they do, students realize that words are powerful things.  When they learn how words work they’re on their way to becoming fully literate individuals. Learning phonics, sight words, decoding, spelling patterns, and word meanings, means understanding the basics of written words. From there they can communicate and construct meaning.   After all, that’s what language is all about.
Fortunately, educators have come to realize that rote drill and practice isn’t the most efficient way to master a reading or writing skill.  Students need the opportunity to think critically and manipulate words and their concepts.  That way they can generalize words based on spelling or other commonalities.  Grasping spelling, word recognition, and vocabulary goes beyond memorizing a few rules.  The best way to become proficient in words and their features is to have plenty of opportunities to examine them in different contexts.
The Purpose of Word Study
As a component of balanced literacy, word study achieves two goals; first to help students become fluent readers with a strong vocabulary, and secondly, to give students the opportunity to fully explore and manipulate words.
Word study isn’t about memorizing spelling words but about understanding spelling patterns.
It isn’t about manipulating a random group of words but can compare words that are phonetically similar.
It isn’t just another fun activity but is a purposeful look at word analysis.
Word Study Activities
When planning word study lessons, teachers can choose from a variety of activities to improve spelling, word recognition and vocabulary.  Students tend to enjoy working with words and are eager to get word “games.”  Here a just a few of them…
Word Searches
In word searches students take a group of word categories and “search” for examples of words in those categories by combing through magazines, newspapers, books, or textbooks.  They write down the words they find.
Pattern Sorting
Pattern sorting is an activity that teaches students to categorize words.  The categories can be based on the way particular sounds are expressed in a word.  Pattern sorting is great for looking at vowel patterns, contractions, and silent letters.
Proofreading
Proofreading is one of those “must have” skills in order to be optimally successful in school.  Word study lessons involving proofreading help students learn to develop an eye for how a written word should look.  They learn to know if a word “looks right” when spelled out.
Using word study lessons to round out a balanced literacy program promises a much greater chance of retaining word meanings and making sense of spelling rules.
Thank goodness, literacy has moved beyond writing a list of words five times each to learn to spell.  Or decoding words by simply “sounding them out.”  Now word study makes exploring the various aspects of the English language much more meaningful and enjoyable.

22. Sight Words & Vocabulary
students build on a foundation of word knowledge by emphasizing word structure and vocabulary.
Students extend their vocabulary in order to apply it in the context of reading.

23. In a truly balanced literacy program, how you teach is as important as what you teach.
Strickland 2015
Teach basic skills
Effective grouping and planning
Covering content
Dealing with assessment
Dorothy S. Strickland is the State of New Jersey Professor of Reading at Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, 10 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ
 linking standards, instruction and assessment, pulling them together, so we're not just talking about them in isolation.

24. Teaching Basic Skills

25. "Teaching phonics with literature seems so hit or miss
"Teaching phonics with literature seems so hit or miss. What about a correct sequence of skills?"
Apply the thinking behind good textbooks to trade books. It's true that some sound-letter patterns are more consistent than others and, therefore, are better to teach early. For example, we know consonants are more consistent than vowels. We also know that certain consonants (such as j, m, r, and v) are more consistent than others. Most teachers and developers of core programs start with those more reliable sound-letter patterns, and you can do the same using literature. As a result, you move students from easy to hard, from the known to the unknown.

26. "I'd like to teach phonics using trade books, but I worry about abusing the literature."
Include some literature that naturally lends itself to language study — specifically, stories that contain repetitious language or language patterns, such as Bill Martin Jr.'s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Start by sharing the literature for its content and overall language qualities, with the intention of going back to look at some aspect of the words more carefully. You might ask, "Have you noticed that there are a number of words in this story that begin the same way? Let's take a look." After a while the children will initiate the process independently. Consider other types of whole texts as well, such as brief notes, shopping lists, and even traffic signs. These offer opportunites to anchor phonics in something real.

27. "Many parents want grammar taught 'the old- fashioned way
"Many parents want grammar taught 'the old- fashioned way.' What can I tell them?"
Use a whole-part-whole approach. Studies indicate that teaching grammar in isolation has little effect on students' oral and written language. Start by immersing students in real examples of whatever it is you want to teach. Talk about those passages, guiding students toward recognizing the aspects of language under study. Notice, for example, how the poet uses adjectival phrases to create pictures, or how the novelist conveys action through verbs. Introduce grammar terms and rules during the discussion. Also, encourage students to relate terms and rules to their own writing.
Teaching Nouns with Great Kids Books
We really like teaching nouns. The kids get them quickly -- easier than other parts of speech! The books below can add some fun.  The children's books at the top of this list are for early introductions to nouns -- essentially defining nouns and giving engaging examples. Then, further down this list are noun books for older kids, especially books focused on collective nouns.
We definitely need to grow this list with more great children's books for teaching verbs. If you happen to know any children's books that are great to use when teaching verbs, let us know!

28. "My administrators want me to return to traditional spelling lists."
Develop lists inspired by other components of your language arts program. For example, you might select a particular aspect of language to study, such as vowel generalization, inflectional endings, root words, or word families, and choose examples for spelling lists. Words connected to a thematic unit are another option, but choose ones that are appropriate and useful. You can also use misspelled words from the children's writing. After all, teachers who look for patterns in errors across the work of individuals and groups, and respond with beneficial instruction, are more likely to make an impact on children's spelling development.

29. Effective Grouping and Planning

30. "Flexible grouping is still my biggest challenge."
Establish a routine and stick to it. Effective flexible grouping takes time, so don't get frustrated if things don't work immediately. Keep in mind, however, that careful planning, good organization, and an established routine are essential. Your day should include a regular sequence of whole-class, small-group, and one-on-one instruction. You may want to start the language arts block with whole-class instruction. After that, call a planning meeting with students to clarify who will come to you for small-group or one-on-one work, who will work at centers, and who will work independently or in pairs. Be sure to explain how they will rotate. Also, find time for small-group work with struggling readers — I recommend at least three times a week for about 20 minutes.
Strive to make activities multilevel. Multilevel instruction acknowledges that children come to the classroom with different backgrounds and abilities. Teachers typically assign one activity that invites a variety of responses, such as writing a biography of a family member. As a result, all students are engaged in the same literacy processes, yet the teacher assesses them individually in terms of past performance. The point, of course, is to maintain high but realistic standards for all children.
What is Flexible Grouping?
Flexible grouping is a range of grouping students together for delivering instruction. This can be as a whole class, a small group, or with a partner. Flexible grouping creates temporary groups that can last an hour, a week, or even a month. It’s not permanent, but it is a temporary way for students to work together in a variety of ways and configurations depending upon activity and learning outcomes.
In order to successfully differentiate instruction through flexible grouping, teachers must consider student learning profiles. In order to promote maximum learning, students need to move frequently among groups according to their specific needs.
What are the Benefits?
There are a number of instructional benefits to flexible grouping. Teachers use this strategy because it’s a great way to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of each student, and it allows the teacher to zero in on any specific needs of one student. It allows students to have the opportunity to work with, and learn from, their peers in a way that lets them feel comfortable contributing.  When students work in a variety of groups, they learn to work independently and cooperatively with a variety of personalities.

31. "I plan each day so carefully, yet I never have enough time to accomplish what I want to do."
Do your planning weekly, around thematic units. Before you begin a unit, determine teaching and learning goals for each week. If your curriculum guide has objectives that you must cover, try to link your goals to those objectives. You might want to start each day with shared reading, emphasizing important skills. You could then assign a series of independent follow-up activities that allow children to practice those skills, allowing time for sharing responses. Once you begin planning the week around themes, you will find yourself covering more territory in greater depth.

32. Covering Content

33. "As an upper- grade teacher, I have to teach facts
"As an upper- grade teacher, I have to teach facts. I don't have time for reading instruction during science."
K-2 all about books:
Choose interesting activities that promote literacy skills and content knowledge. When you teach literacy and content together, you expand students' chances to learn both. Having students create their own information books, for example, is a collaborative activity that can be used in any content area. Not only does it build reading and writing skills, but it requires students to learn facts well enough to convey them to others. It also invites various kinds of inquiry, such as using the card catalog or the Internet. Remember, everything we do to facilitate process helps students gain access to content.
Writers Santa, Havens, and Harrison (1996) state it well: “Most students arrive at the science teacher’s classroom knowing how to read, but few understand how to use reading for learning science content” (p. 166). One explanation for this disparity is that students most often learn the reading process using narrative text. They haven’t been taught that reading science requires different reading and thinking skills than reading fiction. Certainly, informational text — and science text, in particular — presents unique challenges to novice readers. Thus, one of the first steps for teachers is to help students understand that reading science text requires them to use different skills than they may have used in the past.

34. Dealing with Assessment

35. "With all the news reports about test scores, how can I convey to parents how their child is really doing?"
Tell them that standardized tests don't reveal as much about an individual learner as daily informal assessments do. In conferences, explain to parents that news reports give an overall picture of how a school is doing in relation to other schools. If they want to know what their child has learned, they need to look at the evidence. Work samples, anecdotal notes, and checklists demonstrate their child's progress. As you begin to discuss a child's work with his or her parents, they get a better idea of what a standardized test score really is — a snapshot of student performance on a particular day. A collection of the child's work gives a more comprehensive picture of progress over time

36. Portfolios are fine, but I have trouble gathering all that information for a conference."
Collect information on an ongoing basis. Portfolios are meant to be operational documentation of work over time — work that should be collected naturally, as part of daily instruction.
When observations of reading behaviors are assembled continuously, in addition to work samples, the resulting portfolio provides a vivid profile for parents, teachers, and the student. Most important, it forms a basis for instructional decisions.

37. Fitting it all in…
A favorite question that ALWAYS pops up in reading teacher discussions, “How do you structure your time with students?”  While every school has different time frames, here is how I structure my 100 minutes of instructional time:
10-minutes: Word of the Day Word Work (Bell Ringer)
5-minutes: Shared Reading: 6-Minute Solutions Fluency Work
15-minutes: Read Aloud to introduce, develop, enrich CCSS focus of the week
60-minutes: Guided Reading Groups
10-minutes: Independent Reading/Wrap-Up
TOTAL=100-minutes: Over in a FLASH!

38. Resources: http://www.corestandards.org/
Literacy Unleashed ASCD 2016
Protocols and Strategies
Read Aloud Resources

39. EVALUATION Your honest feedback is greatly appreciated!
It helps me plan future Professional Development

40. Natalie Harjes THANK YOU picnatalie.weebly.com Teachingsquad.com
Content Specialist