This book's 50-plus lessons-each based on a different picture book or story-will help classroom teachers build a foundation for teaching math, science, and social studies concepts to their students. Each lesson uses children's literature to make challenging, abstract concepts relevant to children's lives, inviting them to learn these concepts while responding to a story's illustrations, theme, characters, and plot. The lessons also demonstrate how teachers can use children's literature to meet national standards in math, science, and social studies. Chapters 1 through 5 set the stage for using picture books, discussing the effective, imaginative integration of literature into the classroom. Teachers will learn to create an environment that ensures that when children and books come together, the experience is enjoyable and thought provoking. Chapters 6 through 9 provide individual lessons, by grade level, with detailed activities based on specific books.

This book emanated primarily from concerns that the mathematical capabilities of young children continue to receive inadequate attention in both the research and instructional arenas. Research over many years has revealed that young children have sophisticated mathematical minds and a natural eagerness to engage in a range of mathematical activities. As the chapters in this book attest, current research is showing that young children are developing complex mathematical knowledge and abstract reasoning a good deal earlier than previously thought. A range of studies in prior to school and early school settings indicate that young learners do possess cognitive capacities which, with appropriately designed and implemented learning experiences, can enable forms of reasoning not typically seen in the early years. Although there is a large and coherent body of research on individual content domains such as counting and arithmetic, there have been remarkably few studies that have attempted to describe characteristics of structural development in young students’ mathematics. Collectively, the chapters highlight the importance of providing more exciting, relevant, and challenging 21st century mathematics learning for our young students. The chapters provide a broad scope in their topics and approaches to advancing young children’s mathematical learning. They incorporate studies that highlight the importance of pattern and structure across the curriculum, studies that target particular content such as statistics, early algebra, and beginning number, and studies that consider how technology and other tools can facilitate early mathematical development. Reconceptualising the professional learning of teachers in promoting young children’s mathematics, including a consideration of the role of play, is also addressed.

Teaching students to make connections across related texts promotes engagement and improves reading comprehension and content learning. This practical guide explains how to select and teach a wide range of picture books as paired text--two books related by topic, theme, or genre--in grades K-8. The author provides mini-lessons across the content areas, along with hundreds of recommendations for paired text, each linked to specific Common Core standards for reading literature and informational texts. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes 22 reproducible graphic organizers and other useful tools. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials.

Grounded in research, Vibrant Learning, focuses on language-rich, literacy-based, collaborative classrooms as the foundation for transforming content area learning. The authors emphasize three areas: (1) strategies to support student understanding of concepts, (2) ideas to encourage student engagement, and (3) creating a lively and respectful classroom environment to foster an integrative approach to learning. Knowledgeable teachers with a repertoire of effective instructional strategies make genuine learning possible. With that in mind, this book presents a solid theoretical background and a set of practical tools in each of its chapters, ranging from assessment, compression, vocabulary, motivation, to integration for the content area teacher.

Written with a focus on the English Language Arts Common Core Standards, this book provides a complete plan for developing a literacy program that focuses on boys pre-K through grade 12. Despite the fact that reading and literacy among boys has been an area of concern for years, this issue remains unresolved today. Additionally, the emphasis and focus have changed due to the implementation of the English Language Arts Common Core Standards. How can educators best encourage male students to read, and what new technologies and techniques can serve this objective? The Common Core Approach to Building Literacy in Boys is an essential resource and reference for teachers, librarians, and parents seeking to encourage reading in boys from preschool to 12th grade. Providing a wide array of useful, up-to-date information that emphasizes the English Language Arts Common Core Standards, the bibliographies and descriptions of effective strategies in this book will enable you to boost reading interest and performance in boys. The chapters cover 16 different topics of interest to boys, all accompanied by a complete bibliography for each subject area, discussion questions, writing connections, and annotated new and classic nonfiction titles. Information on specific magazines, annotated professional titles, books made into film, websites, and apps that will help you get boys interested in reading is also included.

The 3rd Edition of Literacy & Learning in the Content Areas helps readers build the knowledge, motivation, tools, and confidence they need as they integrate literacy into their middle and high school content area classrooms. Its unique approach to teaching content area literacy actively engages preservice and practicing teachers in reading and writing and the very activities that they will use to teach literacy to their own studentsin middle and high school classrooms . Rather than passively learning about strategies for incorporating content area literacy activities, readers get hands-on experience in such techniques as mapping/webbing, anticipation guides, booktalks, class websites, and journal writing and reflection. Readers also learn how to integrate children's and young adult literature, primary sources, biographies, essays, poetry, and online content, communities, and websites into their classrooms. Each chapter offers concrete teaching examples and practical suggestions to help make literacy relevant to students' content area learning. Author Sharon Kane demonstrates how relevant reading, writing, speaking, listening, and visual learning activities can improve learning in content area subjects and at the same time help readers meet national content knowledge standards and benchmarks.

Comprehensive yet succinct and readable, Literacy in Grades 4-8, Third Edition offers a wealth of practical ideas to help preservice and practicing teachers create a balanced and comprehensive literacy program while exploring the core topics and issues of literacy in grades 4 through 8. It addresses teaching to standards; differentiating instruction for readers and writers; motivating students; using assessment to inform instruction; integrating technology into the classroom; working with English learners and struggling readers; and connecting with caregivers. Selected classroom strategies, procedures, and activities represent the most effective practices according to research and the many outstanding classroom teachers who were observed and interviewed for the book. The Third Edition includes added material connecting the Common Core State Standards to the instruction and assessment of literacy skills; a combined word study and vocabulary chapter to help readers integrate these important topics in their teaching; more on technology, including comprehension of multimodal texts, enhancing writing instruction with technology tools, and teaching activities with an added technology component; added discussion of teacher techniques during text discussions, strategic moves that help students become more strategic readers. Key features: In the Classroom vignettes; more than 50 activities,some with a technology component; questions for journal writing and for projects and field-based activities; troubleshooting sections offering alternative suggestions and activities for those middle-grade students who may find a particular literacy focus challenging.

This book addresses engineering learning in early childhood, spanning ages 3 to 8 years. It explores why engineering experiences are important in young children's overall development and how engineering is a core component of early STEM learning, including how engineering education links and supports children's existing experiences in science, mathematics, and design and technology, both before school and in the early school years. Promoting STEM education across the school years is a key goal of many nations, with the realization that building STEM skills required by societies takes time and needs to begin as early as possible. Despite calls from national and international organisations, the inclusion of engineering-based learning within elementary and primary school programs remains limited in many countries. Engineering experiences for young children in the pre-school or early school years has received almost no attention, even though young children can be considered natural engineers. This book addresses this void by exposing what we know about engineering for young learners, including their capabilities for solving engineering-based problems and the (few) existing programs that are capitalising on their potential.

"The intent of this handbook is to provide a comprehensive, forward-looking, research-based resource for teachers, teacher-educators, and researchers on the key, inter-connected components of effective literacy instruction. The book is designed so that it is a readily useable resource for pre-service and practicing teachers as well. Every chapter in sections I, II, III, and IV includes substantial suggestions for implementing research-based practices in the classroom and for engaging in professional learning to help teachers increase their effectiveness as literacy instructors. Every chapter in section IV also includes substantial suggestions for fostering collaboration among staff and, when applicable, parents within schools"--

A comprehensive guide to visual learning strategies with easy-to-use activities. Emojis . . . avatars . . . icons . . . Our world is becoming increasingly reliant on visual communication. Yet our classrooms still heavily focus on traditional oral and written instruction. In this first-of-its-kind resource, Dr. Susan Daniels channels over twenty years of research and experience into a comprehensive guide of visual learning strategies that enable educators to rise to the challenges of 21st century education no matter what age range they serve within the K–8 population. This hands-on resource helps educators create a “visual toolbox” of tools that promote visual literacy across the curriculum, and it offers interactive activities to encourage visual learning and communication in all students via mind maps and visual journals. Drawing on her experience working with gifted, creative, and twice-exceptional children, Dr. Susan Daniels has created visual learning strategies that all children can benefit from. Digital content includes customizable forms and examples of completed forms as well as a PDF presentation for professional development.