With this cooperative learning strategy, each student has a chance to become the expert in a topic and share their knowledge. Go inside Cathy Doyle's second grade classroom in Evanston, Illinois to observe her students use the jigsaw strategy to understand the topic of gardening more deeply and share what they have learned.
In this article, Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey offer instructional ideas to help your students build speaking and listening skills. Suggestions include reader’s theater, listening stations, presentations, and reciprocal teaching. Technology offers new ways to engage students in speaking and listening tasks — try digital storytelling or a listening gallery walk. There should be a hum of learning in your class, with many voices engaged in discussions about the topics under investigation!
In this video, reading expert Linda Farrell helps kindergartener Autumn learn to blend two parts of a syllable (onset and rime). Watch how Ms. Farrell gives Autumn explicit practice with onset and rime — a core phonological awareness skill that helps kids recognize and blend sound chunks within syllables.
Watch other episodes in our Looking at Reading Interventions series. You’ll also find professional development guides to use with these videos. (Developed in partnership with the National Education Association.)
In a recent blog post, literacy expert Tim Shanahan shares what the research and his own experience in classrooms say about the value of independent reading: “By all means, encourage your students to read for pleasure ... Help them find books they might be interested in. Give them opportunities to share their reading experiences with other kids in class. Provide guidance to parents to support home reading ... But cherish and protect your students’ instructional time. There isn’t enough of it. School is a good place to make kids stronger readers. Don’t make the students’ independent reading part of your daily classroom schedule. Teach and guide your students so that it becomes part of theirs.”
Women's History Month celebrates the accomplishments of women like Sonia Sotomayor, Mary Golda Ross, Ida B. Wells, Malala Yousafzai, Frances Perkins, Zora Neale Hurston, and Zaha Hadid. In these picture book biographies, young readers will meet women who dreamed big and helped make our world better. Find many more titles for Women’s History Month on Book Finder.
Sit in on this lively panel discussion with Katherine Paterson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Jeannine Atkins, Heather Lang, and Ekua Holmes. They gathered at Jeff Kinney’s bookstore, Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe in Plainville, Massachusetts, to talk about lifting up stories about women and girls. Find more books and activities about community and civic engagement on our Start with a Book website.
Weatherford is a children’s book author and poet who “mines the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles.” Many of Weatherford's books celebrate the stories of Black historical figures, including these remarkable women: Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Billie Holiday. Weatherford's books have received many awards, including Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, the 2022 Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards.
Hopkinson's vivid picture books about history shine a light on the role of women and girls. In our interview, Hopkinson discusses her mission to make history come alive for students, her meticulous attention to historical details, and her love of sharing good books with her own children. To see all of our author interviews, visit Video Interviews with Top Children’s Authors and Illustrators.
Children's author Carmen Agra Deedy (Martina the Beautiful Cockroach) shares tips for helping your child organize their writing. Start by talking the story through — the process of refining, and telling and retelling a story helps to get rid of the confusing bits and makes it stronger. Get more expert answers to parent questions about writing in this special Reading Rockets video series, Writing SOS.
Attention all singers, rappers, horn blowers, percussionists, and piano players! Many kids love to sing, write songs, play music, and even create their own homemade instruments. And some children are curious about the lives of famous singers, songwriters, and musicians. We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, podcasts, apps, and websites all about music and musicians.
Nonfiction books give kids a chance to learn new concepts and vocabulary, as well as broaden their view of the world. Learn how to take a "book walk" with a new nonfiction book and how to model active reading. (In English and Spanish) For more ideas, browse our Growing Readers library of easy-to-use tips about reading aloud and helping your child build reading and writing skills, literacy in the sciences, and more. Available in English and Spanish.
Discover two ways you can help your child begin to develop information literacy: learning to tell the difference between fact and opinion, and figuring out if a source of information is reliable. Available in English and Spanish.
We celebrate the late children’s book author and illustrator Lois Ehlert, who planted a rainbow with her picture books, bursting with color and life. What are you planting this Spring?
Reading Rockets is a national educational service of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital. The goal of the project is to provide information on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.
Send your questions, comments, or suggestions to info@readingrockets.org. Our mailing address is WETA/Reading Rockets, 2775 S. Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22206. We look forward to hearing from you!
