Comic books and graphic novels, known collectively as "graphica," have long been popular with teenagers and adults. Recently graphica has grown in popularity with younger readers as well, motivating and engaging some of our most reluctant readers who often shun traditional texts. While some teachers have become curious about graphica's potential, many are confused by the overwhelming number of new titles and series, in both fiction and nonfiction, and are unsure of its suitability and function in their classrooms.

Drawing on his own success using graphica with elementary students, literacy coach Terry Thompson introduces reading teachers to this popular medium and suggests sources of appropriate graphica for the classroom and for particular students. Taking cues from research that supports the use of graphica with students, Terry shows how this exciting medium fits into the literacy framework and correlates with best practices in comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency instruction. "Adventures in Graphica" contains numerous, easy-to-replicate, instructional strategies, including examples of how graphic texts can be used to create a bridge as students transfer abstract comprehension strategies learned through comics and graphic novels to traditional texts.

" Adventures in Graphica" provides a roadmap for teachers to the medium that the "New York Times" recently hailed as possibly "the next new literary form."

Classroom-tested methods for boosting secondary students' writing skills

"The Writing Teacher's Activity-a-Day" offers teachers, homeschoolers, and parents 180 ready-to-use, reproducible activities that enhance writing skills in secondary students. Based on Ledbetter's extensive experience consulting to language arts teachers and school districts across the country, the classroom-tested activities included in this book teach students key literary and writing terms like allegory, elaboration, irony, personification, propaganda, voice, and more--and provide them with engaging examples that serve as models for their own Quick Writes.Contains writing prompts and sample passages in student-friendly language that connects abstract literary concepts to students' own livesWritten by popular workshop presenter and veteran educator Mary Ellen LedbetterOffers a user-friendly, value-packed resource for teaching writing skills

Designed for English language arts teachers in grades 6-12, tutors, parents, learning specialists, homeschoolers, and consultants.

Literacy specialists Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward demonstrate how to use formative assessments to craft targeted, personalized instruction that enable striving readers to do what they need above all - to find books they love and engage in voluminous reading. Loaded with ready-to-go lessons, routines, and "actions," as well as the latest research, this book is a must for any teacher who strives to make every reader a thriving reader. "This is excellent. It's really practical. Several of the chapters would translate into CPD sessions and I also see potential in this text for ITT whether that be in university or school-based programmes as it takes the 'what' of research into reading and turns it into the 'how' of practice in easy to digest chapters." Rachel Clarke, Independent Reading Consultant

Excite and engage your students with this instructional guide for Hamilton: An American Musical. This classroom resource provides rigorous activities and questions for students studying Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit Broadway musical. This resource provides engaging activities that incorporate the following research-based literacy skills: close reading tasks; text-based vocabulary practice; cross-curricular activities; text-dependent questions; reader response writing prompts; leveled comprehension questions; story elements comprehension tasks; diverse and relevant assessments. Strengthen your students' literacy skills by implementing this high-interest resource in your classroom!

These engaging Storybooks provide structured practice for children learning to read the Read Write Inc. Set 1 sounds. Each set of books is carefully levelled to match childrens growing phonic knowledge so children can read them with accuracy, fluency and comprehension. The Storybooks include a range of engaging stories such as fairy tales, myths and legends, rhyming stories and familiar settings. Activities at the start of the books help children to practise the sounds and words they will encounter in the story. Questions to talk about at the end of the story provide an extra opportunity for developing childrens comprehension. The books are part of the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, developed by Ruth Miskin. The programme is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers. It includes Handbooks, Sounds Cards, Word Cards, Storybooks, Non-fiction, Writing books and an Online resource. Read Write Inc. is fully supported by comprehensive professional development from Ruth Miskin Training.

These engaging Storybooks provide structured practice for children learning to read the Read Write Inc. Set 1 and 2 sounds. Each set of books is carefully levelled to match childrens growing phonic knowledge so children can read them with accuracy, fluency and comprehension. The Storybooks include a range of engaging stories such as fairy tales, myths and legends, rhyming stories and familiar settings. Activities at the start of the books help children to practise the sounds and words they will encounter in the story. Questions to talk about at the end of the story provide an extra opportunity for developing childrens comprehension. The books are part of the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, developed by Ruth Miskin. The programme is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers. It includes Handbooks, Sounds Cards, Word Cards, Storybooks, Non-fiction, Writing books and an Online resource. Read Write Inc. is fully supported by comprehensive professional development from Ruth Miskin Training.

Ideal for both whole-school and independent learning, this comprehensive and high-quality series builds on pupils' phonic knowledge while also helping them to understand how word structure and meaning can help them to spell words. Providing excellent preparation for the national tests, the Schofield & Sims Spelling activities systematically introduce and revise spelling conventions, explore word structure and the relationship between words of shared origin, suggest strategies for remembering common 'exception words' (or 'tricky words'), teach pupils how to monitor their own spelling, and encourage them to write sentences from memory or dictation. As pupils work through each book, the intensive practice provided will enable them continually to develop, consolidate and improve their skills, encouraging them towards effective spelling for life. Spelling 5 covers: using further prefixes and suffixes and applying rules for adding suffixes; spelling words with silent letters; using knowledge of word structure and word origins; learning to spell difficult words; learning guidelines for word endings; distinguishing between homophones and other words that are commonly confused.

Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme. This teaching guide includes step-by-step lesson plans for teachers and teaching assistants, as well as assessment information.

Every elementary teacher deals with students who struggle as readers on a daily basis. Each struggling child is complex and each has a unique history as a learner. In "One Child at a Time," experienced literacy specialist and consultant Pat Johnson provides a framework she has used in numerous K-6 classrooms to help teachers understand and assist individual children. The four-step process outlined in the book enables teachers to focus carefully on specific strategies and behaviors; analyze them with theoretical and practical lenses; design targeted instruction in keeping with current research on reading process; and then assess and refine the teaching in conferences with the child. The framework is by no means an easy answer to a difficult problem, but through its use teachers learn how the reading process works for proficient readers and how to support struggling readers as they construct their own reading process.

The text is packed with examples of actual conferences with students, detailing how and when Pat and her colleagues intervene to instruct and assess. The examples of follow-up assessment and analysis of struggling readers over days and weeks provide an indispensable model for teachers.

Pat shows how to use this framework successfully with a range of learners, including young children, English language learners, and students in the upper elementary grades who are stalled in their literacy progress. She builds upon her decades of work as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, and consultant in schools with high poverty and diversity, to demonstrate how this framework can be useful in any setting.

Teaching comprehension with informational texts is a critical component of any reading program and one that many children struggle with as they progress through their schooling. Nonfiction can be overwhelming to young readers, presenting them with complex vocabulary and a new density of information that may combine text, diagrams, pictures, captions, and other devices. In this book, Tony Stead provides wonderful ways to enhance children's understanding and engagement when reading for information. Based on many years of working in K-7 classrooms, he outlines practical approaches to ensure all children can become confident and competent readers of nonfiction.

"Reality Checks" offers insights into why children struggle when faced with informational reading, and practical concepts, skills, and strategies that help them navigate nonfiction successfully.

Part one examines effective ways to teach children how to extract the information that is explicitly stated in a text. Covered are strategies such as using prior knowledge, retelling, locating specific information, and the role of nonfiction read-alouds.

Part two explores interpreting information, including making connections between the text, the reader, and the outside world, making inferences and making revisions to inferences based on reflection.

Part three looks at evaluating information, assisting children in developing critical reading skills, differentiating fact from opinion, locating author bias, and identifying techniques writers use to persuade readers' thinking.

Part four offers an array of practical ways to reinforce and extend children's nonfiction reading skills, including working with visual information such asmaps and diagrams. It also provides pre-and-post-assessment strategies, procedures for monitoring progress, curriculum planning ideas, and instruction on guided reading.

A helpful appendix provides graphic organizers, assessment rubrics, curriculum mapping sheets, and more.

Reading is all about understanding. Many English language learners simply do not understand what they are reading, whether it's a picture book, a literature selection, or a science textbook. Juli Kendall and Outey Khuon believe that small group comprehension lessons have a key role to play in advancing students' understanding of texts."Making Sense" provides answers to many common questions asked by teachers of English language learners: How do we organize small-group comprehension instruction? How do we select books to teach strategies? How do we know our kids are getting it--and what do we do when they don't get it? It is an easy-to-use, practical resource for ELD, ESL, and ESOL pull-out teachers, and for push-in teachers working "in-class" to support English language learners.The book's five main sections are geared to the stages of language proficiency, and lessons are divided into 'younger' and 'older' students, spanning kindergarten through grade 8. The authors outline fifty-two lessons that teach students how to make connections, ask questions, visualize (make mental images), infer, determine importance, and synthesize. Each lesson follows a four-part teaching framework: Start Up/Connection--helping students build background and use prior knowledge to connect to the lesson;Give Information--explicitly telling students what they are going to learn and why they are learning it, and then teaching them;Active Involvement--often occurs during the teaching as students practice what they are learning while the teacher checks for understanding and monitors and adjusts instruction;Off-You-Go --opportunities for students to practice what they learned with peers or independently."Making Sense" also explores the stages of language proficiency through descriptions of ten English language learners of different ages. A chart of student characteristics for each stage shows how students demonstrate understanding and outlines the implications for planning instruction. This book will appeal to experienced teachers seeking to expand their repertoire of lessons, as well as new teachers just beginning the adventure of teaching comprehension to English language learners.

Teaching reading to children in a language that is not their own is a daunting task. Combining the best classroom practices and research on teaching reading and language acquisition, Mary Cappellini integrates effective reading instruction with effective language instruction. Through the framework of a balanced reading program, she emphasizes the importance of constantly listening for and assessing children's language and reading strategies during read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading, including literature circles.

Mary plans and demonstrates whole-class, small-group, and individual reading instruction using a model of "reading to, with, and by children" with fiction and nonfiction texts. She works in the primary and upper grades with children at all stages of English language development and at all developmental reading levels. With on-going assessments based on those interactions, she shows how to plan for more effective instruction. Mary constantly questions and discusses whether the child needs more support in language development or in developing reading strategies, breaking down assumptions that equate a low level of English proficiency with a lack of reading strategies, or English language fluency with accomplished reading skills.

Through the use of wonderful literature, and by maintaining a focus on the children's strengths, needs, prior knowledge, and interests, Mary constantly challenges students as they develop their fluency in English while becoming fluent readers.

Included in this text are: how to set up an environment that will allow all English language learners to succeed;the stages of English language proficiency and stages of reading development--how they compare and how to use them to assess and plan for individual children;A focus on tapping into children's prior knowledge in their primary language while teaching reading in English and using Spanish/English cognates to help develop academic language;a collection of in-depth lessons and mini-lessons based on children's language proficiency and reading strategy needs with ongoing assessment, teacher reflection, and with an emphasis on choosing the right books to match their reading and language level;how to manage numerous guided reading groups with children of all stages of reading and language proficiency;thematic planning, with sample units for primary and upper grades, to support academic language and meet content standards;ideas for literacy evenings, school tours, and other events to involve parents with the learning community;extensive resources: numerous forms and checklists--observation sheets, planning sheets, literature response sheets, focus sheets for shared and guided reading, and more. Also included are lists of books for read alouds, shared reading, and thematic units, and lists of recommended guided reading series appropriate for English language learners.

"Balancing Reading and Language Learning" provides the strategies proven to be effective in a balanced reading program, while at the same time valuing the native culture and first-language skills of the English language learner. Regardless of how many or how few ELL students a teacher has, this invaluable resource helps them meet the challenges and reap the rewards of teaching children to read as they learn the language.

'Word Track' reinforces correct spellings of words in the context of the sentence. Aimed at Key Stage 2 and 3, it is also useful for learners of any age with specific learning difficulties.

These engaging Storybooks provide structured practice for children learning to read the Read Write Inc. Set 1 and 2 sounds. Each set of books is carefully levelled to match childrens growing phonic knowledge so children can read them with accuracy, fluency and comprehension. The Storybooks include a range of engaging stories such as fairy tales, myths and legends, rhyming stories and familiar settings. Activities at the start of the books help children to practise the sounds and words they will encounter in the story. Questions to talk about at the end of the story provide an extra opportunity for developing childrens comprehension. The books are part of the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, developed by Ruth Miskin. The programme is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers. It includes Handbooks, Sounds Cards, Word Cards, Storybooks, Non-fiction, Writing books and an Online resource. Read Write Inc. is fully supported by comprehensive professional development from Ruth Miskin Training.

Comprehension Ninja Workbooks are ideal for supporting your child's learning at home. With bespoke non-fiction texts and hundreds of questions, they're packed full of comprehension practice with strong links to the National Curriculum. Created by teacher and bestselling author of Vocabulary Ninja, Comprehension Ninja and Write Like a Ninja Andrew Jennings (@VocabularyNinja), they're perfect for developing those all-important literacy skills at home and for boosting children's confidence in reading comprehension. Key features of Comprehension Ninja Workbook for Ages 8-9: - Covers popular National Curriculum topics currently taught at Key Stage 2, such as Boudicca and the lives of chimpanzees - Features a variety of question types including true or false, fill the gap and multiple choice - Contains illustrations throughout and a fun ninja theme to engage children - Includes advice for parents and answers at the back of the book

Organised around the writing purposes of the key stage 3 Framework for English, Literary Objectives provides a skills-based approach that is easy to integrate into any scheme of work. Bridges the gap between reading and writing, providing excellent models for pupils to use in their writing. Develops pupils' confidence in each writing purpose drawing out word, sentence and text level features in a structured way. Supports pupils in structuring their writing with planning and writing frames. Time-saving planning and teaching materials help you plan quickly and efficiently with detailed medium term plans, short term plans, guided reading and writing planners, annotated texts, plain texts on OHTs and writing frames on OHTs. All of these teaching materials are editable on CD-ROM. Raises pupils' attainment with specific preparation and marking materials for the new format SATs.