Reading Resources for Parents

Oftentimes parents will ask teachers what they can do at home to help. Promoting a love of reading is a must, but there are many other ways to build a child's schema to provide background information necessary for success in content-area classes and to learn about the world in general. For example, frequenting your local library or book store offers opportunities to hear books/stories read aloud, discuss common topics, and of course, explore the shelves for new fascinating reads! In addition, many museums offer a variety of engaging exhibits, family outing possibilities, and even online activities that just might spark an interest in a young learner!



The following sites are meant to be a starting point for parents who are looking for ways to help their children succeed in school, not only when it comes to content-area learning but in all facets of reading. There are so many ways to help a child become interested in learning about math, science, and social studies, and we hope these resources can be of help to those parents who wish to go beyond the doors of their child's classroom!

A Parent's Guide to Fostering Lifelong Literacy

Helping Children Become Successful Lifelong Readers

Lake County (IN) Public Library-Database Resources for School

This link takes you to a site for library-card holders in Lake County, Indiana (where we Brickies live!) Here you can access magazines, newspapers, and databases all from your own personal computer. There are specific sections dedicated to math and science, social studies, biographies, and more. If you don't live in Lake County (IN), check your own local library to see if they have a similar online resource.


ALA- Great Websites for Kids

The American Library Association has compiled a comprehensive list of websites kids can use to learn about numerous topics. This is especially handy for parents who need a quick way to find an appropriate website for their children to learn and have fun! There are also links designed just for parents or caregivers.


Reading Rockets- For Parents

Here you can find multiple resources, such as newsletters, book recommendation lists, and even tip sheets or a family guide to help ensure literacy receives top billing in your family.


Bank Street College's Guide to Literacy


Before, during, and after reading strategies aren't just for teachers and students to use and practice at school. They are tools readers use daily when reading any type of text. This site gives "volunteers and tutors" a brief synopsis of how they can help readers learn and practice these strategies.


Literacy Matters- Parents

This site provides parents of struggling adolescent readers with several resources, such as online activities to practice important reading skills, ideas on strategies to try at home, and ways to help their child with reading.


ReadWriteThink- Parent & Afterschool Resources

ReadWriteThink...not just a site for teachers! Here interested parents will find suggested games, tips, activity sheets, and even podcasts all dedicated to helping children with their reading and writing!

Adolescent Literacy: Parent Tips

This site is geared towards students in fourth grade or higher, but all parents can appreciate this multi-paged list of helpful tips. Sample articles include information on summer reading and programs, questions to ask school officials, testing and grades, learning disabilities and special education, and even being a reading role model.

Chicago Museums of Art, Science, History, Culture, and Industry

From ChicagoTraveler, this is a one-stop resource with links to all of the well-known (and not so well-known) museums and learning centers in the great city of Chicago, Illinois! From each museum's link, parents can access information on new exhibits, overnight family experiences, and online games on a variety of cultural and educational topics. The site also offers coupons, dates of free admission, and maps to help plan a trip!

Museums in Indiana


Museumstuff.com actually offers an alphabetical list of museums for all fifty United States, and even across the world! This linked site focuses on our great state of Indiana. From there online users can access lists of museums by collection type or city. Each museum's own homepage is then linked for convenience. A sure hit with my family is the Children's Museum of Indianapolis! But I was quite surprised to see the number (152) of museums there are in just our one state. Maybe your family can check one out this summer!

The reading teacher can't do it alone!

Carol Lee and Anika Spratley are educators who are interested in the struggle of adolescent readers, and have written a report on the struggle of such readers in the content areas. Articles by these authors/educators are available on AdLit.org. They describe the challenges and benefits of teaching literacy in the various content areas, and the different types of reading and reading purposes involved. The article on reading in literature also points out that there are varying types of reading in even a "reading" class and the skills/prior knowledge needed for a reader of literature to be successful. I thought that these articles were helpful in understanding that each discipline has its own set of strategies and reading knowledge that a student must acquire/use for this type of reading. These articles truly demonstrate why reading must be taught in each subject area- not even the best reading teacher could teach such a wealth of information alone!

Content Area Literacy: Literature

Content Area Literacy: Mathematics

Content Area Literacy: History

For more information from Lee and Spratley read their entire report, Reading in the Disciplines: The Challenges of Adolescent Literacy.

Dr. Carol Lee's profile from Northwestern
Dr. Anika Spratley's profile from Johns Hopkins

Using Before, During, and After Reading Strategies to Increase Comprehension

Ideally reading isn't just reading; reading is thinking. The goal of teaching reading isn't just to get students to decode the words, or even to understand the text, but to find a way to get students to make connections to what they read, to get them to connect and apply the information to their own lives. In Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, Cris Tovani (2007) states that


When students find ways to capture their thinking while reading, they are more willing to return to texts. They tend to participate more in classroom discussions as well as in small-group discussions. They have an easier time beginning writing assignments. The marked text gives them a way to review and study for a test (p.68).


When students are doing all of the above in order to not just read the text, but interact with the text, they are making meaning of what they have read and will more than likely retain the information for future use.

The use of before, during, and after reading strategies allow students to find ways to connect the text to their own lives and to capture their own thinking about the text in order to apply this information and to participate in meaningful discussions. Tovani (2004) says that we often stop our readers' thinking too soon. Choosing the right comprehension activity/constructor to use before, during, and/or after reading can help students continue to think and process the reading throughout all 3 aspects. We should encourage students to ask themselves "So what?" as Tovani (2004) discusses in chapter 2. When reading, they should not just make a connection to the text, but think about the implications of this connection to their own lives.

What are the goals of before, during, and after reading strategies? Before reading strategies help get a reader thinking about what he or she already knows about the topic and how this will help him or her read the text. Making connections between "old" knowledge and "new" knowledge has been proven to help a reader retain new knowledge and store it in his/her long term memory. Before reading strategies also help a reader determine what information he/she would like to learn more about and helps to determine a purpose for reading. During reading strategies help a reader to monitor his/her reading and determine what has been learned, what he or she still wants to know, and helps the reader hold onto connections made in the text. Recognizing confusion and having a way to sort through the confusion through these strategies will go a long way in helping a student become a successful independent reader! After reading strategies help a student to analyze the text and continue to make connections. Thinking doesn't stop once the reading is over! Using a variety of before, during, and after reading strategies helps me to keep from relying on simple recall questions and other lower level learning strategies and instead push my students to use higher level strategies, such as asking questions, drawing conclusions, visualizing, making inferences, etc.

To read more about before, during, and after reading strategies, here are some resources:
All About Adolescent Literacy Strategies Page- information for grades 4-12

Teaching Content Knowledge and Reading Strategies in Tandem- an article by Carol Lee and Anika Sprately about the benefit of the "rippling effect" caused when teaching these together. A helpful table of reading strategies is provided.

Read, Write, Think- Created by the International Reading Association, this site has a multitude of content reading lessons with fantastic before, during, and after reading activities!

Reading with Purpose in the Content Areas- research- based teacher support provided on ReadWriteThink.org. (for grades 6-12, but I have found that some ideas are easily modified for lower grades)

Preparing Students for Success with Reading in the Content Areas- another research-based ReadWriteThink.org guide for 6-12

Reading Rockets- upon searching for before, during, and after reading strategies, more than 10 pages of results came up! This is a very comprehensive site- definitely worth checking out.
Here are a few of my recommended links from the site:
103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading
Classroom Strategies- an extensive list of reading strategies divided into the categories print awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. Each strategy is marked for use before, during, or after reading. Upon clicking the link for each, a description as well as templates and examples are available!
Content-Area Instruction Podcasts! Hear it straight from the experts! I've watched podcasts from this site for some of my Ball State classwork and have always found it very informative!
Comprehension Podcasts- more helpful podcasts on topics such as building background knowledge, using periodicals in the classroom, checking for understanding, vocabulary instruction, and more!

Greece Central School District's Reading Strategies: Scaffolding Students' Interaction with Texts- another useful reference with descriptions and templates of various before, during, and after reading activities.

WebQuests and Other Internet Explorations

While it seems like textbooks are definitely here to stay, Cris Tovani (2004) points out in Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? that oftentimes textbooks are not accessible to students because they are too difficult. In my experience, textbooks were often not accessible to me because they just didn't hold my interest. In any event, a textbook that is not accessible prevents students from making meaning of what they read, and without additional instructional materials, students have a very hard time understanding vital concepts in that content area. It is important to teach students the features of a textbook and how to use them as well as how to apply reading strategies to the text. It is also, in my opinion, just as important to provide students with additional text that covers the same content as the textbook. This allows students choices as to the type and level of reading material, affording each student many chances to understand the concept presented. I feel that this is very important because in my first grade classroom students are taught to choose books that are "just right" for them, that are not too easy, but not too hard, and books that are engaging and help them to learn something. Why should this change as students get older? Students in higher grades are often handed a textbook as their only option for reading, which is not likely to meet the needs of all readers.
One way to provide motivating and engaging material at various levels is through WebQuests. According to WebQuest.org, a WebQuest provides a task similar to a "real world" task that adults would perform. This task also requires higher level thinking skills, such as analyzing, comparing and contrasting, or drawing conclusions. Prior to reading information on this website, I was unable to determine which site I had visited were WebQuests and which were not. I think, however, that the most important thing is not classifying the site as a WebQuest or not, but making sure that the lesson planned has a task that has meaning in the student's everyday life as well as providing the opportunity for the student to do some higher level thinking along the journey. While not all of the links I have provided would be classified according to WebQuest.org as a true WebQuest, they do provide students with an engaging medium through which to learn. Besides holding students' interest longer than a textbook probably would, another benefit is that a WebQuest may provide students with accompanying audio or video to assist them in their reading, as well as interactive activities that keep students moving through the material.
Premade WebQuests and other web explorations are readily available on the Internet, though it is important to check out all links first, as I found that many links were broken (See the Internet Expeditions adaptation page for ways around this, as well as ways to adapt some of these sites to fit the WebQuest criteria or simply to fit your needs!)

WebQuest.org- Read about what defines a true WebQuest, and watch tutorials on how to create your own.

Internet Expeditions- These are not all WebQuests, but all an excellent supplement to textbooks! This site also offers advice on creation and adaptation of WebQuests.

Springdale Schools- This site offers WebQuests organized by grades (K-6) as well as by content.

Just For Kids! from the University of Illinois Extension- This site has many links to explorations, including "Let's Talk About Insects", which I used when creating a unit on insects. Many of these were available in more than one language, making them accessible to those students for whom English is their second language.

Sci4Kids- Stories about various science topics provided by the USDA. Students click from page to page through text about various science topics, some of which have animation.

Academic Vocabulary

'Reading to learn' is a common phrase used to describe students in upper elementary grades as the transition begins to focus on content-area learning. One of the best ways students can prepare for this shift is through their background knowledge, or schema. A teacher must help students build their schema by explicitly teaching content-area vocabulary. In Building Academic Vocabulary: Teacher's Manual (2005), Marzano and Pickering stress this by stating, "[g]iven the importance of academic background knowledge and the fact that vocabulary is such an essential aspect of it, one of the most crucial services that teachers can provide, particularly for students who do not come from academically advantaged backgrounds, is systematic instruction in important academic terms" (p. 3). Marzano and Pickering's resource helps teachers with not only creating a list of academic vocabulary terms, but also by providing instructional advice, activities and games, numerous graphic organizer templates, and leveled word lists. This resource truly is a great place to start for any teacher, or better yet school corporation, wanting to create a unified academic vocabulary program.

Creating a word wall of academic terms is a great tool for students to see and refer to on a daily basis. Taking this one step further would be to have students create their own Academic Vocabulary Journals, as my colleagues and I have done. Here is the template we use with our sixth grade students and a sample math terms list.

In addition, preparing students for vocabulary words and phrases they will encounter on high-stakes testing, such as the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) is an important task. The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) recently released the Standards and Assessment Vocabulary "to help develop an awareness of the connections between the standards and assessment." Follow the link and scroll down a bit to access the lists, categorized by grade levels and subject areas.

Other resources you may wish to look into include:
Janet Allen's Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary, Grades 4-12

Tennessee's Department of Education Vocabulary Initiative or Tennessee Academic Vocabulary

Instructional Tools for Content-Area Literacy

Teachers are always searching for tools that will make their instruction better. That one magical tool that will ensure all of their students will not only comprehend, but also enjoy, whatever content area they are attempting to teach. Janet Allen makes it very clear that no such tool exists, but she does reassure her colleagues that she has discovered, borrowed, modified, and created several aids that will help some students sometimes with some of the material they are learning. She has developed two teacher-friendly resources that not only provide the instructional strategies, but also why and how she would use them in her classroom. Both flip charts provide detailed explanations, origins, references, and best of all blank forms for each strategy she highlights.
Her wonderful resources by Stenhouse Publishers can be purchased inexpensively online through a variety of websites. Here is a link to a sample page from her first flip chart, Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. Her second flip chart, More Tools for Teaching Content Literacy, includes, as the title suggests, even more tools designed to meet student and instructional needs.
In addition to Allen's resources, many websites contain a multitude of graphic organizers that can help students organize and structure the material they are learning. The key is to try different ones until you find those that work with a particular student for a particular lesson. No one graphic organizer will fit the mold for every student and every lesson!
Here are a few websites that offer useful graphic organizers or links to resources you can purchase:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Education Place
Nonfiction Graphic Organizers
Education Oasis- Graphic Organizers
Scholastic- Graphic Organizers
Amazon- Graphic Organizers

Integrating Literacy and Science/Math: Using Leveled Readers and More on Text Sets

"Many teachers, like their students, still think of math as a totally separate subject from language arts. They may not see the connections to what students are learning during reading and writing instruction. Or if they do, they may not know how to make those math-literacy connections explicit or use them effectively," (Bernstein, Fogelberg, Hiller, Satz, Skalinder, Satz, Vitantonio, 2008). However, as we have learned, students need to be able to read and comprehend not only books read during reading instruction, but also books in the content areas. Through reading the authors' book, Integrating Literacy and Math: Strategies for K-6 Teachers, as part of a book study, I learned to use similar language in my math lessons as I use daily in reading and writing workshop. I also began to learn to link what good readers and writers do to what good mathematicians do, and show my students how a strategy that helped them in reading or writing can help them in math as well.

One of the authors, Lisa Bernstein, visited our book study group in 2008. Together, we worked to learn how to create engaging math lessons using trade books or leveled readers rather than out of a math book. This made math more engaging, as well as providing the opportunity to practice reading strategies during math class!

There are many companies that offer leveled nonfiction readers that can be used to develop lessons in math and science (and social studies), or can be used as supplemental materials to the textbooks. Below are links to sites of companies I have used to order content area leveled readers. These sites would help create text sets for units in the content areas.


Reading A-Z: http://www.readinga-z.com/
This site provides downloadable, projectable, or printable leveled books to use with the whole class or in small group lessons. Each book comes with a lesson plan and comprehension/assessment resources. Nonfiction books cover a range of topics that can be used in the content areas and the search engine on the site allows books on specific subject areas to be easily located. It is also possible to search for a specific reading strategy as well! There are printable or projectable graphic organizers that may be used before, during, or after reading. Books range from Guided Reading Level A all the way up to Z, so these books allow for differentiation and use in any grade!


Booksource: http://www.booksource.com/
This company has extensive leveled reading catalogs available for free upon request. In the leveled reader catalog, books are divided both by level and by subject. Recently, they also made their collections available online. Here is a link to Guided Reading Level J math books: http://www.booksource.com/Products/Level-J-Nonfiction-Math__JNF-MAT-spc-09-10.aspx

On the Booksource website, I found a page of book collections that accompany the Everyday Math program. I have been piloting this series this year and wasn't even aware that I could order this collection! What a great way to integrate reading and math AND keep math from becoming routine and boring! http://www.booksource.com/Departments/Specialty-Lists/Math--Science-and-Social-Studies/Everyday-Math-3rd-Edition.aspx


Zaner-Bloser: http://www.zanerbloser.com/

For years, I always looked at Zaner-Bloser as a handwriting/spelling company! I was excited last year to find that they had leveled content area books to help me meet science, math, or social studies standards AND work on reading strategies at the same time.

Here is a link to the leveled readers for grade K-6 in the content areas: http://zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/index.aspx?id=7710


Scholastic

I used the main catalog sent to our school each year to browse by subject area and level to easily order titles. We also ordered a leveled reading library that contained many leveled nonfiction readers. I recently found that Scholastic has a list-builder feature online that allows you to create your own text sets for the content areas! You can even search based on your state's standards in each subject area! Check it out: http://listbuilder.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomeView?storeId=10001&ESP=SLP/ib//acq/listbuilder_slimnav_Teachers///nav/txtl////


Rigby: http://www.rigby.com/
Rigby offers many nonfiction titles that could be used in the content areas. My students frequently check out the books from the Sails collection, particularly the readers about animals. I have found that these have also been great in engaging boys in reading; they love the vivid photographs and interesting facts. To find content area readers, click on products and then leveled readers. On the left you will find links to science and math readers. I highly suggest using the catalog to order, however, as you can see the cover of each book. This is a feature not yet on the website.


To read more about integrating literacy and math/science:

Integrating Literacy and Math: Strategies for K-6 Teachers
Authors: Ellen Fogelberg (MST), Carole Skalinder (MST), Patti Satz, Barbara Hiller, Lisa Bernstein, and Sandra Vitantonio
Click the link to see inside the book and/or order!
http://www.amazon.com/Integrating-Literacy-Math-Strategies-Teachers/dp/1593857187

Book review in Canadian Journal of Education:
http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE32-2/CJE32-2-Review-MacDonald.pdf

Integrating Literacy and Science
Authors: Judy McKee, Donna Ogle (editor of Integrating Literacy and Math)
Click the link to see inside the book and/or order!
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Integrating-Instruction/Judy-McKee/e/9781593851576/?itm=4&USRI=integrating+literacy+and+science

Ensuring the Accessibility of Texts

Learning from textbooks is inevitable. At some point, all students will be expected to read and learn from these sources of information. Understanding how to read textbooks though is not an inherent trait, and often textbooks are written at a level that is too difficult for many of the students expected to use the book. As Cris Tovani states in Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, (2004) "[w]hen students are always given text that is too hard for them to read on their own, they begin to associate school reading with reading that is pointless" (p. 41). Obviously, the goal of any teacher, whether a reading teacher or a content-area teacher is to help his or her students learn and make meaning from this new knowledge. If students view reading as "pointless," then teachers have an enormous obstacle to overcome.

One way to overcome this obstacle is to explicitly teach how to read a textbook, using the features of a nonfiction text. Another way is to develop a collection of supplemental texts that meet the needs of a diverse range of readers within one class. Below are several resources that teachers can use to do both.

Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-thieves-preview-nonfiction-112.html

Textmasters: Shaking Up Textbook Reading in Science Classrooms

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/textmasters-shaking-textbook-reading-1180.html?tab=1#tabs

An Exploration of Text Sets: Supporting All Readers

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/exploration-text-sets-supporting-305.html

Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-science-texts-teach-413.html?tab=1#tabs

Multimedia Text Sets
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gipej/mts/textsets.htm

A Sample Text Set for a Sixth Grade Class Learning about Early European History
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30139185

Conducting an Insectigation! Text Set and Unit for a First Grade Class
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30139569
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30139568

Two Sample Multicultural Text Sets for a Primary Classroom
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30139713
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30139705

Periodicals and Online Reading

As teachers, it is important to find and use text that is motivating, as well as accessible to students, meaning that it is at a level that students can read and comprehend. One way to do this is to incorporate magazines and newspapers into the classroom. These text options provide stories that are current and relevant to the students' lives. They also often offer internet companions with bright pictures and interactive capabilities that keep students motivated to learn the material. Providing material that interests the students and is meaningful in their own life increases the chances that they will comprehend and retain the information! Another important feature of these periodicals is that they are written at a reading level that should be accessible to most of your students, and offer supportive features (such as picture definitions at the 1st grade level of Scholastic News) to help struggling readers. Finally, students may keep these articles, which allows them to mark on them in order to hold onto their thinking or prepare for a discussion!



Here are links to publications that may aid you in teaching content area material.

Scholastic News: http://www.scholastic.com/

Click on the Kids drop-down, then click the Scholastic News quick link. In addition to news articles, there are also podcasts, videos, and more that kids can use to help them read the articles, as well as games and other fun links! Here's a sample newscast on Shakers with photos and audio to accompany the text: http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/shaker/index.htm.

There's also an article that helps teachers new to the site navigate all that Scholastic has to offer to support its publications! Check it out: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=369.



Scholastic also has many, many other publications for students from K-12! Check them out at: http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/classroommagazines.htm



Time For Kids: www.timeforkids.com/TFK

This is the kids' version of the widely read publication Time Magazine. This site has a teacher home page and a kids' home page. For grades 2-3 and 4-6, students may read the articles featured in the publication online, and may even search through past issues. There are also Spanish translations and comprehension quizzes! Kids can also do online research through this website, as well as send comments to TFK.



National Geographic Kids: http://www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/

While articles from the publications are not readily available to kids, there is the option to personalize the page and save articles, pictures, etc. for future reference. There are many videos, as well as picture slideshows with accompanying text. Other interesting features are links to recipes and activities, as well as the opportunity to email fun finds to a friend (or teacher)! Information is provided on the website about subscription to the magazine.



National Wildlife Federation for Kids: http://www.nwf.org/Kids.aspx

This site features highlights from publications such as Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard.



Weekly Reader, etc.: http://www.weeklyreader.com/

This website has exclusive content for the subscribers to its many magazines, including the popular Weekly Reader, as well as free online printables. There are magazines available for grades PreK-12, and the K, 1, and 2 editions of Weekly Reader even have an adapted special education companion available for subscription.

The Reading Teacher

In Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, Cris Tovani states that if reading teachers are the only ones teaching reading that there is a problem. Students need to be taught how to apply reading strategies with all types of text, and a reading teacher cannot take on this task alone! However, many content area teachers are in their fields because they are experts on their content, not because they want to teach reading. Teaching reading as a content area teacher could be an overwhelming and daunting task, as it seems like this would add more work onto an already full workload. However, since the goal of all classes is to comprehend the material taught, and much of this information is conveyed through reading, combining content area instruction with reading really makes a lot of sense! In the end, this could actually save time spent teaching and reteaching reading strategies in reading classes, as students would have more exposure to these in their other classes and learn how to apply them in all types of texts in their everyday reading. It could also save the content area teacher from having to reteach content that the students did not comprehend due to difficulty understanding the reading material.


A great resource for content area reading is the International Reading Association's publication The Reading Teacher. This journal frequently features articles dedicated to content area reading and gives tips to alleviate the stress felt by teachers trying to teach content area material and reading strategies in one lesson. This entry features articles from the publication that pertain to content area reading. Visit the IRA's site at http://www.reading.org/ and click Publications to learn more about The Reading Teacher.


Comprehension Instruction in Content Area Classes
http://embedit.in/jnVfkCo8U6


Think Tac Toe
http://embedit.in/ptEFkCKPKT


QAR: Enhancing Comprehension and Test Taking Across Grades and Content Areas
http://embedit.in/hzICN9eU6V


The ABCs of Performing Highly Effective Think Alouds
http://embedit.in/z6CbsA8SrM