Reading Is Fundamental Inc.:
Educator Home Page
www.rif.org/educators
Book Adventure:
A FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning.
www.bookadventure.org
The Nonsense Word Test:
The NRP booklet recommends that teacher's develop individualized phonics programs for students. The Nonsense Word Test is a very quick and easy-to-use assessment that helps teachers determine students' strengths and weaknesses in phonics. The assessment is divided into sections such as short vowels and multisyllabic words. http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/phonics/nonsensewordtest.pdf
Readers Theatre:
Readers Theatre as a motivation activity that encourages repeated reading to practice fluency. Readers Theatre has students work together to rehearse and perform a play. The following websites will help you present this strategy in your classroom.
Vocabulary Instruction:
Vocabulary University is an immense website that supports all methods of vocabulary development. Included are a variety of word lists, lesson plans, and recommended reading lists accompanied by chapter-by-chapter vocabulary words. It also features numerous worksheets that come in a variety of formats that include: crosswords, synonym, and antonym sheets.
www.vocabulary.com
This website is a compilation of downloadable lists of approximately 350 high-frequency words for grades 1 through 5. These lists are research based, and the authors claim that students who read these words fluently at their grade level typically score in the top 10% on national standardized reading tests.
http://www.tampareads.com/trial/vocabulary/index-vocab.htm
Chapter Books:
This website provides an extensive list of books to read aloud at various grade levels. It includes a short summary of each text and highlights inexpensive books. The end of the site is a compilation of other resources, mostly listings of recommended literature by theme.
www.kinderkorner.com/readalouds.html
Comprehension:
This website presents an easy-to-understand and easy-to-use rubric produced by the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). The rubric assesses students' comprehension based on an oral or written retelling and can be used at any grade level.
www.mrsmcgowan.com/reading/rubrics.htm#Comprehension
This website is a comprehensive collection of links to a wide assortment of all reading strategies advocated by the National Reading Panel (NRP). Strategies include:
- multiple approaches to note-taking,
- using graphic organizers, summarizing,
- and many more.
Many of the links provide reproducible materials to help teachers in guiding students through reading.
Http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/links.html
Association for Library Services for Children:
This is the website for the Association for Library Services for Children and it highlights many award winning books that include the following:
- The John Newbery Medal honors the author of the past year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature.
- The Randolph Caldecott Medal honors the illustrator of the past year's most distinguished American picture book for children.
- The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator for an outstanding contribution to children's literature over a period of years.
- The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award is given for the most distinguished informational book published in the preceding year.
- The Mildred L. Batchelder Award acknowledges the best children's book published in a foreign language and then translated into English in the preceding year.
- The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video honors an outstanding video production for children released during the previous year.
- The May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture is given by someone who has made a "distinguished contribution" to the field of children's literature.
- The Pura Belpré Awards, given biennially in conjunction with REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, recognize outstanding original works written or illustrated by a Latino/Latina author or illustrator.
- The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award honors the author and illustrator of an outstanding book for beginning readers.
- The first ALSC/Booklist/YALSA Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production will be awarded in 2008.
"Notable" and "Great" lists highlight recommended children's media, including Notable Books for Children, Notable Children's Recordings, Notable Children's Videos, Great Interactive Software for Kids, and Great Web Sites for Kids.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm
International Reading Association:
This is the link for the International Reading Association (IRA). For 50 years, the International Reading Association has been a professional home for those who help others learn to read. Today, our network and resources reach hundreds of thousands of teachers, researchers, students, administrators, tutors, parents, and others in every part of the world.
www.reading.org
Children's Choice Book Lists:
A subcomponent of the International Reading Association. Each year, thousands of children, young adults, teachers, and librarians around the United States select their favorite recently published books for the "Choices" booklists. These lists are used in classrooms, libraries, and homes to help young readers find books they will enjoy. Lists of titles and authors of Choices selections for the current year are made available in April, just before the Association's annual convention. Complete, annotated lists are published in fall editions of IRA journals. Check individual Choices programs below for details. Note: Complete, annotated Choices lists for 2007 are now available for download. See the individual programs for details:
Children's Choices is cosponsored by the Children's Book Council. The list includes brief reviews of approximately 100 titles, each of which has been recommended by children themselves.
Teachers' Choices identifies approximately 30 books rated by teams of teachers, librarians, and reading specialists as outstanding for curriculum use.
http://www.reading.org/resources/tools/choices.html
