Primary - Reading Magazine

A selection
of useful
resources
Primary
Reading

Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis share the work and
thinking they've done since second edition and offer new
perspectives on how to explicitly teach thinking strategies so that
students become engaged, thoughtful and independent readers.
Thirty new lessons and new and revised chapters highlight
children's thinking, curiosity, and questions.
Harvey and Goudvis tackle close reading, close listening, text
complexity, and critical thinking in a new chapter on building
knowledge through thinking-intensive reading and learning.
Other fully revised chapters focus on digital reading, strategies
for integrating comprehension and technology, and
comprehension across the curriculum.
Strategies That Work (3 rd edition) explains the research behind
comprehension and looks at 8 strategies that should be explicitly
taught to students to increase their comprehension of text. It also
provides lesson ideas and student work samples.
2017

The book From Striving to Thriving focuses on creating a
space where students can build authentic identities as
readers.
Literacy specialists Stephanie Harvey & Annie Ward
highlight the practices that support striving readers in
building their independence and moving to agency.
It includes:
• latest research
• ready-to-go lessons, routines, and "actions,"
• part practical tips for building a literacy-rich
environment, and quotes,
• practices that are easily implemented in the
classroom.
2017

Reading with Meaning is a highly recommended book for
any teacher who truly wants to empower their student’s to
be a responsive, responsible and a compassionate reader.
Miller show casts her newest and best thinking around
comprehension instruction in her grade 1 classroom, the
gradual release of responsibility and planning for students’
engagement and independence.
The book is well organised and reflects Miller’s professional
experiences and judgment, her work in classrooms and
collaboration with colleagues.
2012

This expanded edition enables teachers to
construct a common vision for student
achievement that effectively and efficiently
engages all students in the robust, authentic and
meaningful literacy learning.
It also provides a way to look for specific evidence
of learning from foundation to grade eight, and
across eight instructional contexts.
2016

In this book Serravallo has collected 300 strategies that
teachers can use in conferences, strategy lessons and
minilessons that might include shared reading or an
interactive read aloud.
Each strategy provides:
• teaching tips
• cross-links to skills, genres, and the Fountas &
Pinnell reading levels
• lesson language described
• prompts to use that encourage the reader to do the
thinking, talking, jotting as they work with the
strategy
• anchor chart examples
• references to other authors and books
• student work examples.
This book is also useful for planning units of study.
2015

Understanding Texts & Readers maps out the four fiction
and four nonfiction comprehension goals Serravallo
presented in The Reading Strategies Book, to fourteen text
levels. It presents sample responses that show what to
expect from readers at each.
The book explores the characteristics of both fiction and
nonfiction texts and provides support for teachers to build an
understanding of how these characteristics change as text
become more complex.
2018

Serravallo’s book presents an approach to assessment,
planning, and teaching. She provides a four-step
assessment protocol to help develop effective differentiate
reading and writing goals, and then makes an action plan
with targeted instruction alongside students in Foundation
to Year 2.
Her four-step assessment protocol is:
• collect data - student work and everyday
assessments (that will be the most useful to you)
• analyse the data to understand deeply what kids
know and can do
• synthesize data from multiple assessments to
create learning goals
• develop instructional plans and follow-ups to
monitor progress.
2014

Serravallo’s book presents an approach to assessment,
planning, and teaching. She provides a four-step
assessment protocol to help develop effective differentiate
reading and writing goals, and then makes an action plan
with targeted instruction alongside students in Years 3 - 6.
Her four-step assessment protocol is:
• collect data - student work and everyday
assessments (that will be the most useful to you)
• analyse the data to understand deeply what kids
know and can do
• synthesize data from multiple assessments to
create learning goals
• develop instructional plans and follow-ups to
monitor progress.
2013

In the book, Distrusting Thinking authors Beers & Probst
tackle one of teachers’ greatest challenges: student apathy.
They explain that too many students remain disengaged
and reluctant readers due to the misrepresentation they
continue to receive regarding why we read and how we
should approach the texts we read.
Distrusting Thinking is an exploration of how teachers help
students become critical thinkers.
The book presents a vision of what reading and what
education across all the grades could be. It presents new
strategies and ideas that help classroom teachers create
engagement and relevance; encourage responsive and
responsible reading; deepen comprehension and develop
lifelong reading habits.
Their collaborative writing is highly readable and witty, and
on point.
2017

The new edition of Still Learning to Read focuses on the needs of
students in grades 3–6 in all aspects of reading workshops,
including read-aloud, classroom design, digital tools, fiction,
nonfiction, and close reading.
The book stays true to its original beliefs of slowing down and
knowing our readers, but it also takes into account the sense of
urgency that changing times and standards impose on classrooms.
This edition examines current trends in literacy, includes a new
section on intentional instructional planning, and provides expanded
examples of mini-lessons and routines that promote deeper thinking
about learning.
It also includes a new chapter on scaffolding for reading nonfiction
and captures Sibberson & Symusiak’s latest thinking on close
reading and text complexity.
Online videos provide glimpses into classrooms as students make
book choices, work in small groups, and discuss their reading
notebooks.
Expanded and updated book lists, recommendations for digital
tools, lesson cycles, and sections specifically written for school
leaders round out this foundational resource.
2016

This is a practical book for teachers. Miller provides teachers with a
variety of tools that are designed to support their students, of all
levels, on their path to reading successfully.
Miller describes the inherent need children have to engage with
books, intellectually and emotionally; she embraces giving students
choice and time to read books they pick out themselves.
Her unconventional approach is simple yet provocative:
• affirm the reader in every student
• allow students to choose their own books
• carve out extra reading time
• model authentic reading behaviours
• discard timeworn reading assignments such as book
reports and comprehension worksheets, and
• develop a classroom library filled with high-interest books.
2009

Gravity Goldberg’s book Mindsets and Moves: Strategies
That Help Readers Take Charge shows teachers how to think
about and interact with children around literacy. It is a
resource that guides teachers to help their students feel
empowered to take ownership over their reading identities.
Goldberg’s practical book has examples of lessons,
minilessons, models, tools, student sticky note examples as
well as visual examples of anchor charts.
Goldberg challenges current practices around reading and
encourages teachers to reflect and strengthen their own
identity, beliefs, and values as educators.
2015

Beyond Leveled Texts (second edition) is an updated edition
to the author's first book Beyond Leveled Books. This new
book draws on their continued research and provides a
much-needed perspective on moving transitional readers
from basic supports to independent book selection.
The text also provides support in developing an
understanding of the transitional reader and meeting their
needs.
Szymusiak, Sibberson & Koch also challenge the overuse of
levelled texts for our early readers.
2007

Miller & Moss review recent research-based techniques
on independent reading and the reading workshop. Their
concise overviews make a compelling case for bringing
independent reading back to our critical daily practice.
No More Independent Reading Without Support
discusses the critical practices required for independent
reading to be effective.
It distinguishes between silent reading, DEAR and highquality
independent reading and provides research
around these practices. It also challenges readers to
implement purposeful independent reading time for all
students.
2013

The book Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics
Foundations That Work provides a research-based vision of
what engaging differentiated, sequential and explicit phonics
instruction can look like.
Mesmer provides basic information about how the English
system of writing works which is vital knowledge if teachers
are going to be effective in their teaching.
A clear scops and sequence of what to teach, and a quick
assessment that enables teachers to place students in the
appropriate unit of instruction is included.
Videos show students working with letters, words, and books
at various stages of their learning.
Practical activities are also described.
2019

Palmer & Invernizzi present teaching practices that do not
rely on or use one-size-fits-all approach.
The book digs into:
• assessment of word knowledge
• differentiation
• myths about English spelling
• critical practices for word study
• links between spelling and vocabulary
• deep engagement with words.
2014

This book provides a comprehensive guide that shows
teachers how to determine what readers have learned and
what they need to practice. It then provides suggestions
for targeting instruction to meet students’ needs.
You’ll learn how to:
• research a student’s use of skills through
questions and observations
• compliment to support and build upon successes
• follow up on prior instruction for accountability
and depth of understanding
• explain a reading strategy by providing an explicit
purpose and context
• model the strategy to make the invisible
brainwork of reading more visible
• guide a reader in practicing the strategy
• link the strategy to independent reading.
2007

This book by Patrick Allen provides valuable instructional
support to all teachers. Conferring: The Keystone of
Reader’s Workshop is regarded as a benchmark text as it
helps teachers to not only think about children, reading and
thinking, but also helps them discover the strength, power
and necessity of conferring with student readers.
Allen explores the fundamentals of conferring and provides
excellent techniques and prompts that lead teachers through
the components of effective reading conferences from start
to finish.
Throughout the book, it is proven that by adopting excellent
approaches of conferring with independent readers, nonreaders
are transformed into avid readers.
2009

A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences is a quick,
clear and easy to read resource for teachers who want
to make a change and want to do it right away.
What’s included:
• Jen’s moves and language
• 9 videos of her teaching in K–8 classrooms
• 13 conference note-taking forms—one for each
reading goal from the hierarchy in her Reading
Strategies Book
• Suggestions for connecting emergent bilingual
learners’ language goals and reading goals.
2019

So What Do They Really Know? includes a wealth of information,
specifically exploring the complex issue of monitoring, assessing, and
grading students' thinking and performance with fairness and fidelity.
Tovani shows teachers how to use assessments to monitor student
growth and provides targeted feedback that enables students to master
content goals. She also shares ways to bring students into the
assessment cycle so they can monitor their own learning, maximizing
motivation and engagement.
Topic include:
• Lessons from Cris's classroom
• Templates showing how teachers can use the workshop
model to assess and differentiate instruction
• Student work, including samples from linguistically diverse
learners, struggling readers, and college-bound seniors
• Anchor charts of student thinking
• Ideas on how to give feedback
• Guidelines that explain how conferring is different from
monitoring
• Suggestions for assessing learning and differentiating
instruction during conferences
• Advice for managing ongoing assessment
2010

Creating Lifelong Readers Through Independent
Reading provides concrete suggestions for creating
independent reading programs that make a
difference.
Practical tools and tips for creating classroom
libraries, guidelines for self-selection of texts and
lesson ideas are included.
There are links to current research and insightful
interviews with literacy leaders, Richard Allington.
Linda Gambrell, Tony Stead, Sharon Taberski and
Myra Zarnowski.
2010

In Notebook Connections, Buckner focuses on - the reading
workshop, showing teachers how to support students to use a
reader’s notebooks as a place to document their thinking and
growth, to support their thinking for group discussions, and to
explore their own ideas about a text.
Buckner describes her model as flexible enough for students to
respond in a variety of ways yet structured enough to provide
explicit instruction.
Notebook Connections leads teachers through the process of
launching, developing, and fine-tuning a reader’s notebook
program.
Teacher-guided lessons in every chapter help students create
anchor texts for their notebooks using various comprehension
and writing strategies.
Notebook Connections is filled with lesson ideas and assessment
tips.
2009

Carefully revised from the first edition published ten years
ago, this book reflects the latest thinking by Keene &
Zimmerman. It is deep, thought provoking and designed to
help teachers implement practical, thoughtful ideas for
teaching comprehension.
Seven core strategies that successful readers use to engage
with texts are also explored. Key ideas and concepts for
each strategy, new classroom examples, new tools and
innovations for think-aloud and conferring practices and
included.
There is also new advice from Keene & Zimmerman as well
as an invaluable Q&A section with informed responses to
questions frequently asked by today’s teachers.
2007

Ellin Oliver Keene demystifies comprehension instruction by
describing what it can look like when readers comprehend deeply
and what it can look like when teachers aim for this deep
comprehension.
This book offers the following:
• Outcomes of Understanding - These are descriptions of the
behaviours present when children understand a text deeply,
including ways to assess with and teach toward these outcomes.
• Talk About Understanding – These are suggestions to modify
teaching language and teaching interactions to deepen children's
ability to comprehend
• From the Inside - These are video segments of Ellin in action.
2012

Comprehension Connections creates a framework and a
guide for teaching comprehension strategies that can be
complicated or abstract.
The lessons aim to make abstract thinking accessible to
primary students.
The approach sequences stages of learning for each strategy
that takes students from a fun object lesson to a deeper
understanding through writing, discussion, song, art and
movement.
Six core strategies that successful readers use to engage with
texts are explored. The strategies are schema, inferring,
questioning, determining importance, visualising and
synthesising.
2007

Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies is a step-bystep
guide on how to introduce and teach reading
comprehension strategies and how they fit into your literacy
program.
Each strategy has its own chapter, with:
• an explanation of the strategy and how it supports
comprehension
• the language we use when using a strategy
• guided and independent student activities that support
teaching the strategy.
2009

Mini-lessons for Literature Circles focuses on
supporting teachers to build respectful classroom
communities, deepen their student’s book discussions
and create lifelong readers.
There are forty-five short, focused, practical and
teacher-directed lessons that begin, guide and followup
every successful book club meeting.
2004

Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in
Action provides a guide for teachers who want to
implement well-structured, student-led, cross-curricular
projects.
It lays the foundation for inquiry circles by discussing the
current research and practices behind comprehension
instruction and classroom collaboration.
2004

Wilhelm shows how he teaches students how to recognise and
make meaning. The approach he uses is based on the gradual
release of responsibility principle. He further explains why Think-
Alouds are a sound strategy for translating this principle into
practice. Wilhelm also explores powerful reading techniques like
inferring, visualisaing, summarizing, making connections to real
life, plus many more.
Brief lessons, practical activities, classroom scenarios and
sample students work are included.
Use this book to help your students learn how to read better!
2001