The teacher, playing the role of a park ranger, takes an "accident report" to find out what students know about that nasty fall taken yesterday by Humpty Dumpty. Developing similar strategies for engaging students imaginations, these two books encourage students to respond to stories by discussing and analyzing story elements as preparation for writing or acting out scenes. In addition to each books step-by-step directions for staging 30 or more story dramas based on specific popular books, both books train teachers to develop dramas for their own favorite literature. Grades 4-6. Illustrated. Good Year Books.

The beautiful Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha doesn't know coffee beans about love and marriage, so when suitors come calling, what is she to do? Luckily, she has her Cuban family to help! While some of the Cucarachas offer Martina gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her some useful advice: spill coffee on his shoes to see how he handles anger. At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela's suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love. After reading this award-winning retelling of the Cuban folktale, readers will never look at a cockroach the same way again. Carmen Agra Deedy delivers a delightfully inventive Cuban twist on the beloved Martina folktale, complete with a dash of café Cubano.

Llama Llama holidays. Jingle music. Lights ablaze. How long till that special date? Llama Llama has to wait. If there's one thing Llama Llama doesn't like, it's waiting. He and Mama Llama rush around, shopping for presents, baking cookies, decorating the tree . . . but how long is it until Christmas? Will it ever come? Finally, Llama Llama just can't wait any more! It takes a cuddle from Mama Llama to remind him that "Gifts are nice, but there's another: The true gift is, we have each other."

Have you ever seen a bully in action and done nothing about it? The kids at Pete's new school get involved, instead of being bystanders.When the juice box mess becomes more than just a dirty shirt, Pete's classmates teach him about "The Promise". Wil

The Classroom Go-To Guide for the Common Core is the first in a series of comprehensive tools to tap into the vast flow of recently published books for children and teens, offering recommendations of exemplary titles for use in the classroom. Currency meets authority, brought to you by the editors of the highly regarded review sources, School Library Journal and The Horn Book Magazine. This guide includes approximately 200 selections published since 2007 for grades 4-6 recommended by The Horn Book Magazine. The titles are grouped by subject and complemented by School Library Journal’s “Focus On” columns, which spotlight specific topics across the curriculum. Providing context for the guide, and suggestions on how to use these resources within a standards framework, is an introduction by Common Core experts Mary Ann Cappiello and Myra Zarnowski. These experts provide perspective on the key changes brought by the new standards, including suggestions on designing lessons and two samples plans. Following the introduction, you’ll find a wealth of books, by category. Each section includes a listing of the top titles with brief, explicit annotations, and key bibliographic data. “Focus On” articles are appended to appropriate categories to support in-depth curricular development. Each of these articles includes a topic overview and list of current and retrospective resources (including some fiction), and multimedia, that will enable educators to respond to Common Core State Standards call to work across formats.

Fisher & Frey’s answer to close and critical reading Learn the best ways to use text-dependent questions as scaffolds during close reading and the big understandings they yield. But that’s just for starters. Fisher and Frey also include illustrative video, texts and questions, cross-curricular examples, and an online facilitator’s guide—making the two volumes of TDQ a potent professional development tool across all of K–12. The genius of TDQ is the way Fisher and Frey break down the process into four cognitive pathways: What does the text say? How does the text work? What does the text mean? What does the text inspire you to do?

Common Core State Standards for Grades 4-5: Language Arts Instructional Strategies and Activities is designed to help teachers teach CORE standards using research-based, effective instructional strategies in combination with ready-to-use activities. These strategies include identifying similarities and differences, writing summaries and taking notes, creating non-linguistic representations, and suggestions for homework and practice. There are a variety of suggested texts as well as identified text exemplars that can easily be used with the suggested activities. The activities accommodate most teaching styles and can be used by the new teacher as well as the experienced teacher with very little advanced preparation required. While the activities in each chapter are listed as single suggestions, they can be used individually or combined to strengthen your current units as you implement the Common Core State Standards in your daily planning and instruction.

What it really means to "read closely." What could Fern Arable, Jay Gatsby, and Winston Churchill possibly have in common? They all need masterful teachers to help students revel in their complexity. And Nancy Frey and Doug Fisher are just the two mentors to help you make that happen. Call it close reading, call it deep reading, call it analytic reading-call it what you like. The point is, it's a level of understanding that students of any age can achieve with the right kind of instruction. In Rigorous Reading, Nancy and Doug articulate an instructional plan so clearly, and so squarely built on research, that teachers, schools, and districts need look no further. The 5 Access Points Toward Proficiency 1.Purpose & Modeling: Teachers think aloud to demonstrate critical thinking and how good readers always know why they are reading. 2.Close & Scaffolded Reading Instruction: Teachers engage students in repeated readings and discussions, with text- dependent questions, prompts, and cues to help students delve into an author's ideas. 3.Collaborative Conversations: Teachers orchestrate collaborative learning to get students in the habit of exercising their analytical thinking in the presence of their peers. 4.An Independent Reading Staircase: Teachers artfully steer students to more challenging books, with strategic bursts of instruction and peer conferences to foster metacognitive awareness. 5.Performance: Teachers offer feedback and assessments that help students demonstrate understanding of text in authentic ways and plan instruction based on student understanding. There's more . . . Also included are illustrative classroom video clips available via QR codes along with an online Facilitator's Guide with PowerPoints--making Rigorous Reading the only resource a teacher, school, or district needs to seriously stretch students' capacity to read and comprehend text.

Discover the truth behind the saying, never judge a book by its cover, with this tale about identity. Develop higher-level critical thinking skills with the use of Bloom's Taxonomy. Demonstrate understanding by describing Auggie's experience in the cafeteria on the first day of school. Apply understanding by Interviewing fellow students about what they thought of the novel. Use these reviews along with a blurb of the book to create a new version of the back cover. Analyze details from the text to explain why Auggie changes his mind about going to school. Evaluate the characters by offering explanations to their actions. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Wonder is the heart-warming tale of a young boy's struggle and acceptance through middle school. August Pullman is not like every other kid. He was born with a rare facial deformity. Because of this and his constant trips to the hospital, Auggie was always homeschooled. That's about to change as he enters middle school for the first time. Things start off rocky as the other kids stare at him, avoid touching him, and even bully him. But Auggie perseveres and manages to make some friends. What's more, he actually really enjoys going to school. Slowly, Auggie manages to tear down the walls at his school and becomes just one of the kids. By the end, he has not only survived middle school, but overcome it. Wonder is a story of one boy's identity and showing how normal he truly is.