Incorporate writing instruction in your classroom as an essential element of literacy development while implementing best practices. Simplify the planning of writing instruction and become familiar with the Common Core State Standards of Writing.

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.

It's Groundhog Day, and everyone is gathered to find out if it's time for spring. But Groundhog does NOT want to leave his cozy bed in his cozy den. Will the townspeople be able to coax him outside to do his job? Kids will love the humorous antics of Groundhog in this delightful rhyming tale from the author of Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep.

Learn how to boost phonemic awareness and phonics in early readers using environmental print. In addition to supporting the five components of reading, this resource provides a strong foundation for English Language Learners. Includes key background information for the teacher, easy-to-follow lesson plans, and reproducible student activities. 176pp.

Inspire students to develop as writers in the kindergarden classroom with these engaging and creative writing lessons. This classroom-tested resource shows positive results in students' writing and simplifies the planning of writing instruction. It contains detailed information on how to establish and manage daily Writer's Workshop and includes consistent, structured instruction to encourage students to actively participate in the writing process. Specific lessons to help students develop the traits of quality writing are also included. This resource develops college and career readiness skills and is aligned to today's standards.

Facilitate literacy in special-education learners in grades PK–K using Early Literacy Intervention Activities. This 160-page book provides teachers with activities that boost 11 proven literacy skills and intervention strategies. In addition, the book discusses four important interventions, covering early and special-education literacy in great detail.

Ready-to-go English Language Development tasks that focus on students "doing the doing" of talking, reading, listening, and responding. In recent years, the percentage of English Language Learners (ELLs) has increased in almost every state, so most teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching literacy to students acquiring English alongside English-speaking students. However, in many integrated learning situations, English Language Development (ELD) instruction is strikingly different than the teaching we provide students whose first language is English. The Big Book of Tasks for English Language Development helps teachers meet that challenge head-on! Bestselling author and esteemed education consultant Nancy Akhavan shows that teaching multilingual learners requires changing our instruction to focus on practices that have high impact for students as they acquire language. Yet it’s not about doing more— it’s about doing smarter. It’s about having high expectations for all students and providing scaffolds to support students at all levels of English language proficiency as they learn and grow more confident. All the ready-to-go activities in the book Center on active tasks where students do the thinking, talking, reading, and writing, with appropriate support Activate the domains of language — listening, speaking, reading, and writing — and recognize that these do not develop at the same rate Honor the continuum of language development and build on what students can do Provide teaching tools such as learning targets, suggestions for when to use a task, basic instructions and "teacher talk" for launching a task, and "Watch Fors and Work-Arounds" Focus on the linguistic assets multilingual learners bring to the classroom and provide opportunities to help them collaborate with peers With Akhavan’s signature straight-forward, teacher-friendly style, this book offers an uplifting reminder that with the right teaching strategies, educators can support multilingual learners to achieve their full potential and thrive in their learning journeys.

This hands-on guidebook highlights the research that supports environmental print (EP) instruction in Grades PreK–3 and provides a wealth of activities for jump-starting the literacy process.