From the Back Cover
In response to today's needs to tailor instruction for the lower grades (pre-K-4), this new text features sample lessons for virtually every major literacy skill/strategy and offers numerous reinforcement suggestions and generous listings of materials appropriate for the lower grades. The methods emphasized are those that have been validated by research and/or practice. Extensive coverage is provided for areas of instruction mandated by federal programs such as Reading First: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. However, the text also presents the theories behind the methods, so readers will be free to choose, adapt, and/or construct their own approaches as they create a balanced program of literacy instruction. Features “Lessons” appear throughout the text and provide step-by-step lesson plans for nearly every area of literacy instruction. All lessons include suggestions for assessment. Emphasis on English language learners within regular classrooms, including coverage of Sheltered English, of assessment for ELLs throughout the text, and more children's books for both struggling readers and ELLs, and marginal annotations on Adapting Instruction for English Language Learners. “Help for Struggling Readers and Writers” section concludes Chapters 3-13 and provides practical, specialized suggestions for helping students become stronger readers and writers and for ways in which teachers can adapt instruction or assessment to meet the needs of underachieving readers and writers. To make the text as practical as possible, each chapter concludes with an “Action Plan” that provides specific suggestions for applying each of the key concepts and assessment and teaching suggestions discussed in the chapter. “Children's Reading List” appears in every chapter, providing lists of appropriate titles for skill reinforcement. “Exemplary Teaching” boxes throughout the text bring teaching techniques to life with real-life experiences of gifted teachers and the author's own experiences. An “Essential Standards” section lists specific literacy curriculum goals so students and professors can focus on key objectives, and “Assessment” sections provide specific focus on evaluation issues and ideas for individual chapters (Chs. 3-13). Emphasis on guided reading and matching readers with appropriate texts for grades Pre-K-4. Unique “Leveling Books System,” enables students to better understand what makes a book difficult to read and provides an easy-to-use system so that they can level books on their own. Widely used leveling systems are explained and compared. Sources of extensive lists of leveled books are provided (Ch. 2). Unique Appendix A includes a graded listing of 1,000 books where suggestions are made for easy, average, and challenging fiction and informational books at each grade level (Pre-K to 4). Students will have ready access to the readabiltiy levels of the most popular books in grades Pre-K to 4. The use of technology has also been highlighted. Going beyond simply listing interesting Websites, the text has specific age-appropriate suggestions for teaching students how to use the Internet as a learning tool in grades Pre-K to 4. MEET THE AUTHOR THOMAS G. GUNNING has taught courses in methods of teaching reading and writing for 20 years and was the director of the Reading Clinic at Southern Connecticut State University. Before that, as a secondary English teacher, secondary reading specialist, and an elementary school reading consultant, he worked extensively with achieving and struggling readers. He now teaches a variety of reading methods courses at central Connecticut State University. Dr. Gunning is a well-known and highly regarded textbook author, having written and revised such titles as Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties (2002) and Creating Literacy Instruction for All Children (2003). He also wrote Best Books for Beginning Readers (1997), Best Books for Building Literacy for Elementary School Children (1999), Building Words: A Resource Manual for Teaching Word Analysis and Spelling Skills and Strategies (2001), and Phonological Awareness and Primary Phonics (2000). All are Allyn & Bacon books.

FROM THE PUBLISHER