Helpful Resources-Literacy

In my career of being a teacher I've come across a few resources that I have found to be extremely helpful. When I first started teaching, I didn't really understand the term "resources" and felt a little overwhelmed when I heard other teachers talk about using them. I thought at first that I'd be content with using the district adopted resources and wouldn't have to venture out on my own and find things that fit my style of teaching. After a year of teaching, I realized that branching out was a must and finding other ways to provide instruction was going to be necessary. Many of you have probably heard of some or all of the resources that I am going to share, but if you haven't please take a minute to check some of them out :)

A resource that I have grown to love is the "Two Sisters". These ladies have developed a management process called, Daily 5 that has taken education by storm. When I started teaching in my current district, our school adopted the Daily 5 technique and some of us really "took the bull by the horns" and some of the others called it a "wash". All of us though were required to read the book and do book studies with our teams and talk about how we planned on implementing the tool. I personally LOVE the 2 Sisters and have also been using the CAFE menu in my room as well. CAFE is just an acronym (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expand vocabulary) used to help kids pinpoint their areas of needed improvement in the above 4 areas. Students can become very apprehensive about reading at a young age when they are not able to recognize areas that are causing them to "not like" reading. It's our job as teachers to help them through those rough patches and encourage them to keep reading. I LOVE CAFE because it allows me to show them exactly what skill they need to focus on. I usually conference with all of my kids at least once a week and so we can talk about how they are going to work on the skill that needs improvement until the next time we meet

A terrific resource is the Lucy Calkins "Units of Study". I bought the 3-5 my first year after being introduced to her by my first assistant principal, Gina Mayfield. She wanted her fourth grade teachers to learn more about the "art" of teaching writing and there is no one better in my opinion than Lucy Calkins. When I moved to AZ and taught second for a year I persuaded my school to buy the primary units of study and to no surprise, they LOVED it too. So, I have used both resources provided by Lucy and love them both!

Oh, Razzle Dazzle! Razzle Dazzle is a book that specifies on the 6 traits of writing. If you're a Tx teacher, then you know that the TAKS is no longer our standardized test, so that means the writing instruction in your classrooms may change a bit. I believe Razzle Dazzle can still be a great resource to use even with the unknown writing expectations in the upper grades. This book is broken in to sections based on the 6 traits and offers short lessons that will enhance students' writing. They should NOT be the focus of your writing workshop lesson, but a secondary resource to emphasize your target skill for that day/week. Check it out here.

Readers' theater is another terrific way to get your kids excited about reading. I use this strategy religiously in my room and it is always a HUGE success. Many students struggle with fluency and readers theater is a wonderful way to incorporate fun and reading practice at the same time. There are tons of websites that are good for readers' theater, but one I have used before is Aaron Shepard. He offers many levels of scripts that are appropriate for all reading levels. I've also purchased a few good books that have scripts in them: "Readers Theater for Building Fluency" and "Readers' Theater grade 4". There are TONS more, but depending on your grade level it will determine which book you buy. Scholastic has lots of good resources on readers' theater.

Please let me know if you have literacy resources that you use in your classroom that you feel are beneficial for your kiddos :)