Kids who struggle with reading often do everything they can to avoid reading. Unfortunately, this is counter-productive and only increased the problem. Reading is a “participation sport” that children have to DO to get better. The more a child uses his reading skills, the stronger they become. What to do to get kids reading more [...]

Looking for some good stories for your students in grades 3 and higher to enjoy as get back into the swing of things this school year?  One great resource not to be overlooked is the tales center from Houghton Mifflin. You can find this outstanding collection of fun and interesting stories at http://www.eduplace.com/tales that is [...]

Research shows that writing reinforces and builds reading skills so the more we get students writing, the more improvements they make in their reading. A great way to get students excited about writing is to get their works published on the internet. Reading Rockets and AdLit.org has recently established a monthly challenge that gives students [...]

If you are looking for ways to motivate children to improve their writing and thinking skills, consider having students produce digital stories. A digital story is a multi-media text consisting of pictures and video clips embedded in a document like a Power Point that is enhanced by a narrated soundtrack that tells the story. According [...]

Get students interested in monitoring their own reactions to text by asking them to rate each chapter of a book they are reading on an “interest level” chart.  After reading each chapter, students color in the bar to indicate how interested they were in the text of that chapter. Students can then discuss their reactions [...]