Teaching Reading Across the Day, Grades K-8: Methods and Structures for Engaging, Explicit

Make It Yours – See Your Price On Amazon!

A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

“Reading well across disciplines and within varied contexts will help students to be versatile, flexible, deep readers who can better learn from their reading, transfer skills across subjects, and use strategies to meet the unique demands of reading in each content area.”

– Jennifer Serravallo

Research-based, easy-to-use lesson structures for explicit and engaging teaching

In Teaching Reading Across the Day, literacy expert Jennifer Serravallo provides nine effective, predictable, research-based lesson structures that help busy teachers save planning time and focus their teaching—and student attention—on content rather than procedures. Each of the nine lesson structures (read aloud, phonics and spelling, vocabulary, focus, shared reading, close reading, guided inquiry, reader’s theater, and conversation) has its own chapter and features a wealth of resources that let you see the lessons in action in ELA, Science, and Social Studies classes, including:

An annotated teaching vignette, lesson explanation, and research notes
Tips for planning, structure and timing suggestions, and ideas for responsive teaching
Detailed planning templates and 22 accompanying online videos covering over 3 hours of classroom footage
Jen’s reflections, key look-fors, and ideas for next steps

The nine lesson structures can be used with any curriculum or core program, text, and subject, making it easier for teachers to maximize explicit and engaging teaching time across the day, and simplify planning and preparation.

Jen incorporates a wide range of compelling research about how best to teach reading to every student in your class and translates the research (or the science of teaching reading) into high-leverage moves you can count on to deliver powerful lessons again and again. She also honors the art of teaching reading, helping teachers tap into their experience and hone their expertise to make quick, effective classroom decisions that take student learning to the next level.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Cassidy Griswold
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Lifesaver!
Review: As a 3rd year teacher who has had to implement a new literacy curriculum this year, this book has been my lifesaver! It is so grounding that there are these structures to make any curriculum work that is responsive to your students. I highly recommend!

Reviewer: Smores
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A simple guide to reading
Review: A good book that delves into the science of reading. It’s an easy to read book with great material on how to help kids learn how to read. The information is updated. It provides information needed to help even older students learn how to read.

Reviewer: J. Fonseca
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Packaged poorly
Review: The book very good and is worth 5 stars. But I’m knocking off a star for shipping.The book was placed in the package carelessly, leading to bent pages. Shipping led to the top right corner of the book becoming bent as well.I am keeping it, in spite of the folded and bent pages. I hope this reduces waste, but leads to better packaging in the future.

Reviewer: K
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A guide with multiple concepts in one book
Review: This is an excellent resource. I have to say I didn’t come across anything I haven’t already seen before. However it’s a book that had different concepts I learned from different books in one. That can be helpful for a more encompassing guide. The book is laid out in a way that is easy to understand. The author provides plenty of examples including video links. It’s well organized and the layout is attractive without being cluttered. This helps build the confidence of the teacher plus really cements the concepts.It’s worth a read and can help with teaching styles and lessons. The fact that I saw concepts I have already read about is encouraging to me. It makes me feel like those are THE proven methods.

Reviewer: Michelle Y.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great guide
Review: A great guide to helping kids learn. The book itself (physically) is good quality

Reviewer: Verified Purchase
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: This book is incredible and such a valuable asset
Review: I am not a teacher or instructor, so this review is coming from a mom of two toddlers who is struggling to even choose a curriculum for my almost 4 year old to begin for homeschooling. Nothing super official as she is still young, but I’m inundated with so much information I struggle to decipher. This book almost made me cry when I finally started digging into it. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but teaching is not my forte and I’m trying especially as a full time working mom. This book is so well written. So so well. It really breaks down different areas to focus on by grade, and explains WHY and HOW. I initially got overwhelmed the first time I flipped through it. But as I sat down to calmly read through, I realized what I’d almost missed out on. I recommend that if you are feeling as overwhelmed as I am, check this book out and take 5 mins a day to just read a few pages. I’m slowly reading the pages realizing that there is no rush and my daughter WILL learn to read, but only if I can be calm and present. And I have an amazing resource to get us started. Thank you.

Reviewer: Fernando Palomino
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Ok ok
Review: Ok

Reviewer: Angie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Must-have professional resource for literacy & content area teachers
Review: Leave it to Jen to write the quintessential book on methods & structures in reading instruction! Jen tells us: “The job of teaching students how to read well belongs to all of us.” This versatile book not only belongs in the hands literacy teachers, content area teachers, coaches, and instructional leaders, but I can also see professors using it with preservice teachers in their methods courses.This book consists of 11 chapters divided into two parts. Part I (pictured) sets up the reader with easy-to-digest research on reader models and also walks us through the factors (texts, tasks, context) that need to be considered in the teaching of reading. It also unpacks what engaging, explicit instruction means in reading instruction. Part 2 (not fully pictured) consists of chapters 3 – 11. Here Jen takes us through each structure and the methods: a vignette of how it might go, an overview of the structure, how to plan it, and ways to take it back to the classroom (see the picture on chapters 3 & 4). As Jen puts it, “Lesson structures give [us] the flexibility to innovate, the space of respond to students in the moment, and the ability to improvise as needed.” As teachers we need to understand these structures well in order to have the mental space to plan, react, and respond in real time.This book is well worth the price. It’s chock full of resources on every single page (2 pages are pictured on vocabulary instruction). And there’s also a companion website to access videos on every structure as well as downloadable resources, like the templates for teachers to record notes or plan their instruction. That alone is invaluable!I wish I had this book when I was in the classroom, but I’m glad it’s out now! This book is really for everyone who cares deeply about the teaching of reading.