Literacy Resources

Our most visited post on this blog is our list of guided reading books for levels 3 – 5.  Over the summer we took the opportunity to update the list and have added many new titles.  So here they are!   Below level 3 Smile! Starring Sunny McCloud – Leigh Hodgkinson That’s Not Funny – [...]

I just loved Brain Selznick’s latest book Wonderstruck.  I love the way the text and the images tell two stories that cross, link and move backwards and forwards through time until finally coming together. I love the way the images start by zooming into the wolf’s eye and out again when we see Lillian May, [...]

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with reciprocal reading but it is a well-researched method of teaching reading comprehension.  The researchers Palincsar and Brown developed the idea and their work is very accessible on the internet, including long term studies. Reciprocal reading focuses on four key strageies that are predicting, clarifying, questioning [...]

As part of our Talk for Writing training we have been focusing on non-fiction using the wonderful book Think of an Eel by Karen Wallace and Mike Bostock.  The two voices in this book are very different; one a literary non-fiction with the most poetic language possible and the other a more formal report tone [...]

One of the most read posts on this blog is the list of books that were suggested for guided reading. However, it was brought to my attention that some of the books  are out of print or no longer available.  It therefore seemed like a good time to update the list and to add some [...]

This is a fairly dark story about what happens when we destroy nature.  As the buildings and ‘others’ take over the text becomes harder and harder to read – just as it becomes harder to hear in the story.  This is an interesting book telling a story that is occurring more and more frequently in [...]

People often ask us for recommendations for books to use for guided reading so here is my top 100 list. This is a personal list and may well not contain your favourites.  Please add yours by leaving a comment.  The levels come from my experience of using the books with children and talking to teachers – [...]

No Two People Read the Same Book Uploaded by Postkiwi Book talk is one of the most important things that we can do with our children, be it at home as parents or in school as teachers.  It is the personal response to texts, how they make us feel, what we are puzzled by, the [...]