Teaching Literacy Effectively in the Modern Classroom for Ages 5–8: A Practical Guide for Teaching Reading and Writing in Diverse Learning Environments

Designed as a “one stop shop” for classroom teachers, this book covers assessment, planning and progression of writing, spelling, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension to expand the teaching toolbox.

Dymock and Nicholson explore major focus areas in literacy instruction for teachers based on data-driven research advances. They provide the teacher a handy reference manual to consult when designing lessons to teach young children from diverse backgrounds to help them read and write for success. A general discussion of the research literature is built into the structure of the book to give teachers a knowledge base to teach and explain to children the why and the how of what they are learning. The chapters cover recent concepts of structured literacy, including systematic teaching of decoding skills, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, and spelling. This practical guide uses a scope and sequence approach to teaching that gives children a solid foundation of reading and writing skills. The resources and lesson ideas will engage diverse groups in a classroom, including those at risk of literacy difficulties such as dyslexia, so they also can achieve typical achievement levels for their age – and beyond. Containing a wealth of resources and tips for teaching children ages 5–8, alongside easily downloadable lesson plans, hand-drawn charts, and posters, this book will be of great interest to all classroom teachers involved in teaching literacy.

A resource-filled book will appeal to teachers, professionals, and researchers in teacher training, with a focus on the needs of the teacher, providing practical and insightful ways to teach effectively in diverse classroom settings.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Decoding Skills

1. Decoding – what is it
2. Assessing decoding
3. Teaching decoding

Part 2: Reading Comprehension

4. Reading comprehension - what is it

5. Assessing reading comprehension

6. Teaching reading comprehension

Part 3: Reading Vocabulary

7. Vocabulary - what is it

8. Assessing vocabulary

9. Teaching vocabulary

Part 4: Writing

10. Writing - what is it

11. Assessing writing

12. Teaching writing

Part 5: Spelling

13. Spelling - what is it

14. Assessing spelling

15. Teaching spelling

Part 6: Planning to Teach

16. Countdown to teaching