Learning Resources
We teach skills and competencies, not content. The content is there, of course, but it isn’t the main feature or purpose of the learning. We look at what skills and competencies are essential and enable the conditions for learning. Below are my favorite resources, each is endlessly flexible and meets students where they are and build the competencies for all learning to build on.
*Commissions earned on some links below
Jennifer Serravallo's
The Reading Strategies Book 2.0
Your Research-Based Guide to Developing Skilled Readers
Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies 2.0 is an invaluable resource to teach kids reading strategies. This book is ingeniously written to be utilized in any program, approach to literacy instruction, and within any inquiry block. Rather than being a collection of lessons that must be completed linearly, these books present strategies that allow you to dive into reading and writing skills tailored to each student's needs and fitting seamlessly into any inquiry block.
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Reading Strategies 2.0 has easy tips and support to meet every reader where they are now, including:
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300 strategies
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700+ references or links to research studies
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Skill progressions for progress monitoring
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200 new student-facing charts
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New strategies for advanced middle school readers
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Recently published mentor texts used in lesson examples
Jennifer Serravallo's
The Writing Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers
Like Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies, her Writing Strategies are brilliantly written to be utilized with any program and within any inquiry block. These strategies make the invisible visible, whether you are supporting vocabulary, writing with focus, or elaboration. As you become familiar with the strategies, you will discover opportunities for tie-ins with inquiry everywhere.
With Writing Strategies, you will:
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develop individual goals for every writer
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give students step-by-step strategies for writing with skill and craft
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coach writers using prompts aligned to a strategy
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present mentor texts that support a genre and strategy
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adjust instruction to meet individual needs
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demonstrate and explain a writing move with Lesson Language
Jen even offers suggestions for stocking your writing center, planning units of study, celebrating student writing, and keeping records.
Jenniffer Serravallo's
Reading Strategies 2.0 Companion Charts
The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 Companion Charts are a great complement to the Reading Strategies 2.0 books. These charts are ideal for small-group, one-on-one conferring sessions, or whole-class lessons.
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300+ enlarged charts from The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 in full-color
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Full-color laminated dividers for each chapter make it easy to flip, find, and teach strategies
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Spiral-bound
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Free-standing tabletop flip chart
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Prenda's
Treasure Hunt Reading
Treasure Hunt Reading was created by the Prenda team. It follows an Orton-Gillingham, multi-sensory, systematic approach to literacy and is aligned to the science of reading research. This collection is fantastic for kids just beginning the reading journey, or learners who have struggled in their reading. Treasure Hunt Reading is a deep phonics approach that includes workbooks and access to videos that scaffold learning every step of the way. Kids will learn:
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Phonemic Awareness
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The Alphabetic Principle
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Print Awareness
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Letter-Sound Correspondence
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Proper Letter Formation
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Blending and Segmenting
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Top 10 Decoding Rules
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Multisyllabic Words
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77 Phonograms
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30 True Sight Words
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40 Decodable Leveled Readers
Jo Boaler's
You Cubed
If you’re not familiar with You Cubed from Stanford Graduate School of Education, you need to be. Jo Boaler, the Nomellini & Olivier Professor at Stanford, has developed math modules and lessons that help students think like mathematicians. This approach to math is highly inquiry-based and adaptable, fitting seamlessly into any inquiry block. You’ll be amazed at how You Cubed helps you think math in ways you probably didn’t in school. I often have eureka moments, realizing, ‘Oh, that’s why this math rule works!’
The mission of You Cubed is to inspire mathematics success through growth mindsets and innovative teaching. If you have students who believe that they aren’t math people, they need You Cubed in their lives!
Jo Boaler, Jen Munson, and Cathy Williams
Mathematical Mindsets Visualizing and Investigating Big Ideas
A companion to the work on You Cubed, Jo Boaler's Mindset Mathematics engages students in math through a growth mindset. The Mindset Mathematics is brilliant at helping kids see the connections between mathematical concepts.
"Mindset Mathematics is designed around the principle of active student engagement, with tasks that reflect the latest brain science on learning. Open, creative, and visual mathematics tasks have been shown to improve student test scores, and more importantly change their relationship with mathematics and start believing in their own potential. The tasks in Mindset Mathematicsreflect the lessons from brain science that:
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There is no such thing as a math person - anyone can learn mathematics to high levels.
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Mistakes, struggle and challenge are the most important times for brain growth.
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Speed is unimportant in mathematics.
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Mathematics is a visual and beautiful subject, and our brains want to think visually about mathematics.
With engaging questions, open-ended tasks, and four-color visuals that will help kids get excited about mathematics, Mindset Mathematics is organized around nine big ideas which emphasize the connections within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and can be used with any current curriculum."
Digital Math Curriculum
Zearn
Zearn Math is a nonprofit that believes all kids are math kids...we agree! Zearn is a research-based math program that includes digital and print components. The lessons are dynamic, meaning they adapt for every learner. I love that, unlike most digital math products, Zearn isn't focused on memorization. Instead, it anchors abstract concepts in pictures and the concrete that leads to deep understanding. It also allows for more than one approach to math, understanding that there isn't one "right" way to solve problems. It is free to sign-up for and use Zearn, but there are support materials for purchase as well (we've found these are usually not necessary or we can accomplish the same thing with materials we have on hand).
Amy Burvall and Dan Ryder
Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom
Amy Burvall and Dan Ryder are completely creatively brilliant! Their book, Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom, is a collection of pathways that explores ‘rigorous whimsy’ and creative expressions for learners to demonstrate understanding. Intention is packed with ideas that invite creativity and critical thinking to any inquiry block or line of inquiry. The ideas often encourage learners to apply their learning metaphorically, fostering deep thinking, creativity, and play.
This collection of brilliance will inspire your creativity and prompt you to think about new ways for learners to demonstrate their understanding.
Digital Curriculum
Kahn Academy
Kahn Academy's mission is a worthy one: Provide a free, world-class education for anyone. We love the way that Kahn can be used with any student, in any context. We've found it to be a great companion to any inquiry block and for every student. Kahn Academy includes learning for math, science, computing, arts and humanities, economics, reading and language arts, and life skills. The range of skills is impressive and it is adaptive based on the user, which means they always get skills perfectly aligned to their developmental level and understanding.