On this page you will find a collection of motivational ideas, strategies and tips that will enhance your early literacy program.

If you would like to contribute to this page, please contact rozanne@magicbookgarden.com

Major Truths
Here is a set of beliefs that we have adopted concerning how kids learn to read and write.

• Children need to see themselves as readers and writers.
• Reading and writing are mutually supportive processes--growing expertise in one area influences the other.
• Children do not need to know letters and sounds before you put a book in their hands.
• The key to getting kids to write is modeling.

Read a Book Song 
Here’s a fun song to use to celebrate reading anytime!

Sing to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

Read, read, read a book,
Beginning to the end.
What a way to spend the day
A book’s a special friend.

Read, read, read a book!
Travel anywhere!
Worldwide—you decide!
A book will take you there!

(author unknown)

A Favorite Quote

“Read the best books first or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”       

Henry David Thoreau

What Strategies Do
Good Readers Use?
Renee Keeler, a 2nd grade teacher at Lee Elementary School in Los Alamitos, CA, introduces reading strategies by writing them on a cumulative poster she displays near her guided reading table.

Thank you, Renee, for your powerful teaching idea.

• Sound out words
• Read at reading time
• Read all kinds of books
• Read challenging books and easy books
• Sometimes read silently
• “Fix-it-up” by rereading or reading on
• Sequence the events
• Make personal connections
• Reread books
• Retell stories after reading
• Practice reading everyday
• Predict
• Summarize
• Evaluate the story
• Evaluate the characters
• Make text-to-text connections (story-to-story)
  
               

Reading Strategy Bookmarks
Renee also makes Reading Strategy Bookmarks to remind her students, as they read, about what good readers do.

Resource Books
Recommended by Renee

Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann, published by Heinemann

Stratagies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding
by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis published by Stenhouse