As we seek ways to improve literacy teaching and learning, we need to be careful not to overlook lesson closure as an opportunity to solidify student learning. This Teaching Tip describes the importance of taking time at the ends of lessons, days, and weeks to revisit what students have learned as a means for helping them synthesize and assimilate…

As the popularity of project-based learning grows, so does the importance of understanding how this instructional approach can support students' learning and development. The authors describe a project-based approach to literacy and social studies instruction that research has shown to be effective. Key characteristics of the approach and…

Storytelling is a practice that enables children to apply their literacy skills. This article shares a collaborative literacy strategy devised to enable children to create multimodal stories about their familiar school environment. The strategy uses resources, including the children's own drawings, images from Google Maps, and the Puppet Pals…

This article describes how second-grade students' literacy learning was enhanced as they used their developing knowledge of nonfiction in an integrated English language arts/science unit toward the creation of multimodal nonfiction science books. After explaining the Common Core State Standards that guided the unit, the author outlines the…

Offers reports on a method for teaching letter sound recognition through the use of familiar tunes, a project in which students create question-and-answer exercises about reading selections, and a Minneapolis project in which events featured in the daily news are described on microfiche for children to read while riding the school bus. (HOD)