The Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts (CCSS) provide explicit guidelines matching grade-level bands (e.g., 2-3, 4-5) with targeted text complexity levels. The CCSS staircase accelerates text expectations for students across Grades 2-12 in order to close a gap in the complexity of texts typically used in high school and those of…

Looks at implications of children meeting stories and storybook characters not only through books and videos but through anything from toys and games to pajamas. (RS)

Argues that real books attract, intrigue, and illuminate their young readers, making them laugh, touching their feelings, and clarifying situations. Argues that real books provide many lessons about reading, about print, about text, and about life. (RS)

This paper reviews graphophonic factors underlying the development of reading competence and their relationship to functional aspects of reading. The paper suggests that attention be paid to aspects of visual form, such as the use of typographic and linguistic cues, to improve the operational effectiveness and motivational appeal of materials for…

Noting that the ways children encounter and use print in the classroom can be examined as surface and organizing content of curriculum, this article provides descriptions of innovative uses of print in the kindergarten and elementary school classroom. Curriculum "surface content" includes activities, use of classroom space, display, and…

Reflecting recent insights on the process of learning to read and its relationship to oral language development and writing, the articles in this book provide a range of perspectives, ideas for further empirical investigations in classrooms, extensive reference lists for further reading, and implications for practice throughout a child's…