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Educator Tips

Reading Excellence Act
Reading Excellence Act (REA)	Information from the U.S. Department of Education, including an overview of REA, reading resources, and more.
Reading Excellence Act (REA)	Frequently asked questions.
Education Initiatives top
First Lady, Laura Bush Education Initiatives	Mrs. Bush addresses issues regarding reading education. (U.S. Department of Education Web site.)
Reading First Federal Initiative	States and local districts will have access to funds from the new Reading First program to implement comprehensive, science-based reading programs in kindergarten through second grade. The Reading Excellence Act would be consolidated under Reading First.
Helpful Hints top
AFT position paper	Looks for a balanced approach to literacy instruction (phonemic awareness, comprehension, etc.).
Best Practices for Effective Early Literacy Programs from The Knowledge Loom.	Current research has concluded that young children are most likely to achieve early literacy when they have access to integrated instruction that reflects a commitment to the explicit teaching of important reading and writing skills along with daily opportunities to engage in reading, writing, speaking, and listening to meaningful, connected text.
COMPREHENSION Explicit Instruction in Comprehension Strategies, from NEA.	A short summary, off the excellent Reading Matters Web site.
Continuum of Children's Development in Early Reading and Writing	IRA & NAEYC Position Statement, strategies for parents and educators (pre-K through grade 3).
EARLY LITERACY COMPONENTS Texas Education Agency (TEA) article	Looks at the essential components of beginning reading instruction including reading comprehension.
FLUENCY Reading Fluency article from the Wisconsin Literacy Education and Reading Network Source.	Fluency is necessary for good comprehension. When a reader is struggling to decode words, little mental energy is left for comprehension.
PHONEMIC AWARENESS How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative Classrooms, from LD Online.	A research-based article that presents a set of developmental phoneme awareness training activities (with diagrams and tables for emphasis) that the special educator can integrate collaboratively into existing kindergarten and first-grade reading programs.
PHONICS Ten Important Research Findings about Phonics, from Scholastic.	An excellent article. See also How Phonics Contributes to Reading Success.
Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children	Findings, conclusions, and recommendations from the National Research Council.
VOCABULARY Vocabulary Development	A direct relationship exists between vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension, and academic success. Therefore, vocabulary development is crucial to students' educations... The greater students' level of vocabularies, the higher their reading comprehension level. From 28 Takes on 21st Century Literacy Instruction, part of LEARNWEB, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Links to related papers on the subject.
Resources, Literacy Programs, and Other Information top
ALA Resources for Parents, Teens and Kids	Reading resources from the American Library Association, that can be utilized by parents and educators.
Book Adventure	Book Adventure is a free reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 5,400 recommended titles, take multiple-choice quizzes on the books they've read off-line, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by the Sylvan Learning Foundation and is a nonprofit organization.
Compact for Reading	Compact for Reading is a written agreement among families, teachers, principals, and students to work together to help improve the reading skills of kindergarten through third grade children.
Ladders to Literacy Outreach	The Ladders to Literacy Outreach Project assists early childhood and early childhood special education staff, related services personnel and families in supporting the early literacy development of young children with disabilities, preparing them for later formal literacy instruction.
Lessons Learned	The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy reports on what worked in their family literacy programs.
Reading Resources	From U.S. Department of Education for parents and educators.
Games and Activities top
Enchanted Learning	Activities for preschool and kindergarten children.
Kids Space	Kids' Space aims to foster literacy, artistic expression, and cross-cultural understanding, literacy activities and more.
PBS Kids	Activities from children's programs on PBS.
PBS TeacherSource	Lesson plans and activities.
Scholastic Teachers	Lesson plans, reproducibles, and online activities.
Starting Out Right	Classroom activities from the National Academy Press.
Vocabulary Development Using Music	Lesson plan for vocabulary development (all grade levels).
#38. Phonics for Kindergarten and #47. Phonics for Kindergarten	From Teachers.Net Lesson Exchange.