Fourth Grade Readers: Units of Study to Help Students Internalize and Apply Strategies

"As a literacy consultant, I carry the best of my thinking and practices to teachers around the country, and, just as important, I carry the best of my tried and true books - the ones from which I continue to learn. After reading this extremely smart book, I will add it to my stack, have it under my arm as one of my essential texts." - Isoke Titilayo Nia Founder of All Write Literacy Consultants, Brooklyn, New York In fourth grade, the stakes for your readers go up. Their learning shifts from skills to content. They encounter chapter books regularly. Text books become a staple of the classroom. And standardized testing rears its head for the first time. Expectations skyrocket for children and they're just as high for you. Fortunately, "Fourth Grade Readers" gives you units of study that meet the challenge. The four units of study in "Fourth Grade Readers" help your students make the transition to critical reading. With Martha Heller-Winokur and Marcia Uretsky's lessons you'll help students internalize how to: engage with texts by reading strategically througha unit on using reading tools respond to texts by applying reading strategies through a unit on discussion skills understand and respond to nonfiction by utilizing reading strategies through a unit on biography recognize an author's intent and craft through an author-study unit. "Fourth Grade Readers "goes even further. Its advice on assessment and differentiation supports classroomwide success. It shows you how to design your own units to meet your classroom's specific demands. And it provides all the helpful planning materials, conferring forms, and booklists you'll need to get started. Fourth grade is a year of challenges for readers and their teachers. But you're ready. Let "Fourth Grade Readers "be your indispensable partner as you help your students meet and exceed expectations.

Martha Heller-Winokur is a former elementary school teacher and literacy coach in Boston, Massachusetts, who now works as a staff developer and literacy consultant at the Center for Applied Child Development at Tufts University. She is also a literacy specialist in Needham, Massachusetts. Martha provides professional development, in-class coaching, leadership training, and ongoing support to schools as they implement and sustain effective literacy instruction. She is also working on a National Science Foundation - funded project with Education Development Center, Inc., that helps teachers make connections between science and literacy.Marcia Uretsky has worked in multiple facets of literacy instruction for the past twenty years. Her background is as a first grade teacher and reading specialist. She currently works as a literacy specialist and staff developer for the Center for Applied Child Development at Tufts University. Her work focuses on developing effective literacy programs for diverse populations of students in public schools throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She cofounded and codirected the Learning Community Charter School in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Marcia has taught graduate courses in literacy development, assessment, and instruction at Wheelock College in Boston.