ELEMENTARY READING WEBSITES

The following websites provide useful information for elementary schools working to improve students' reading performance. Many of these sites contain links to additional information, teacher lesson plans, and formative assessment ideas. NCA educators have used these sites in their school improvement planning process and cited them as research tools in their school improvement plans. The list in not exhaustive and does not represent an endorsement by NCA CASI.

American Library Association
www.ala.org
The American Library Association is the oldest and largest association in the world, with more than 64,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

Bibliography of Picture Books
www.cornerstonevalues.org/biblio.htm
"Building Character through Cornerstone Values" is an indigenous New Zealand approach to the development of character. The eight cornerstone values are principles that are consistent, universal, and transcultural. The bibliography is organized under the eight cornerstone values of honesty and truthfulness, kindness, consideration and concern for others, compassion, obedience, responsibility, respect and duty.

Connections+ Internet resources linked with subject-area content standards
www.mcrel.org/connect/plus
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning is a nationally recognized, private nonprofit organization committed to improving education for all through applied research, product development, and service. McREL offers field-based research and product development, workshops and training, technical assistance and consulting, evaluation and policy studies, information resources, and community education and public outreach.

Federal Resources/Educational Excellence (Free Materials!)
www.ed.gov/free
More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make hundreds of Federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to find. The result of that work is the FREE web site. New teaching and learning resources are added each month.

Four Blocks Literacy Program
www.wfu.edu/fourblocks
The Four-Blocks® framework was developed by teachers who believed that to be successful in teaching ALL children to read and write, we were going to have to do it all. Doing it all meant incorporating on a daily basis the different approaches to beginning reading. The Four-Blocks® -- Guided Reading, Self Selected Reading, Writing and Words - represent four different approaches to teaching children to read. Daily instruction in all Four-Blocks® provides numerous and varied opportunities for all children to learn to read and write. Doing all Four-Blocks® acknowledges that children do not all learn in the same way and provides substantial instruction to support whatever learning personality a child comes with.

Free Teacher Help Service
www.learner.org
This site, by Annenberg/CPB, provides professional development programming for K-12 teachers free through satellite channel and video on demand. Annenberg/CPB Channel uses media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools. This mandate is carried out chiefly by the funding and broad distribution of educational video programs with coordinated Web and print materials for professional development of teachers.

How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative Classrooms
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/teaching_techniques/cld_hownow.html
Research indicates a strong relationship between early phoneme awareness and later reading success, and it links some reading failure to insufficiently developed phoneme awareness skills. Intervention research clearly demonstrates the benefits of explicitly teaching phoneme awareness skills. Many children at risk for reading failure are in general education classrooms where phoneme awareness training is not part of their reading program. This article, written by Patricia J. Edelen-Smith, presents a set of developmental phoneme awareness training activities that the special educator can integrate collaboratively into existing kindergarten and first-grade reading programs.

International Reading Association (IRA)
www.reading.org
IRA is a professional organization of those involved in teaching reading to learners of all ages. A broad range of issues in literacy education is addressed. Whether your interest is research or practice, traditional print-based reading and writing or the "new literacies" of the Internet age, new readers or those acquiring higher level skills, IRA offers something for you.

Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
The Learning Page is especially for teachers and is the "front door" to more than 100 American Memory collections. Here is a "teacher's eye view" of over 7 million historical documents, photographs, maps, films, and audio recording. You will find lessons, features, activities, and tips and tricks for using these collections in your classroom.

Literacy and Best Practices Website
www.ncrel.org/litweb
This website provides professional development resources to help teachers build their knowledge base, apply their expertise to help children meet challenges in reading, and keep abreast of developments concerning literacy education.

Literacy Links for Kids
www.ala.org/alsc/children.links.html
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) develops and offers many practical and fun resources for children and their parents and caregivers. Resources on the menu bar provides access to recommended booklists, lists of links to recommended online children's libraries and websites on children's literature and reading.

National Center for Early Development and Learning
www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl
NCEDL is a national early childhood research project. Research focuses on enhancing the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth through age eight.

National Center for Family Literacy
www.famlit.org
The mission of the National Center for Family Literacy is to create educational and economic opportunity for the most at-risk children and parents. NCFL's services include professional development for practitioners who work in children's education, adult education, English as a Second Language, and related literacy fields; model program development through ground-breaking initiatives; policy and advocacy support to sustain and expand literacy services for families; and the Family Literacy Alliance.

National Council of Teachers of English
www.ncte.org
The National Council of Teachers of English works to advance teaching, research, and student achievement in English language arts at all scholastic levels. The links provide opportunities to explore many of the programs, services, positions, and structures that the Council has established in pursuit of its ambitious mission.

Reading A-Z
www.readinga-z.com
Reading A-Z offers thousands of printable teacher materials to teach guided reading, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, reading fluency, alphabet, and vocabulary. The teaching resources include professionally developed downloadable leveled books, lesson plans, worksheets, and reading assessments.

Reading First
www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst
Reading First is a focused nationwide effort to enable all students to become successful early readers. Building on a solid foundation of research, the program is designed to select, implement, and provide professional development for teachers using scientifically based reading programs, and to ensure accountability through ongoing, valid and reliable screening, diagnostic, and classroom-based assessment.

Reading Online (IRA Journal)
www.readingonline.org
Reading Online (ROL) is a peer-reviewed journal of the International Reading Association (IRA). It is a leading online source of information for the worldwide literacy-education community, with tens of thousands of accesses to the site each month. The journal focuses on literacy practice and research in classrooms serving students aged 5 to 18.

Six Traits of an Effective Reader™
www.nwrel.org
The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory improves educational results for children, youth, and adults by providing research and development assistance in delivering equitable, high-quality educational programs. Many K-12 lesson plans and assessment ideas are contained in the Six Traits of an Effective Reader™ portion of the website.

Timely Topic: Balanced Reading Instruction
www.ncrel.org/sdrs/timely/britoc.htm
This site presents a review of literature related to balanced reading instruction and describes the benefits to children. It also provides a listing of many publications and articles and includes links to various Internet resources that offer additional information.

Trade Books with Lesson Plans
www.educ.ucalgary.ca/litindex
The Doucette Index provides access to books and websites that contain useful teaching suggestions related to books for children and young adults, and the creator of those books. The books indexed are those held by the Doucette Library of Teaching Resources, but many of these books will also be available in other libraries.

Web-based Instructional Units
www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html
This site provides CyberGuides - supplementary, standards-based, web-delivered units of instruction centered on core works of literature. Each CyberGuide contains a student and teacher edition, standards, a task and a process by which it may be completed, teacher-selected web sites and a rubric, based on California Language Arts Content Standards.

e-NEWS: February 2005 Issue