Synopses & Reviews
Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas understand that a high-quality curriculum is the important first step toward good teaching and successful learning. Good curriculum comes from knowing what students can do, can almost do, and need to learn how to do as readers, writers, and language users. In
The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K - 8 they combine everything they have learned about literacy development to create a powerful tool that enables curriculum coordinators and literacy specialists to observe teaching and learning, to plan responsive instruction, and to ensure consistency across buildings, grades, or classrooms.Across the Grades
The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K - 8 places the behaviors and understandings children can be expected to demonstrate on continua that reflect seven critical instructional contexts:
- interactive read-aloud and literature discussion
- shared and performance reading
- writing about reading
- writing
- oral, visual, and technological communication
- phonics, spelling, and word study
- guided reading.
Level by LevelThe first six continua are organized by grade, while the guided reading milestones are laid out level-by-level along Pinnell and Fountas' A - Z gradient to facilitate reading instruction at the precise level at which it is most appropriate to support new learning.This helpful representation of goals for literacy growth make it easy to analyze whether curriculum goals are aligned among grades, buildings, or districts. They can serve as a foundation for the creation of responsive, flexible curriculum documents. And, they present the information in Pinnell and Fountas' Continua for grades K - 2 and 3 - 8 in a different organization that enables literacy specialists and coaches to effectively communicate commonly shared expectations that are grounded in research and expressed as teaching practices. In fact, they provide numerous opportunities for conversations with teachers about:
- planning instruction for individuals, small groups, or a whole class
- assessing children's literacy development
- evaluating student progress and reporting grades
- discussing expectations with parents
- identifying specific needs for targeted intervention.
Discover the convenient, easy-to-read resource that supports every aspect of your curriculum by presenting a unified vision of language and literacy development. Read
The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K - 8 and discover the key to a new standard for excellence in literacy education.
About the Author
Gay Su Pinnell is a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. She has extensive experience in classroom teaching and field-based research, and in developing comprehensive approaches to literacy education. She has received the International Reading Association's Albert J. Harris Award for research and the Charles A. Dana Foundation Award for her contributions to the field of education. She is also a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Together with Irene Fountas she has authored numerous books, videos, and websites with Heinemann that are considered standards in the field of literacy instruction and staff development. Their latest innovations are The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention and The Fountas &Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System, a comprehensive assessment system for grades K-8. Fountas and Pinnell have influenced the classroom practices of teachers nationwide through bestselling titles such as: The Fountas &Pinnell Prompting Guide 1 (2008) When Readers Struggle (2008) The Fountas &&Literacy Come Together, K-2 (2000) The Primary Literacy Video Collection Series of DVDs: Guided Reading; Classroom Management; and Word Study (2006) Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom (1998) The Reader's Notebook Help America Read and Coordinator's Guide (1997) In addition, through Heinemann's firsthand line of classroom materials, Fountas and Pinnell have authored Phonics Lessons (Grades K, 1, and 2), Word Study Lessons (Grade 3), Sing a Song of Poetry, and their corresponding word and picture cards. These materials are used in thousands of classrooms throughout the country. Fountas and Pinnell together present workshops nationwide on a variety of literacy-instruction topics through Heinemann Professional Development.Irene C. Fountas, a professor in the School of Education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and consultant in school districts across the nation and abroad. She works extensively in the literacy education field and directs the Literacy Collaborative in the School of Education at Lesley University. Together with Gay Su Pinnell she has authored numerous books, videos, and websites with Heinemann that are now considered standards in the field of literacy instruction and staff development. Their latest innovations are The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention and The Fountas &Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System, a comprehensive assessment system for grades K-8. Fountas and Pinnell have influenced the classroom practices of teachers nationwide through bestselling books such as: The Fountas &Pinnell Prompting Guide 1 (2008) When Readers Struggle (2008) The Fountas &&Literacy Come Together, K-2 (2000) The Primary Literacy Video Collection Series of DVDs: Guided Reading; Classroom Management; and Word Study (2006) Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom (1998) The Reader's Notebook Help America Read and Coordinator's Guide (1997) In addition, through Heinemann's firsthand line of classroom materials, Fountas and Pinnell have authored Phonics Lessons (Grades K, 1, and 2), Word Study Lessons (Grade 3), Sing a Song of Poetry, and their corresponding word and picture cards. These materials are used in thousands of classrooms throughout the country. Fountas and Pinnell together present workshops nationwide on a variety of literacy-instruction topics through Heinemann Professional Development.