Raise the Bar Reading

Asking questions before, during, and after reading comes very naturally to skilled readers, but for struggling readers, this skill can be just the opposite. Asking questions of varying depths is arguably the most important reading

Teaching Students to Use Background Knowledge in the Elementary Reading Classroom - Raise the Bar Reading

Between teaching routines, testing, testing and more testing, it is also important to have fun and get to know your new students! Because I start the school year with students of all levels, including ELLs,

Having a wide vocabulary is a huge part of what helps students to be successful in both reading comprehension and writing. This is why vocabulary is one of the National Reading Panel’s five core elements

Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies: Asking Questions & QAR Strategy - Raise the Bar Reading

From the moment students enter the classroom, they should feel excited to dig into books and reading instruction. There are ways we make our classroom visually inviting to new readers, as well as back to

teaching making connections poster

Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is

Teaching blog post on using genre crafts to teach genres in the upper elementary classroom

This blog post, Using Graphic Organizers for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies, details the importance of using graphic organizer templates for reading strategy instruction in the upper elementary classroom (3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade). These include reading strategies like visualizing, making predictions, making inferences, and drawing conclusions.