Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing about Reading, K-8 [With DVD-ROM]

Offering a complete picture of how to skillfully teach meaning making and fluency within any instructional context, Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, K-8, supports you with frameworks for high-quality instruction that describe appropriate expectations for comprehending, fluency, and vocabulary development.

Fountas and Pinnell's teaching and assessment frames will give you a firm understanding of your students' reading levels: where they are, where they should be, and what they need to do to get there-for any reader, in any grade, at any moment. You'll also gain insight about the specific demands that fiction and nonfiction texts place on readers and about how effective readers think within a text, beyond a text, and about a text to gain rich understandings. As you learn about how the characteristics of texts help or hinder a reader's improvement, you'll find effective teaching strategies for:

• comprehending, word solving, fluency, and vocabulary
• writing about reading in a variety of genres and using writing as a tool for thinking
• using guided reading with fiction and nonfiction books
• discussing books during interactive read-aloud and literature study
• taking part in shared and performance reading.

Fountas and Pinnell's teaching tips, smart strategies, proven classroom ideas, and professional-learning opportunities will lead the way as you discover how to help readers develop effective systems of strategic actions over time. You'll also learn how to take running records of reading behavior to assess comprehension and fluency then use those assessments to inform and differentiate your teaching.

In addition, Fountas and Pinnell have also added a dynamic companion resource to Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, K-8 a DVD containing short, focused video segments that illustrate concepts from the book and demonstrate exemplar teaching in real classroom settings. The DVD is also a repository of useful materials to support your work-including blackline masters, forms, checklists, and numerous other classroom tools.

Fountas and Pinnell have developed detailed teaching guides for Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency. Perfect for staff development leaders or teacher educators, these guides offer all the specifics on leading a professional development program or preservice course on comprehension instruction with Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency as the core text.

Each of the guides is written to address a specific course of study and is available for free download along with its accompanying course syllabus:

• Professional Development Program:
  Individual Study/Group Study (20 sessions)
• Preservice Teachers:
  One Semester Course (14-week college/university course)
• Preservice Teachers:
  One Quarter Course (11-week college/university course)
• Graduate Students:
  One Semester Course (14-week college/university course)
• Graduate Students:
  One Quarter Course (11-week college/university course)

Click on the "Companion Resources" tab to download each of the guides.

Discover powerful ways to help your students read with deep understanding and fluency. Read Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, K-8 and be part of the big breakthrough in literacy instruction.

Irene C. Fountas is the Marie M. Clay Endowed Chair for Early Literacy and Reading Recovery at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and director of the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative in the Graduate School of Education. She has been a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and consultant in school districts across the nation and abroad. She is the recipient of the International Literacy Association's Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award, and the Greater Boston Council and the International Reading Association's Celebrate Literacy Award. Currently, she works with administrators, coaches and teacher leaders in systemic school improvement. Fountas and Pinnell's transformative, collective and comprehensive literacy work includes a cohesive classroom literacy system for grades PreK - 6 (Fountas & Pinnell Classroom(tm)), an intervention system for grades K - 12 (Leveled Literacy Intervention), an assessment system (Benchmark Assessment System for grades K - 8 and Sistema de evaluacion de la lectura for grades K - 3), an extensive professional book base, and professional learning opportunities. Fountas and Pinnell continue to influence and inspire educators nationwide and abroad with resources and books such as: - The Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Systems (2017, 2019, 2020) - The Reading Minilessons Books, Grades K - 6 (2017, 2019, 2020) - Spanish Reader's Notebooks (2019) - Reader's Notebooks - Sing a Song of Poetry (2018, 2019) - The Literacy Quick Guide (2018) - Words That Sing: Poetry Charts, Grades PreK - 2 (2018) - The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum (2017) - Continuo de la lectoescritura, Grados PreK - 8 (2020) - Continuo de la lectoescritura totalmente en espanol, Grados PreK - 8 (2020) - The Fountas & Pinnell Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide (2017) - Guided Reading: Responsive Teaching Across the Grades, Second Edition (2017) - Fountas & Pinnell SELECT Collections - LLI Choice Libraries - Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record Apps - Genre Study: Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books (2012) - Genre Quick Guide, A Companion to Genre Study: Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books (2012) - Genre Prompting Guide for Fiction (2012) - Genre Prompting Guide for Nonfiction, Poetry, and Test Taking (2012) - Literacy Beginnings (2011) - Prompting Guide, Part 1 for Oral Reading and Early Writing (2008) - Prompting Guide, Part 2 for Comprehension: Thinking, Talking, Writing (2011) - When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works (2009) - Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading, K - 8 (2006) - www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com - Leveled Books, K - 8: Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching (2005) - Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children (1996) - Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy (2001) - Interactive Writing: How Language & Literacy Come Together, K - 2 (2000) - Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom (1998) - Help America Read and Coordinator's Guide (1997) While all the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) books, resources, and systems are deeply rooted in teacher professional learning, Irene and Gay, in collaboration with Heinemann Professional Development, offer a range of options and opportunities for professional learning designed to further develop the craft of teaching and foster a climate of collegiality and community. Join the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) Community to connect with Gay and Irene and thousands of educators from around the world on one of the fastest-growing online literacy communities. Continue the conversation on Twitter @FountasPinnell, on Instagram @FountasPinnell, on Facebook @FountasandPinnell or by joining The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) Learning Facebook Group.

Gay Su Pinnell is Professor Emerita in the School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. She has extensive experience in classroom teaching, field-based research, and in developing comprehensive literacy systems. She is the recipient of the International Literacy Association's Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award, The Ohio State University Alumni Association's Medalist Award, the International Reading Association's Albert J. Harris Award for research in reading difficulties, the Ohio Governor's Award, the Charles A. Dana Foundation Award, The Eastern New Mexico University Hall of Honor, and a 2018 recipient of an honorary doctorate Lesley University for her contributions to literacy education. Fountas and Pinnell's transformative, collective and comprehensive literacy work includes a cohesive classroom literacy system for grades PreK - 6 (Fountas & Pinnell Classroom(tm)), an intervention system for grades K - 12 (Leveled Literacy Intervention), an assessment system (Benchmark Assessment System for grades K - 8 and Sistema de evaluacion de la lectura for grades K - 3), an extensive professional book base, and professional learning opportunities. Fountas and Pinnell continue to influence and inspire educators nationwide and abroad with resources and books such as: - The Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Systems (2017, 2019, 2020) - The Reading Minilessons Books, Grades K - 6 (2017, 2019, 2020) - Spanish Reader's Notebooks (2019) - Reader's Notebooks - Sing a Song of Poetry (2018, 2019) - The Literacy Quick Guide (2018) - Words That Sing: Poetry Charts, Grades PreK - 2 (2018) - The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum (2017) - Continuo de la lectoescritura, Grados PreK - 8 (2020) - Continuo de la lectoescritura totalmente en espanol, Grados PreK - 8 (2020) - The Fountas & Pinnell Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide (2017) - Guided Reading: Responsive Teaching Across the Grades, Second Edition (2017) - Fountas & Pinnell SELECT Collections - LLI Choice Libraries - Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record Apps - Genre Study: Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books (2012) - Genre Quick Guide, A Companion to Genre Study: Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books (2012) - Genre Prompting Guide for Fiction (2012) - Genre Prompting Guide for Nonfiction, Poetry, and Test Taking (2012) - Literacy Beginnings (2011) - Prompting Guide, Part 1 for Oral Reading and Early Writing (2008) - Prompting Guide, Part 2 for Comprehension: Thinking, Talking, Writing (2011) - When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works (2009) - Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading, K - 8 (2006) - www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com - Leveled Books, K - 8: Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching (2005) - Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children (1996) - Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy (2001) - Interactive Writing: How Language & Literacy Come Together, K - 2 (2000) - Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom (1998) - Help America Read and Coordinator's Guide (1997) While all the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) books, resources, and systems are deeply rooted in teacher professional learning, Irene and Gay, in collaboration with Heinemann Professional Development, offer a range of options and opportunities for professional learning designed to further develop the craft of teaching and foster a climate of collegiality and community. Join the Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) Community to connect with Gay and Irene and thousands of educators from around the world on one of the fastest-growing online literacy communities. Continue the conversation on Twitter @FountasPinnell, on Instagram @FountasPinnell, on Facebook @FountasandPinnell or by joining The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy(tm) Learning Facebook Group.