Sarah F. Mahurt – författare

"Gives us an inside view of what children should experience in the primary grades and shows us how we can build them up to new experiences in the intermediate grades. A great resource for vertical team collaborations, teachers who are transitioning from teaching primary to intermediate grades or vice versa, teachers in multiage classrooms, and teacher education classes."—Helena Stevens, Intermediate Literacy Coach Ricardo Richards Elementary School, Kingshill, Virgin Islands

"Full of practical, everyday ideas to implement immediately. Offers true student examples that teachers see and experience daily."—Scott Kovatch, PrincipalHorizon Elementary School, Granger, IN

How can teachers help their primary students become competent intermediate readers and writers?

Supporting students as they advance from beginning to intermediate literacy levels poses a unique challenge for teachers. In Building Bridges From Early to Intermediate Literacy, Grades 2–4, Sarah F. Mahurt, Ruth E. Metcalfe, and Margaret A. Gwyther show how teachers can meet the instructional needs of students in transition from one level to the next. The authors offer practical guidance and classroom-tested strategies that demonstrate how thoughtful instruction can help each student reach new levels of competency in reading and writing.

This invaluable resource shows teachers how to examine and refine their instructional practices to more effectively meet the needs of all the students in their classrooms, whether they are struggling readers or advanced learners. Educators will find:

Specialized assessment tools and instructional strategies for word study, reading, and writingDetailed examples of reading and writing instruction Methods for integrating language arts with science and social studiesCharts to track students' progressA teacher's reflection section at the end of each chapter

Written by experienced literacy educators, this accessible text helps ensure that all students confidently cross the bridge from the primary to the intermediate grades.

"This text helps the reader understand that students do not just learn to read in the primary grades. Students must continue to grow and become more sophisticated readers if we expect them to master varied content information and concepts. The strategies in this book provide a framework to support content area teachers as they strive to engage students and increase content literacy as well as content mastery."—Crystal Leu, Director of CurriculumLakeland School Corporation, LaGrange, INReading: a tool for learning in any subject area!Although reading is an essential skill for learning in any discipline, many students in today′s secondary classrooms find reading tasks difficult and often fail to complete those assignments. Now this proven, step-by-step instructional model shows secondary teachers how to help students boost their reading comprehension, acquire knowledge through their reading, and process the information that they′ve learned.Providing numerous classroom examples, the authors show teachers how to use research-based, high-effect strategies before, during, and after reading to increase student learning in various content and subject areas. Teachers learn how to help students:Prepare for learning and anticipate reading assignments through pre-lesson strategies such as previewing the text, activating prior knowledge, and developing questionsRemain focused and engaged during reading assignments through strategies such as reciprocal teaching, jigsaw, and think-alouds Process and internalize newly learned information using strategies such as graphic organizers and summariesEasy to implement, this method helps secondary teachers improve students′ content learning and reading ability at the same time!