Think Big With Think Alouds

I’m guessing that those two are planning a surprise. . . . The author keeps mentioning the storm because she wants us to think that the character’s upset. . . . Wait—yikes, I gotta go back and reread because I’m not getting this part. . . . These are the flickering thoughts of a strategic reader. If only we could bottle all these mental moves and pour them into the minds of our students, then readers’ achievement would grow exponentially. In Think Big With Think Alouds, Molly Ness delivers a process that comes close to bottling that magic. Molly spent a year researching teachers’ think alouds, and she uses these findings to help you know just what to do. The big time-saver? You focus on just these five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Select the one or two strategies that align to your text, and get ready with a stack of sticky notes! Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly’s three-step planning process: Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there’s no need to wing it in front of the kids Other practical tools include More than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts for favorite texts by Sandra Cisneros, Seymour Simon, Shel Silverstein, and many others, to use for think alouds for fiction, informational text, and poetry. Fun small group and partner activities to gradually transfer comprehension strategies to your students. Downloads on the companion website, including spinner and dice templates, planning forms, and think aloud scripts Molly Ness is an associate professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University and earned her PhD in reading education from the University of Virginia. A former Teach For America corps member, she is an experienced classroom teacher and reading clinician. Her numerous books and articles focus on reading comprehension, the instructional decisions of teachers, and the assessment and diagnosis of struggling readers.

A think-aloud process that comes close to bottling magic Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly’s three-step planning process. Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there’s no need to wing it in front of the kids Molly helps you focus on just five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Includes more than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts, activities, templates, and more.

With this giant flip chart, you can teach comprehension to your whole class or small groups with great ease and impact. Or prop the chart up on an easel for students to use on their own! Two-page spreads show a strategy lesson on one side and on the other, a nonfiction or fiction passage with Robb's think aloud highlighted. Finally, your students can see the kinds of thoughts a reader makes to puzzle the meaning of a word, visualize, and so on. Includes lessons for 8 key strategies, including inferring, posing questions, making connections, discerning cause and effect, and more. Engaging journal writing prompts support students as they practice the strategies independently. For use with Grades 4 & Up.

A new laugh-out-loud tale about the trials and tribulations of an oldest sibling! Jamaal may be the oldest kid in his family, but he somehow got stuck with the smallest room. His parents agree that it isn't fair, but that is just how it is. But Jamaal isn't satisfied by the answer - if his parents aren't going to fix the house, he will use creativity and his own resourcefulness to engineer the perfect space! What will mom and dad say about his home renovation? This brand-new Robert Munsch story has all of the classic Munsch elements -- wit, whimsical illustrations, and -- at its heart -- an ordinary kid who does extraordinary things! Robert Munsch wrote this story for Jamaal, a boy he met at the army base school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, who was the oldest of his siblings and wanted his own big room too!

Worm is thrilled when it's his turn to take care of the class pet, Nat the Gnat. But everything goes wrong when he leaves the lid of Nat's tank open. Can Worm make sure the class pet returns safe and sound before Mrs. Mulch finds out? This all-new, original I Can Read story captures the fun of the #1 New York Times bestselling Diary of a Worm picture book series by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss, and will leave beginning readers wiggling for more! This Level 1 I Can Read book is perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.

This board book edition of Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World by New York Times bestselling author Vashti Harrison is a beautiful first book to teach your little dreamers to follow all their biggest ideas. Featuring eighteen women creators, ranging from writers to inventors, artists to scientists, this board book adaptation of Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World introduces trailblazing women like Mary Blair, an American modernist painter who had a major influence on how color was used in early animated films, environmental activist Wangari Maathai, and architect Zaha Hadid. The irresistible full-color illustrations show the Dreamers as both accessible and aspirational so reader knows they, too, can grow up to do something amazing.

This book presents a detailed description of the Think Aloud Method, which was developed to facilitate knowledge acquisition and problem-solving by asking the participant to think aloud while solving a problem. The Think Aloud Method is based on the premise that people are often able to verbalize their thoughts as they solve a problem, and their resulting behavior can be analyzed to answer questions about problem solving behavior. This method is useful for psychological research on problem solving behavior, as well as for knowledge acquisition in the context of building expert computer programs. In many cases the Think Aloud Method is an invaluable source of information for psychologists and knowledge engineers. The Think Aloud Method is intended for two types of readers: social scientists who want to use the Think Aloud Method for research on cognitive processes, and knowledge engineers who wish to use the method for knowledge acquisition. The book is made accessible to both audiences with short introductions to several issues that are basic knowledge for one readership, but that are not part of the standard knowledge of their community. Introductory sections on those topics relevant to both communities are also included. The Think Aloud Method will prove a welcome addition to work in this exciting area.

Ruth the bunny is excited to share the smelly springtime smells of spring with Bruce! But what will Bruce think of all that stink? Little Bruce Book