Teaching for Comprehending And Fluency ─ Thinking, Talking, And Writing About Reading, K-8

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"Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, K-8" is the next new breakthrough from Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. 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 comphrension 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, 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 & Pinnell Leveled Book List, K-8+ (2009-2011 Edition, Print Version) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-8 (2007) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-2 (2007) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades 3-8 (2007) 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) 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.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 & Pinnell Leveled Book List, K-8+ (2009-2011 Edition, Print Version) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-8 (2007) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-2 (2007) The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades 3-8 (2007) 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) 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.