Text Savvy: Using a Shared Reading Framework to Build Comprehension: Grades 3-6

"What strikes me about this wonderful book is that the authors not only tell us what they did in their classrooms, they make sure that we know how to do what they did. At the end of this book, you will know exactly why weekly shared reading works and how to do it in your classroom." -Janet Angelillo Author of "Writing About Reading" If only upper-elementary teachers had a tool like shared reading that supports the comprehension work their students do in reading workshop and read-aloud-one that helps children transition from teacher-led instruction to independent work. In fact, they do, because with minimal adjustments shared reading can be just as effective in grades 3-6 as it is in the primary grades. "Text Savvy "shows you how to make it work in your classroom. "Text Savvy" helps you implement a consistent, manageable, shared reading framework with the sophistication and wider variety of entry points that upper-elementary students need. Sarah Daunis and Maria Cassiani Iams present a five-day shared reading structure-called weekly shared reading-that engages students' foundational reading skills and helps them build on what they've learned. Best of all, weekly shared reading is an ideal approach to studying genres as well as an opportunity for consistently supporting reading skills across the content areas. With weekly shared reading, "Text Savvy" introduces you to a powerful teaching and learning tool that can change how you approach many aspects of your teaching. Let Daunis and Iams show you how weekly shared reading can:

help students integrate five essential reading skills in order to understand a variety of texts in a variety of genres actually make additional time for student assessment by introducing the power and possibilities of "assessing on the run" support classrooms with a wide range of readers, learning styles, and proficiencies offer substantial support to students in test preparation and test taking give learners new entrees into the content of the subject areas and give teachers a smart framework to use throughout the curriculum. Present students smart, structured, and scaffolded opportunities to delve deeply into texts. Read "Text Savvy," use weekly shared reading, and reinforce the strategies and skills that you teach in other aspects of your reading curriculum. Then watch as your students improve their use of reading strategies and develop the independence they need to grow as readers.

Sarah Daunis is the coauthor of Text Savvy (2007). She honed her craft as an upper-elementary teacher in New York City schools; she recently relocated to Providence, Rhode Island, to teach fourth grade at The Wheeler School. She has worked as a cooperating teacher, supporting teachers in training for the masters programs at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Brown University. Sarah lives in Providence with her husband, Matt Ransford.