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The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers
With hit books that support strategic reading through conferring, small groups, and assessment, Jen Serravallo gets emails almost daily asking, "Isn't there a book of the strategies themselves?" Now there is. "Strategies make the often invisible work of reading actionable and visible," Jen writes. In The Reading Strategies Book , she collects 300 strategies to share with readers in support of thirteen goals-everything from fluency to literary analysis. Each strategy is cross-linked to skills, genres, and Fountas & Pinnell reading levels to give you just-right teaching, just in time. With Jen's help you' Whether you use readers workshop, Daily 5/CAFE, guided reading, balanced reading, a core reading program, whole-class novels, or any other approach, The Reading Strategies Book will complement and extend your teaching. Rely on it to plan and implement goal-directed, differentiated instruction for individuals, small groups, and whole classes. "We offer strategies to readers to put the work in doable terms for those who are still practicing," writes Jen Serravallo. "The goal is not that they can do the steps of the strategy but that they become more comfortable and competent with a new skill." With The Reading Strategies Book , you'll have ways to help your readers make progress every day.
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2015
106 people are currently reading
1937 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
July 2, 2015
As teachers, we all have shelves of professional books that we have read and have gleaned an idea or two to use in our teaching, and even some that have transformed our approach to literacy (The Book Whisperer, What Readers Really Do, Notice & Note to name a few). This book, however, will not sit on your shelf. This is a book that will be referenced daily in your work to help students increase their skills on the path to becoming more engaged, more thoughtful, and just plain better readers.
Jennifer has compiled 300 go-to strategies that are arranged in an easy-to-use format. Each strategy is explained briefly, followed by prompts and anchor chart examples - all on a single, clean page. Sidebars help the teacher to see the appropriate level, type of text, and the main focus of each strategy. The strategies are grouped by larger goal and the introduction gives clear explanations of how to build the reader up by working on mastering one goal over several weeks of learning different strategies.
An amazing resource as a stand-alone book, teachers using a workshop approach to reading would benefit from pairing it with the information in The Literacy Teacher's Playbook.
Jennifer has compiled 300 go-to strategies that are arranged in an easy-to-use format. Each strategy is explained briefly, followed by prompts and anchor chart examples - all on a single, clean page. Sidebars help the teacher to see the appropriate level, type of text, and the main focus of each strategy. The strategies are grouped by larger goal and the introduction gives clear explanations of how to build the reader up by working on mastering one goal over several weeks of learning different strategies.
An amazing resource as a stand-alone book, teachers using a workshop approach to reading would benefit from pairing it with the information in The Literacy Teacher's Playbook.
June 6, 2015
An excellent resource for any teacher of reading and writing! No matter how you run your reader's workshop, this resource is a must have. With thirteen chapters outlining thirteen goals you will have your next steps for any student at any level. Each goal is broken down into twenty plus strategies with teacher prompts and visuals to help you move the reader. With several chapters on comprehension you will no longer wonder what to teach next to an advanced or novice reader. This book is for K-8 teachers and should be at the top of your TBR list!
For a more extensive review of this book, click the link: https://twowritingteachers.wordpress....
For a more extensive review of this book, click the link: https://twowritingteachers.wordpress....
December 30, 2016
This book is loaded with strategies to help students reach their reading goals for fiction or nonfiction. Many are obvious - things that teachers would do anyway, some are helpful, some are not. The author is terrific and really knows her stuff.
May 31, 2019
Exactly what it says on the tin: 300 pretty solid strategies for teaching reading skills.
Serravallo is a workshop-oriented teacher, and a lot of her strategies are geared for that setting. There are few graphic organizers and a lot of jotting notes, having discussions, and journalling. That's how reading should be.
The formatting is excellent, and I wish that more books were set up this way. Each strategy has a title, a description, and examples of prompts or questions you might give the students. Serravallo is also a strong advocate of including some visuals on her anchor charts- something I should do a lot more of.
Serravallo is a workshop-oriented teacher, and a lot of her strategies are geared for that setting. There are few graphic organizers and a lot of jotting notes, having discussions, and journalling. That's how reading should be.
The formatting is excellent, and I wish that more books were set up this way. Each strategy has a title, a description, and examples of prompts or questions you might give the students. Serravallo is also a strong advocate of including some visuals on her anchor charts- something I should do a lot more of.
Read
June 22, 2019This book is an excellent resource for Elementary teachers. I love so many of the reading strategies and plan to use some of these in my classroom.
April 9, 2021
Oh NO. oh NO. i didn't finish this book but just a skim was enough to realize this book is based on "looking at the picture and trying to guess the word" aka "whole language" or whatever it's called now... Which is, like, debunked, everyone. Who the F is reading this book and giving it 5 star ratings, i sure hope it's not teachers, for the sake of their students who aren't going to be able to read once they leave school. Idk. Maybe these strategies are more for older kids who already know how to read. Anyway it's bad. Guessing from the picture isn't reading, lol
September 22, 2015
Excellent resource. Can't wait to put to use in my instruction...
July 9, 2015
Excellent resource!!! All reading teachers need to have their own copy to cherish, dog-ear, mark up, and use forever. Great work Jen Serravallo! :)
November 19, 2016
Given the fact that I read so often, so broadly (although mostly within nonfiction of various genres), and, if I may immodestly say so myself, so well, it may seem somewhat odd that I enjoy reading and listening to material about how to read books better [1]. This is perhaps even more surprising given that this book is aimed at language arts teachers for grades K-8, and given that my instruction of those age groups has generally assumed that someone was able to handle a book rather than involved teaching them how to do so for themselves. Even though I have never been a language arts teacher, I found that this book was somewhat relevant in that it brought to mind what had long been implicit strategies for myself. Seeing as I learned how to read so early and so profoundly, it was interesting to see what sort of prompting and scaffolding were used by language arts teachers to prompt students to read and to reflect on and respond to what they were reading when those students were not particularly motivated themselves to engage in such tasks. This is not to say that I found this book perfect, or without serious problems even, but rather that I found it useful and productive, and certainly worth thinking about and responding to.
This book is a practical guide and recipe book in that it provides 300 strategies (no exaggeration here) for how teachers can guide their students to read better. The author seems to presuppose that the readers of this book will be able to classify readers based on an A-Z scale, as the strategies assume different levels of reading proficiency generally but not strictly moving from lower levels to higher levels. The 300 strategies are divided into thirteen main goals that are organized in a systematic fashion: Supporting pre-emergent and emergent readers, teaching reading engagement: focus, stamina, and building a reading life, supporting print work: increasing accuracy and integrating sources of information, teaching fluency: reading with phrasing, intonation, and automaticity, supporting comprehension in fiction: understanding plot and setting as well as thinking about characters and understanding themes and ideas, supporting comprehension in nonfiction through determining main topic(s) and idea(s), determining key details, and getting the most from text features, improving comprehension in fiction and nonfiction by understanding vocabulary and figurative language, supporting students' conversations in speaking, listening, and deepening comprehension, and in improving writing about reading. The strategies themselves seek to improve a wide variety of tasks, including critical thinking skills and the self-knowledge of encouraging young readers to think about what kind of books they enjoy reading and reading more of those (while gradually expanding one's tastes) to build habits of reading what one loves.
There is a lot to appreciate in a book like this one, and as someone who reads regularly and enjoys reading a great deal, this book hits the right notes in encouraging teachers to encourage reading among their young students. To be sure, this book is not aimed at young readers, but is rather aimed at those who are seeking to mold and encourage young minds to put the time and focus and energy into reading well, thinking deeply about what one has read, and being able to talk and write about the material one reads in books in an intelligent and thoughtful fashion. The book is intensely practical, and ought to provide any marginally competent language arts teacher with enough material to thoughtfully present reading both in-class and for homework assignments for independent reading of both fiction and nonfiction over a diverse group of genres ranging from poetry to historical fiction to picture books to nonfiction like histories and biographies and books about math and science. Nevertheless, there are a few areas where this book stumbles, because the author approaches language arts from a clearly leftist social and political worldview. The author's seeming preoccupation with gender and sexual politics is unseemly and immoral, and the author seems unaware that an encouragement to young people to think critically and reflectively on their readings, and the biases of writers, will lead such young people to be critical of the teaching methods and approach of the author herself. This book shows the typical leftist blind spot of not being able to see the biases of their own worldview, which makes it likely that this book will encourage debates in ways that the author may not find entirely comfortable. After all, leftists like the author are notoriously tolerant only of those who think and vote and act like they do, and encourage young people to think critically only if they criticize the same things they do.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
This book is a practical guide and recipe book in that it provides 300 strategies (no exaggeration here) for how teachers can guide their students to read better. The author seems to presuppose that the readers of this book will be able to classify readers based on an A-Z scale, as the strategies assume different levels of reading proficiency generally but not strictly moving from lower levels to higher levels. The 300 strategies are divided into thirteen main goals that are organized in a systematic fashion: Supporting pre-emergent and emergent readers, teaching reading engagement: focus, stamina, and building a reading life, supporting print work: increasing accuracy and integrating sources of information, teaching fluency: reading with phrasing, intonation, and automaticity, supporting comprehension in fiction: understanding plot and setting as well as thinking about characters and understanding themes and ideas, supporting comprehension in nonfiction through determining main topic(s) and idea(s), determining key details, and getting the most from text features, improving comprehension in fiction and nonfiction by understanding vocabulary and figurative language, supporting students' conversations in speaking, listening, and deepening comprehension, and in improving writing about reading. The strategies themselves seek to improve a wide variety of tasks, including critical thinking skills and the self-knowledge of encouraging young readers to think about what kind of books they enjoy reading and reading more of those (while gradually expanding one's tastes) to build habits of reading what one loves.
There is a lot to appreciate in a book like this one, and as someone who reads regularly and enjoys reading a great deal, this book hits the right notes in encouraging teachers to encourage reading among their young students. To be sure, this book is not aimed at young readers, but is rather aimed at those who are seeking to mold and encourage young minds to put the time and focus and energy into reading well, thinking deeply about what one has read, and being able to talk and write about the material one reads in books in an intelligent and thoughtful fashion. The book is intensely practical, and ought to provide any marginally competent language arts teacher with enough material to thoughtfully present reading both in-class and for homework assignments for independent reading of both fiction and nonfiction over a diverse group of genres ranging from poetry to historical fiction to picture books to nonfiction like histories and biographies and books about math and science. Nevertheless, there are a few areas where this book stumbles, because the author approaches language arts from a clearly leftist social and political worldview. The author's seeming preoccupation with gender and sexual politics is unseemly and immoral, and the author seems unaware that an encouragement to young people to think critically and reflectively on their readings, and the biases of writers, will lead such young people to be critical of the teaching methods and approach of the author herself. This book shows the typical leftist blind spot of not being able to see the biases of their own worldview, which makes it likely that this book will encourage debates in ways that the author may not find entirely comfortable. After all, leftists like the author are notoriously tolerant only of those who think and vote and act like they do, and encourage young people to think critically only if they criticize the same things they do.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
February 27, 2021
A must have!
June 2, 2022
While many of these strategies seem more applicable to elementary teachers, there are also a plethora that are applicable to secondary, especially middle school.
July 7, 2015
This book came along at a perfect time for me. Some of my colleagues and I just put the finishing touches on a new ELA curriculum for our school district. This book is full of wonderful strategies that fit beautifully with this curriculum. I thought using goals instead of chapters to chunk out this book was brilliant. Each goal begins with a few pages of explanation on why that goal is important and how to know if it is right for your students. Each of the 13 goals has strategies for different levels of readers as well as those applicable for readers of all levels. I especially enjoyed goal 13 - "Improving Writing about Reading." This is one of those books principals who understand the value of powerful instructional and learning strategies and the importance of being a viable instructional leader will gladly spend the money to equip their teachers with.
October 28, 2017
LOVE this book! Teachers: if you want a fantastic reading resource, Jennifer’s handy 400+ page book is it! I’ve taught reading to students for 25 years & am enthralled with the strategies & organization & practical ideas offered within its user friendly format. I can’t say enough, except that I also love Serravallo’s “Writing Strategies Book” —they are both a bit $, but well worth it! The strategies cover emergent readers to advanced readers. The strategies offered are immediately applicable & often act as a springboard. Each suggestion is based on a goal & ed research. Really good! Thx Jen!
August 22, 2015
This is one of those books I will use over and over again. As a teacher, I have certain books I flock to frequently: Cafe, Daily 5, The Next Step in Guided Reading, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, and parts of the Literacy Teacher's Playbook. The Reading Strategies book will be among my tried and true books. These strategies are very detailed and most give an anchor chart example to go with it. This should be on every reading teacher's shelf.
July 16, 2020
This book is an absolutely AMAZING resource for anyone who teaches literacy at the elementary and middle school levels!! I will be returning to this treasure again and again and can’t wait to implement so many new, thoughtful, and creative ideas with my students!!
November 8, 2020
A wonderful reading strategies book to keep on your desk whether you are teaching whole or small reading groups. It offers over 300 reading comprehension strategies your students will enjoy using. Finally a reading how to book for busy teachers.
November 24, 2016
This is an outstanding resource for teaching reading.
April 12, 2021
This should be in every teacher's classroom.
January 18, 2022
Hands-down my favorite resource for guided reading and literacy lessons. This book is invaluable. Very well organized, practical, and effective. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
November 23, 2019
This book is a valuable professional resource for educators. It is very easy to use right away in the classroom. The table of contents organizes the different reading skills based on the level of readers that you are teaching. It has goals for each level and then lessons to help in teaching those goals. Using the table of contents educators can find the goal they are working towards and an activity to help their readers understand that skill. I love the examples of anchor charts to create with students to help them remember the skill, they are very easy to make! For example, teaching the skill for reading fluency: “Make the Bumpy Smooth”. This skill is about helping students understand that when they are reading they should read in phrases and not one word at a time. The anchor chart is a simple car going over a bumpy path where you show words written in that way and can model that for students, then words written in a smooth path. This book uses kid-friendly and helps the skills make sense for students. I love this book because it is really helpful to have resources and ideas of visuals I can create to help my readers in both fluency and comprehension skills with any children's book. It also gives examples of children's books to use to teach fluency and comprehension skills.
This author also has other books to help with both reading and writing strategies. She makes it easy to implement lessons in the classroom and incorporate children's literature to help with readers and writers at many levels. I use these activities for both whole group and small group lessons. They help me create a goal for my readers each week and give me strategies to help them achieve their goal. I recommend this book, as well as, the Writing Strategies book to any educator!
This author also has other books to help with both reading and writing strategies. She makes it easy to implement lessons in the classroom and incorporate children's literature to help with readers and writers at many levels. I use these activities for both whole group and small group lessons. They help me create a goal for my readers each week and give me strategies to help them achieve their goal. I recommend this book, as well as, the Writing Strategies book to any educator!
December 2, 2019
I recommend this book to all elementary reading teachers! The book is an easy read, and a great "go to" resource that can be used to plan and carry out reading conferences with students, small group lessons, and/or whole group mini lessons. The book is organized by 13 different "reading goals" that each meet the various reading levels/needs that elementary students might need to focus on. Each goal is explained in depth so that teachers are able to select goals that are appropriate for each of the students in their classroom. Within each goal, there are strategy lessons that address specific skills, levels, and genres. Each strategy lesson includes anchor chart examples, prompts for teachers to use, student-friendly explanations, and great teaching tips. The lessons are simple, easy to follow, and effective! Another reason I love this book is because it also provides teachers with examples of children's books that could easily be used to help teach each strategy.
If you want to learn more about this book, click on the link below. The link will take you to a YouTube video that was created by the author of the book, Jen Serravallo. In the video, she explains her purpose for writing the book, and more information about how the book is structured to help teachers meet the various reading needs of their students. Check out her video by clicking on the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG4va...
If you want to learn more about this book, click on the link below. The link will take you to a YouTube video that was created by the author of the book, Jen Serravallo. In the video, she explains her purpose for writing the book, and more information about how the book is structured to help teachers meet the various reading needs of their students. Check out her video by clicking on the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG4va...
July 30, 2018
This book is HUGE!!! It is chock-full of ideas to teach reading.
1. It shows the F&P levels so you know who to teach the strategies to. And it explains why, in some instances.
2. It is arranged in what I feel is order of importance. The earlier in the book, the more likely a student has to master the skills before moving on. Also, the earlier in each chapter the same is true.
3. The narrative pages at the beginning of each section tell you who the goals are for.
4. Clear and concise "Strategy" description helps to make quick choices.
5. The graphic organizers are very helpful in picturing the strategy in use.
6. The lesson language makes it easy to plan what to say and do.
7. The prompts are short and allow students to do most of the talking while giving them the support they need.
8. The range of topics and ideas are helpful for any reader - including adults!
I really like that the author understands the real classroom. She helps with ideas for basal readers, guided reading, Daily 5, etc., so no matter what your district or building expects of you, you're set to go!
I haven't yet tried any of the lessons in this book, but I could picture using them in whole-group, small group, and one-on-one settings. This book obviously took a lot of work and thought, and I am impressed.
1. It shows the F&P levels so you know who to teach the strategies to. And it explains why, in some instances.
2. It is arranged in what I feel is order of importance. The earlier in the book, the more likely a student has to master the skills before moving on. Also, the earlier in each chapter the same is true.
3. The narrative pages at the beginning of each section tell you who the goals are for.
4. Clear and concise "Strategy" description helps to make quick choices.
5. The graphic organizers are very helpful in picturing the strategy in use.
6. The lesson language makes it easy to plan what to say and do.
7. The prompts are short and allow students to do most of the talking while giving them the support they need.
8. The range of topics and ideas are helpful for any reader - including adults!
I really like that the author understands the real classroom. She helps with ideas for basal readers, guided reading, Daily 5, etc., so no matter what your district or building expects of you, you're set to go!
I haven't yet tried any of the lessons in this book, but I could picture using them in whole-group, small group, and one-on-one settings. This book obviously took a lot of work and thought, and I am impressed.
August 28, 2020
Decidí leer este libro porque quería ser un lector voraz, estaba en busca de los mejores consejos acerca de cómo tener una comprensión profunda de los libros, sabía que la velocidad no es lo más importante y sabía que la toma de apuntes es una de las mejores estrategias, pero queria mas, quería conocer nuevas maneras de tomar apuntes y reflexionar acerca del contenido que me permitieran entender más en menos tiempo.
En esa búsqueda de estrategias me tope con este libro, y aunque solo se consigue en formato físico y además está especialmente diseñado para enseñarle a niños, me deje llevar de los otros reviews y decidí conseguirlo. Lo lei y extraje las mejores estrategias que se pueden aplicar para lectores adultos que espero algun dia publicar.
aproximadamente un 70% de las estrategias las podrás aplicar siendo un lector adulto, si estás bien con esto, te recomiendo este libro para que seas un mejor lector de por vida.
En esa búsqueda de estrategias me tope con este libro, y aunque solo se consigue en formato físico y además está especialmente diseñado para enseñarle a niños, me deje llevar de los otros reviews y decidí conseguirlo. Lo lei y extraje las mejores estrategias que se pueden aplicar para lectores adultos que espero algun dia publicar.
aproximadamente un 70% de las estrategias las podrás aplicar siendo un lector adulto, si estás bien con esto, te recomiendo este libro para que seas un mejor lector de por vida.
November 14, 2022
I can’t decide if I love it or hate it. Several strategies at your fingertips on a daily basis to use with students to improve their reading. None really new or different than what I’ve been doing just more neatly organized. None are really thorough in their explanation of how they look in action. Unless you pay for the workshops or the other materials…The videos leave me with more questions. Is this book club or is this small group instruction based on independent reading? In the videos the students are reading the same books, in practice they are supposed to be independent reading. What’s the purpose of meeting in small groups if their books are different? They learn the same skill and talk about it but what are the other students getting out of sitting and watching someone talk (possible incorrectly) about a book they’ve never read? Three people are watching the other’s meeting it seems. I’m going to put it into action this week and update my review later.
October 21, 2018
There is so much in this book that is useful. I wll use it every week this year when I'm working on fluency and comprehension reading goals with my 4th graders.
I'm taking off two stars because two chapters - the strategies promoted for Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers as well as "Promoting Print Work" (strategies to "solve" words) -- many of the strategies promoted in those two sections are more harmful than helpful.
The strategies like "make a guess that makes sense" or "look at the picture and make a guess" do not help students develop as readers. They leave big gaps in decoding skills that hurt readers later.
This is a great book for helping students learn to think deeply about what they're reading--but if they're tripped up on words they can't read, put this book down and support with a researched-based phonics program.
I'm taking off two stars because two chapters - the strategies promoted for Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers as well as "Promoting Print Work" (strategies to "solve" words) -- many of the strategies promoted in those two sections are more harmful than helpful.
The strategies like "make a guess that makes sense" or "look at the picture and make a guess" do not help students develop as readers. They leave big gaps in decoding skills that hurt readers later.
This is a great book for helping students learn to think deeply about what they're reading--but if they're tripped up on words they can't read, put this book down and support with a researched-based phonics program.
November 4, 2019
This book was recommended to me by a colleague for a possible inclusion in my "Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum" class. However, the class I teach is secondary based, and this text, for the most part, is primary based. There were some useful ideas within this text that I think could be implemented at any level, such as:
(1) "Break Reads" on page 49
(2) "A Spin on KWL" on page 252
(3) "Don't Skip It!" on page 285
(4) "Conversation Playing Board" on page 336
One caution I would offer is that there are SO MANY RESOURCES in this text that I think it would be overwhelming for undergraduate teacher education candidates. Perhaps this could be a supplemental text that students could examine once they have an understanding of literacy and various literacy activities in their own content areas. Then, they have the prior knowledge needed to be more successful.
(1) "Break Reads" on page 49
(2) "A Spin on KWL" on page 252
(3) "Don't Skip It!" on page 285
(4) "Conversation Playing Board" on page 336
One caution I would offer is that there are SO MANY RESOURCES in this text that I think it would be overwhelming for undergraduate teacher education candidates. Perhaps this could be a supplemental text that students could examine once they have an understanding of literacy and various literacy activities in their own content areas. Then, they have the prior knowledge needed to be more successful.
July 20, 2017
I used a whole pack of sticky tabs just to mark the great ideas I've found in this book. Going into my second year of teaching elementary kids, this book really opened my eyes to reading strategies I had never even dreamed of but would really work well for students I had last year. This year, I now have a toolkit of strategies inside this book which will help all of my students become even better readers than they already are.
January 12, 2019
The Reading Strategies Book is a wonderful compliment to any emergent, intermediate (and beyond) literacy class. The visuals, layout, and instruction are perfect for preservice and new teachers. It breaks down the strategy by Fountas and Pinnell text level gradient, genre/text type and skill. It also has teaching tips and prompts for every strategy. The author shows some wonderful examples of strategy anchor charts.
August 7, 2019
This is perhaps the best collection of reading strategies I have ever found. The book is broken up into different goals including things like engagement, fluency, comprehension for fiction and nonfiction, and writing about reading. Each strategy is broken down into easy to follow steps and includes tips and visuals to support the teaching of the strategies. This is my go-to book for reading instruction.
January 28, 2021
Jennifer Serravallo navigates 300 teaching strategies for helping students read effectively! This organized book is filled with great tools, including 13 tiered goals and how to determine each students’ ideal path to reading independence. I loved how Serravallo created flexible strategies to help teachers individualize reading instruction. I really want to dive into her writing strategies book as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews