Lesson Plans
Teacher Methods
QAR Questions and Answers by Type
A guide to use when teaching students the Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy to help teachers plan which questions to ask for the four question types and an answer that might be given.
QAR Questions and Answers by Type
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Template
Guide your thinking, organize your decisions, and create active practice activities related to explicit vocabulary instruction. This resource is divided into the five major aspects of explicit vocabulary instruction and includes guiding questions to ground your planning in evidence-based practices.
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Template
Higher-order Questions Checklist
Students can use this checklist to classify and generate higher-order questions about a text. These types of questions require analyzing or evaluating the text or creating something new.
Higher-order Questions Checklist
Why is it Important to Ask Good Questions? (Anchor Chart)
This anchor chart provides examples of students’ responses when asked to consider how they will use question generation inside and outside of the classroom.
Why is it Important to Ask Good Questions?
Important Elements of Literary Texts Anchor Chart
Students may use this anchor chart to formulate questions about important elements of literary texts.
Important Elements of Literary Texts
Reading Comprehension Graphic Organizers
Making Inferences
Using two prompts, users will be able to use this organizer to practice inferencing skills, which are critical for reading comprehension.
"Making Inferences" graphic organizer
What Am I Thinking Organizer
Users of this tool are encouraged to write down their thoughts about a text in four different ways (opinion, reaction, connection, and visualization) and provide reasons from the text for their thoughts.
"What Am I Thinking" graphic organizer
Bookmarks and Book Inserts
CROWD
CROWD is used to remember the types of basic questions to ask to facilitate dialogic reading: completion, recall, open-ended, “wh” questions, and distancing.
Set of CROWD bookmarks
PEER
PEER questions are meant to encourage deeper responses about a text during dialogic reading, leading to a conversation beyond one-word answers.
Set of PEER bookmarks
Interactive Reading Guide Book Inserts
This guide can be put in every book at home or in the classroom library to help plan new vocabulary and questions you want to include when reading with children in order to facilitate dialogic reading.
Set of Interactive Reading Guide Book Inserts
English Language Facilitation Guides
Fun and Effective Ways to Read to Children
This guide provides an overall orientation to Colorin Colorado, a national multimedia project offering a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners.
"Fun and Effective Ways to Read to Children" facilitation guide
Reading Tips for Parents
This facilitation guide features Reading Rockets, a website that provides family members tips for helping kids become successful readers. Information can be searched by age or grade, disability area, and home language.
"Reading Tips for Parents" facilitation guide
Parent-Teacher Communication
Parent Support Checklist
This checklist outlines the steps family members can take when they have concerns regarding their child’s reading performance.
Parent Support Checklist
Collaborator Contribution
Family Letters for Schools
The Iowa Department of Education provides letter templates and other documents to assist with implementation of the state’s early literacy laws. The letters are intended to assist schools in communicating with families about universal screening assessments and results.
The documents begin on Page 28 of the “Early Literacy Technical Assistance Appendices.”
White Papers From Collaborators
Collaborator Contribution
How to Make Handwriting Part of Early Literacy Instruction
By Shawn Datchuk, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Iowa College of Education
This white paper explains how handwriting assessments can be used to analyze a student’s handwriting and then offers instructional techniques to improve the handwriting of elementary-aged students.
How to Make Handwriting Part of Early Literacy Instruction
Collaborator Contribution
Strong Girls Read Strong Books
By Renita Schmidt, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, University of Iowa College of Education
Amanda Haertling Thein, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, University of Iowa College of Education
The authors explain how they go about selecting texts for their afterschool reading club that helps girls grow into strong women through reading books featuring strong female protagonists. They also highlight key practices they have found useful in reading and responding to those texts.
Strong Girls Read Strong Books
Pronunciation Guides for Letter Sounds
Collaborator Contribution
Letter Sounds Video
Collaborator Contribution
Vowel Sounds Video