On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K-3

Sharon Taberski really offers practical, useful, and inspriring information that all teachers need. If you are a new teacher she will provide useful ideas that can be used in all primary classrooms. If you are a seasoned teacher, she will re-energize you and provide new techniques to make teaching reading more interesting. Plus I love the fact that she stresses reading expository texts, this is truly essential in todays NCLB environment where standardized testing emphasizes expository texts. Sharon also does amazing things with her folders, you have to read it in order to truly appreciate it. I almost forgot to mention the reproducibles, even if you don't read the book, buy it for the reproducibles and the folder organizing ideas.

I have used the theories and practices from this book more than any other professional book I've read. I'm reading it now for the third time. Sharon Taberski's style of teaching is how I aspire to teach. Each time I reread a part of this book and apply something new, I get a little closer. I would recommend this book to new and experienced teachers!

I have read dozens of professional books, but the difference between Sharon's and the others was that I came back to hers three times. And even though I've been teaching over a dozen years, Sharon has helped to clarify even further the hows and whys of helping all kinds of learners to read and write. She certainly comes across as a very hard working, skilled and successful individual. And yet, as mentioned in the forward by her own principal, Sharon makes the whole process seem really simple. I can't wait to get back to work and adapt some of her ideas to my own as she herself encourages the reader to do. I'm so glad I found this one, and I'm sure you will be too!

This book truly does speak to both the new as well as the seasoned teacher. What I appreciated the most was the author's ability to "cut to the chase" in the area of teaching reading. I am especially excited about using the reading folder she uses to store both teacher assessments and student responses to reading. The section on what the "other kids are doing" while the teacher is working with a guided group was extremely valuable as was her description of SSR. I knew something wasn't quite right with my class SSR time, and this book not only identified the problem but provided a logical and do-able alternative. Whether a teacher is new and needs the basics of teaching literacy or is experienced and needs help pulling out what are the best teaching practices, this book is superb!

Whether you're a new primary teacher or a seasoned professional, you need this book. Sharon Taberski spells out, in clear, inspirational language, how she establishes and maintains her outstanding reading program throughout the school year, at the Manhattan New School in New York City. Her approach makes sense because she knows precisely what she is doing. She assesses her students continuously to determine their strengths and weaknesses, then uses what she learns to inform all of her teaching decisions, in one-on-one, small-group, and whole-class situations. In a time when the right way to teach reading seems to be anyone's guess, it's refreshing to get a perspective from somebody who's in the trenches daily, cares so deeply about children, and is seeing results. Indeed, real reading is happening in Sharon Taberski's classroom. It's happening in mine, too, thanks to this book. And it can happen in yours.