Assessing And Teaching Beginning Readers: A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

"The Early Literacy Reading Continuum helps prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers use observation of students' interactions with texts and oral language to plan for and monitor reading development and meet district and state early literacy objectives within a developmental framework"--Provided by publisher.

Through his work with teachers of young children, David Matteson has seen that building strong foundations in early literacy can significantly impact how schools meet the challenges of federal, state, and district mandates. His experiences in primary, elementary, and middle school classrooms, especially those in inner-city schools, have validated his belief that in order for children to be successful they must have an early literacy foundation that is developmentally appropriate, academically rigorous, and based upon informal and formal assessments. He believes that the more a school or district devotes its resources to the early primary grades, especially preschool, the more return they receive on their investment.

In addition to continuing her work as a prekindergarten teacher and providing inservice to teachers, Deborah Freeman also mentors preservice teachers through the University of Texas at Arlington. Debbie uses Assessing and Teaching Beginning Readers: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words and Assessing and Teaching Beginning Writers: Every Picture Tells a Story as critical pieces of these future teachers’ literacy training. She believes that these books help all teachers develop stronger theories of reading and writing, stronger understandings about instructional resources, and stronger understandings of developmentally appropriate practices as they relate to literacy activities.