Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Grades 3-6
Ready-to-Go Resources and Planning Tools Galore
- Nancy Boyles - Southern Connecticut State University, USA
Foreword by Tanny McGregor
Corwin Literacy
English/Language Arts Common Core | Literacy (Primary/Elementary) | Reading (Primary/Elementary)
Every teacher who is struggling to make close reading a cohesive and coherent part of the curriculum, take notice: relief is in sight, thanks to Nancy Boyles’ Lessons and Units for Closer Reading
Here, Nancy redefines what it means to publish on demand with a resource that answers your most urgent questions around how to implement close reading within the literacy block. What’s more, she delivers all the goods: eight three-week units on close reading to immediately drop in to the curriculum and achieve that so-essential connectedness and coherence.
Want a year-long curriculum? You’ve got it. There are 32 lessons in all, based on readily available complex picture books and organized by eight learning pathways for approaching important themes in literature and information. You can get started right away, with the help of:
- Short nonfiction articles to kick off each unit and get kids’ minds percolating
- Assessment tasks, rubrics, planning templates, booklists, and more to make close reading instruction easy, efficient, and effective
- Links to 20+ video segments showing close reading and follow-up lessons in action
- Page-by-page text-dependent questions for every picture book
- Student work providing exemplars for writing about reading
- 10 Planning Steps for developing new units of study
Nancy Boyle’s Closer Reading expertly delivered answers to the why and how of close reading. Now, with this phenomenal sequel, you’re treated to her playbook. This is the one that will sit in your lap while you teach, each and every day.
Check out MiddleWeb's review of Lessons and Units for Closer Reading here.
“Lessons and Units for Closer Reading reassures teachers like me to the same degree that it instructs. It is no accident that Nancy uses words like coherence, connections, and synergy in her opening pages. Through her unit and lesson design, she brings that coherence to us in incremental, practical ways—ways that new and experienced teachers can easily absorb into their teaching practices. Nancy is giving us what we want: specific lesson ideas based on a solid framework that uses children’s literature, but it is actually what we need, too.”
“In her new book, Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Nancy Boyles offers teachers what they ask for and need the most—practical, useable strategies and examples in the form of actual close reading lessons—32 to be exact—along with 23 videos accessible through QR codes that show how to implement these close reading lessons and related strategies. What a treasure trove of modeling and guidance for teachers! As a former elementary educator myself, how I wish I had had this powerful resource to help me become a better teacher of reading.”
“The Common Core Standards call for students to be able to read texts closely to make meaning and for students to build knowledge systematically (CCSS for ELA, p. 33, 2010). This book provides a vivid picture of instruction that supports this kind of learning. Boyles’ text speaks to the teacher who has been grappling with how to develop units and strategically integrate close reading lessons, providing clarity and inspiration. This is a must-have text for educators and will remain a go-to resource in my professional library for many years to come.”
“Now you understand what close reading is, but you need the nitty-gritty. Presto, Nancy Boyles delivers eight stellar units of study. Her lessons are practical, the text-dependent questions for all those marvelous picture books save you a few weeks of arduous planning. But what I admire most of all? The gallery of student work she’s gathered, with her commentary about strengths, needs, next steps. It’s a rare window into another practitioner’s thinking about what constitutes higher-level reading and writing work. Everybody’s talking about it, but no one has done such a good job showing it until now.”
“Everywhere you turn, headlines call for students to read with depth and rigor. But few teachers get the support they need to bring this about for 25+ students each and every school day. Nancy Boyles’ new book gives them that ‘how-to,’ and it’s remarkable. She provides seven units of study [plus] a valuable planning guide that shows them how to design their own units with a depth that motivates and engages students. Once teachers ace the planning process, the day-to-day implementation of the units becomes easier. I predict that this book will become teachers’ favorite resource for unit design.”