New book by Robb, Rasinski and Harrison- Ready to use Differentiated Lessons for Grades 3-6. An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito

Before I became a reading teacher/professor, I was a social studies teacher for five years. So, I’ve had an ongoing interest in how to best teach our older students. Imagine my delight when I found out that three well-credentialed reading experts have gotten together to create a book designed to help readers in grades 3-6. I can’t tell you how many times at a conference I have been asked how we can help readers at this age, and this book certainly provides a go-to resource to that end. David Harrison has custom-written short, high-interest passages for the lessons. Tim Rasinski has made word ladders to go with the lessons. How good is that? Add to that the fact that Laura Robb has done a masterful job of organizing the book so that teachers can easily access the lessons they want at the difficulty levels they want. Some lessons can be used for struggling readers but also for both on- and above-level readers. I believe the lessons can be adapted for readers outside the 3-6 grade range. I know this book will become one of my go-to resources. Let’s now learn a little about each of the authors:

Here are the timed stamped talking points for the Interview (that way so you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)

Here is a link to the U-Tube Interview:

Here is a link to the book LINK:

Laura Robb- Here are the links to three of Laura’s books:

Increase Reading Volume: Practical Strategies That Boost Students’ Achievement and Passion for Reading, NCTE:   https://store.ncte.org/book/increase-reading-volume-practical-strategies-boost-students-achievement-and-passion-reading

Guided Practice For Reading Growth: Texts and Lessons to Improve Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary, Corwin Literacy:  https://us.corwin.com/books/guided-practice-for-reading-270980

Vocabulary Is Comprehension: Getting to the Root of Text Complexity, Corwin Literacy:  https://us.corwin.com/books/vocabulary-is-comprehension-24247H9

Here is a link to the Robb Review – LINK

Here is a link to the Robb Review podcast- LINK

Here is a link to Tim’s website LINK:

Here is a link to David’s blog/website LINK.

Final Thoughts & a peek at upcoming blogs:

As I said in the introduction, I predict this book will become teachers’ go-to resource. The custom-made supporting materials include both the high-interest passages and the word ladders. These lay the foundation for easy-to-use lessons that teachers can use for many different purposes.

I have several several interesting blogs in the works. Next week, I will be posting my interview with Ken Nesbitt. He will give us a tour of his amazing poetry site, Poetry4Kids. That site provides a treasure trove of resources. He will give us a cook’s tour of those resources and explain how they can be used. I also will be talking to Mary Howard about her recent post about guided reading. That post appeared in the Robb Review. I’m also arranging an interview with Jan Wasowicz, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, about SPELLtalk and her thoughts about Bruce Hewett’s recent post on that site. In that post, Bruce proposed a way to end the reading wars LINK. So, many interesting things are coming up as we get started in this new school year. Until next week, this is Dr. Sam signing off.  

Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)

Copyright 2023 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

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