Great Reads

• Picture Books That Are Just Plain Fun to Read Aloud and
• Picture Book Authors You Can Always Count On — Jennie Nash
• The American Library Association's Caldecott Medal Home Page The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Your library undoubtedly has copies of Caldecott finalists, and I recommend that you seek them out.

• Books for Your Earliest Readers Books using word families, and books that are just plain fun and easy to read.
• Using "Reader Series'" With Your Literacy Students Ruth uses and recommends these books.
• Recommended Series' for Intermediate Readers — Jennie Nash

• Picture Books for Older Readers You can find a wealth of easy-to-read books that teens and adults will enjoy.
• Picture Books for Older Readers Suitable for Shared Reading New Zealand Ministry of Education presents a book list arranged by theme.

• Book Hive
• Themed Reviews by www.childrenslit.com

Reproducible Books

The number of books that beginning readers need is mind-boggling. While a more highly-developed reader may take a week or more to digest one book, early readers may go through several books in just one session. If you're short on funds (and who isn't?), these reproducibles can fill in your book collection for emerging readers. I must admit, however, that most of them are not exactly what I would call great children's literature--so use them sparingly. Remember that we want our students to love to read.

• Decodable Little Books — Christine E. McCormick
• Word Families: Reading Success Mini-Books — Mary Beth Spann
• More Sight-Word Stories
• Fun Phonics Mini-Books — Linda Ward Beech
• Reading Success Mini-Books: Long and Short Vowels (Grades PreK-2) — Mary Beth Spann
• Reading A-Z Low-cost downloadable books in English, Spanish, and French

• WordSort - The Word Study Software Word Study is particularly effective for building skills in spelling, decoding, and vocabulary. This software isn't a cute and colorful game, but I can tell you it really works. Most students will probably need your guidance as they sort through this interactive program.

Teacher/Tutor Resource Books

Scholastic Professional Books: Children enjoy the activities in these books. They present a welcome change of pace from reading, and they teach important letter/sound connections in a game-like format.

• Phonics Make-and-Take Manipulatives
• Quick-and-Easy Learning Games: Phonics
• Phonemic Awareness Activities for Early Reading Success
• Fun Phonics Manipulatives