In this book, two seasoned teachers show how to set reading goals, assess students to ensure goals are being met, and carry out instruction. Stressing that there are many ways to determine where students are and just as many ways to determine where to take them, they give teachers the tools to make that journey. They open with overview chapters on reading workshop and “the first six weeks” and move to detailed chapters on independent reading, read-aloud, whole-class instruction, small-group instruction, and conferences. In short, they provide a model for assessment-informed instruction.

Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop: Making Informed Instructional Decisions in Grades 3–6

Education & Teaching

Szymusiak, Karen

Sibberson, Franki

Schools & Teaching

Scholastic Professional

Classrooms should be spaces where every child feels safe to bring their whole self to school. This book shows how to set up preK-grade 6 classrooms that support student agency, independence, and choice. The results of classrooms designed with these goals in mind include:&nbsp; <ul> <li>Greater student engagement with curriculum</li> <li>Students who know themselves and are empowered as learners</li> <li>Students who feel valued and care about their learning as well as the learning of others</li> <li>A more cohesive, authentic, and accepting community of learners</li> <li>Opportunities for choice and decision-making by all learners</li> </ul> With examples drawn from real classrooms, the authors demonstrate how to make choices in seating, materials used, books read, and more. Special attention is paid to the design of classroom libraries in which a variety of diverse, quality books anchor so much of the work in helping young readers and writers grow and learn. The book is richly illustrated with photos and samples to provide an inside look at classrooms in which children are centered and the teacher is responsive to creating spaces with student agency in mind. 172 pp. 2023. Grades PreK-6

Classroom Design for Student Agency: Create Spaces to Empower Young Readers and Writers

Politics & Social Sciences

Burkins, Lynsey

Social Sciences

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

Many of our young students come to school with vast experience in the digital world but too often use digital tools in limited ways because they view technology as merely another form of entertainment. Educators William L. Bass II and Franki Sibberson believe that teachers can help students recognize their expertise in out-of-school digital reading and extend it into the world of school. For this to happen, we need to redefine reading to include digital reading and texts, learn how to support digital reading in the classroom, and embed digital tools throughout the elementary and middle school curriculum. Bass, a technology coordinator, and Sibberson, a third-grade teacher, invite us to consider what is essential in integrating technology into the classroom, focusing especially on authenticity, intentionality, and connectedness. They explore the experiences readers must have in order to navigate the digital texts they will encounter, as well as the kinds of lessons we must develop to enhance those experiences. Always advocating for sound literacy practice and drawing on the NCTE Policy Research Brief Reading Instruction for All Students, they lead from experience--both theirs and that of other classroom teachers, grades 3-8.

Digital Reading: What’s Essential in Grades 3-8 (Principles in Practice)

Reference

Bass II, William L.

Words, Language & Grammar

Provides guidance on meeting the needs of transitional readers who have moved beyond leveled books, and supplies instructional tools that can be used to aid students in becoming independent, strategic readers.

Beyond Leveled Books

Routledge

Franki Sibberson's fourth- and fifth-grade students use binders to organize their weekly news magazines in a compilation for use throughout the year. In this classroom vignette, the students use these magazines collected and organized over many weeks as part of their social studies curriculum considering the legal system. After the classroom sequence, Franki and Karen Szymusiak, an elementary principal, discuss the many natural curriculum extensions that come from having an assortment of current short text at every student's fingertips for skimming, sorting, and classifying throughout the year.

Making the Most of News Magazines (DVD)

Stenhouse Publishers

In the first edition of Beyond Leveled Books, Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak, offered a much-needed perspective on moving transitional readers from the basic supports of leveling to independent book selection. Seven years later, drawing on their continued research and expanding roles as authors and literacy consultants, Franki and Karen, along with colleague Lisa Koch, present a new updated and expanded edition of this "useful and eye-opening book." [Education Reviews, 2001]
In Beyond Leveled Books, Second Edition the authors provide even more resources to help teachers understand and meet the needs of transitional readers. The key topic of series books has been revised and enlarged, with charts outlining new series with the challenges they pose and supports readers need. New lessons have been added, and most chapters now include a related article from a literacy expert. Some of the contributors include Kathy Collins, Larry Swartz, and Mary Lee Hahn.
The book also features an entirely new section covering grades K-1, that explores the uses and limitations of leveled texts in primary reading instruction. Among the highlights of this new section are ideas for how to organize your classroom library and a list of great books to use alongside leveled text in supporting new readers.
Packed with examples of classroom instruction, sample mini-lessons, strategies for small-group instruction, assessment techniques, and student work, this new edition expands what was once a great little book that filled a gap for teachers in intermediate grades into an essential resource for independent reading instruction from grades K-5.

Koch, Lisa

Between individual lessons and big units of study lies the joy of planning. Franki Sibberson takes you into her process of designing short sequences of lessons (known as cycles) around key areas of study including how characters develop in literature, nonfiction reading in the age of the Internet, and understanding increasingly sophisticated themes in novels and picture books. Franki shares guiding questions for planning, sample cycles, and the thinking behind the books she selects for minilessons. There is much delight in moving between what you know about your students and what you know about teaching, and designing lessons accordingly. That’s what the joy of planning is all about.

The Joy of Planning: Designing Minilesson Cycles in Grades 3-6

Choice Literacy

Foreword by Colby Sharp In the decade since the first edition of Still Learning to Read was published, the prevalence of testing and the Common Core State Standards have changed what is expected of both teachers and students. The new edition of Still Learning to Read focuses on the needs of students in grades 3–6 in all aspects of reading workshop, including reading workshop, read-aloud, classroom design, digital tools, fiction, nonfiction, and close reading. The book stays true to its original beliefs of slowing down and knowing our readers, but it also takes into account the sense of urgency that changing times and standards impose on classrooms. This edition examines current trends in literacy, includes a new section on intentional instructional planning, and provides expanded examples of mini-lessons and routines that promote deeper thinking about learning. It also includes a brand new chapter on scaffolding for reading nonfiction and showcases the authors’ latest thinking on close reading and text complexity. Online videos provide glimpses into classrooms as students make book choices, work in small groups, and discuss their reading notebooks. Expanded and updated book lists, recommendations for digital tools, lesson cycles, and sections specifically written for school leaders round out this foundational resource.

Still Learning to Read

In Community With Readers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sibberson, Franki. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sibberson, Franki

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sibberson, Franki. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop: Making Informed Instructional Decisions in Grades 3–6

Classroom Design for Student Agency: Create Spaces to Empower Young Readers and Writers

Digital Reading: What’s Essential in Grades 3-8 (Principles in Practice)

Beyond Leveled Books

Making the Most of News Magazines (DVD)

Beyond Leveled Books

The Joy of Planning: Designing Minilesson Cycles in Grades 3-6

Still Learning to Read

In Community With Readers