Celebrating National Book Lovers Day

National Book Lovers Day is celebrated on August 9. This holiday focuses on reading, literature, and the power books have to honor and preserve culture, provide a means of relaxation and mental escape, and inform readers about places, people, concepts, and stories they have not yet been exposed to. Though reading is at the forefront on this holiday, you can celebrate by using a more comprehensive approach.

As an educator, it is your priority to set your students up for life-long success and, ultimately, a lifetime of learning. To do so, we suggest taking time to truly embrace comprehensive literacy rather than focusing solely on the act of reading and its subtle nuances. If you’re feeling a little stuck as to how to do this, don’t worry. We have a few tools that can help!

Tools to Foster Comprehensive Literacy

Nurturing comprehensive literacy skills is easy with the right research-based tools by your side. We’d like to introduce you to a few tools that have the power to strengthen foundational skills, encourage independent practice, and transform content area knowledge into written expression.

All aboard the comprehensive literacy express! Foundations A-Z can take you to the first stop on your literacy journey, as it helps teachers teach, reteach, and enrich foundational skills using an explicit, systemic, cumulative approach. The recipient of “all green” ratings from EdReports, you can trust that Foundations A-Z delivers quality research-based instruction that aligns with national and state standards. Foundations A-Z supports comprehensive literacy by offering:

• Clearly modeled lesson plans for students from grades K-5
• An engaging, game-based student portal filled with rewards and incentives to keep your students motivated and excited to learn
• Embedded professional development to simplify instruction

Next stop: Raz-Plus! Now that you’ve strengthened foundational skills with Foundations A-Z, Raz-Plus is here to fuel independent reading practice for your K-5 students. Looking for texts that appeal to student interests while meeting each student’s unique academic needs? Raz-Plus has you covered by offering thousands of resources including books at different levels of text complexity, Close Read Passages, Comprehension Skills Packs, and more. This solution equips teachers with a wide variety of standards-aligned content to encourage reading practice and expose students to new topics, vocabulary, and genres. Take a look at some of the most popular books that both teachers and students can engage with on this holiday.

On the Farm

Genre: Realistic (fiction)
Grade: K
On the Farm gives students a glimpse of familiar animals enjoying their favorite places on the farm. Fun illustrations of chickens in the hay, pigs in the mud, and a cow in the barn help students decode two new vocabulary words on each page.

Frog Is Hungry

Genre: Fantasy (fiction)
Grade: 1
A boy takes his pet frog outside. Frog decides he is hungry. He tries several things before he finds the right kind of frog food. Supportive pictures and high-frequency words make this humorous book perfect for emerging readers.

Animals, Animals

Genre: Informational (nonfiction)
Grade: 2
Animals, Animals is about some of the fascinating animals in our world. Each page describes interesting facts and brings the world of animals to the reader. Pictures enhance the text.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Genre: Fairy Tale (fiction)
Grade: 3
While this story has different versions, it usually follows a similar structure and plot. Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp describes how Aladdin came to possess a magic lamp and the problems he overcame to keep it and its rewards.

All About Chocolate

Genre: Informational (nonfiction)
Grade: 4
All About Chocolate is an informational book that includes interesting facts about the history of chocolate, where and how cacao trees are grown, and the steps taken to make chocolate. A "History of Chocolate" timeline provides additional details.

The Velveteen Rabbit

Genre: Classic (fiction)
Grade: 5
The Velveteen Rabbit tells the poignant story of a toy animal's longing to become real. This tale of friendship, sorrow, and magic takes readers on an emotional journey that sheds light on the true meaning of love.

Once you and your students have strengthened foundational skills and engaged in independent and group reading practice, you’ve reached your next stop: writing proficiency. Comprehensive literacy consists of reading and writing abilities, though the focus tends to be placed on reading. If you’re feeling as though you may not have as much time to teach writing or the training to do so confidently, then Writing A-Z is for you! Built on the latest research, this 2023 SIIA CODiE Award-winning solution helps teachers take a simplified, explicit, systematic approach to K-5 writing instruction. Writing A-Z takes the guesswork out of writing instruction by offering:

• Easy-to-use lesson plans that teach genre and the writing process simultaneously
• Embedded, point-of-use professional development to equip teachers with the confidence to teach writing
• Interactive writing and grammar quests to keep students engaged
• WaLT (Writing and Learning Together), our digital writing tool that gives students and teachers access to writing tools to complete the writing process 100% digitally
• An engaging student portal that makes maintaining student engagement a breeze

With Writing A-Z, addressing the other side of the equation for comprehensive literacy just became easier!

Taking a Hands-On Approach to Written Literacy

Outside of the benefits that Writing A-Z can provide, we also have an exclusive event that can help. Join us for “ The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction,” our virtual writing summit that takes place on Wednesday, August 9, 2023 from 5-8 p.m. EST. During this event, you will experience:

• A keynote address and Q&A with Joan Sedita, author of The Writing Rope
• Your choice of two workshops led by Keys to Literacy consultants
• A Writing Afterparty with guest speakers and giveaways

But that’s not all! Attendees will receive a certificate of completion for two hours of professional development on top of the knowledge you can take back to the classroom with you.

Tackling the Subtle Nuances of Literacy Together