Teaching the Foundations of Reading for Improved Outcomes in Every Child

Ashley: I am currently a reading teacher at an elementary school. This is a book that every teacher should read. I wish I had read this before my first year teaching, but it hadn’t been written yet! It is well written, backed by research and includes many free resources which I really appreciate.

United States on Aug 30, 2022

leahb: Incredibly practical and full of great resources, I learned so much about structured literacy and teaching foundational reading skills, a lot of which I unfortunately wasn’t taught in my undergraduate teacher prep program. Now that I know better, I certainly will do better! A must read for educators, especially in the lower elementary grades!

United States on Jul 13, 2022

Maureen M.: This book is filled with so much information! I teach grade 5/6 and found the last 2 chapter the most useful. I actually implemented the reading fluency practice for 1.5 months and my students made improvements in the reading fluency! I will definitely be using the methods described here for years to come!

Canada on Jul 09, 2021

Kennedy Middle School in Charlotte, NC: This text reads like a great novel - it is engaging, heartwarming, and absolutely hilarious at times - but equally important, the Libens have distilled great literacy instruction into a series of incredibly practical steps. I have been a secondary ELA teacher for 10+ years and I can say that this is a must-read for every educator. Highly recommend, you will love it!

United States on Nov 30, 2020

Tazzie: This book is great. Written by people who have experienced using the wrong way to teach reading the developing the right way. Their experiences are helpful to see how over the years our teaching style has changed but we need to be aware of what really works. This book is great for anyone who is teaching reading to children or anyone who wants to understand all the components that go into learning to read. The authors give useful resources. One thing that I really likef about the book is the reflection questions they ask in each chapter. It really helps you think about what they have suggestrd and what you have been doing.

United States on Jul 20, 2020

Cathy: What do children need to become successful early readers? This book should be required reading for anyone who teaches Kindergarten through 5th grade and highly recommended for all elementary school parents. David Liben and Meredith Liben use stories from their years as teachers at the Family Academy along with current summaries of the research on reading to clearly lay out what all children need to become good readers in the early grades and beyond. (Keep in mind that only 43% of fourth-graders are not reading proficiently, so we need this guidance). Reading this book gave me a plethora of new ideas and I appreciated the appendices at the end of each chapter highlighting sources for deeper learning and teaching and all of the stories of real students in their care. A delightful and insightful how-to manual for teaching the foundational skills of reading well. Bravo!

United States on Sep 18, 2019