A three-part program ensures the transfer of skill!

⭐Instructional Goals

• Teach students to be thoughtful, joyful, and capable readers.
• Increase stamina, fluency, and comprehension through authentic literature.
• Foster a classroom community and culture of readers who are motivated to read and joyfully talk about books.

📚Core Design Principals of the Program

1. Complex Texts and Chapter Books

• The program uses high-quality trade books (not leveled-readers).
• Texts are chosen for their depth, literary merit, and emotional resonance.
• Each unit pairs the novel with nonfiction companion texts to strengthen background knowledge and increase cross-text analysis.

2. Novel Studies to Increase Independence

• Each unit in the program follows a three-part structure
  
  1. Read-Aloud: explicit instruction, modeling, and guided practice using grade-level texts.
  
  2. Book Clubs: differentiated practice as students are matched to texts that are below, on, and above-grade level. Classroom libraries extend independent reading beyond the classroom!
  
  3. Writing: students write in response to reading and practice both on-demand and process writing.

3. Attention to Text Structure

• Each novel is broken into four parts and students are taught to follow a predictable routine to increase their understanding of the text.
  
  Part 1: Collect Critical Information - focus on the key ideas and details in the text including characters, setting, problems, and important events.
  
  Part 2 and 3: Interpret the Text - analyze patterns, make inferences, discover themes, and cite evidence.
  
  Part 4: Apply the Text - synthesize themes, integrate knowledge, and write in response to reading.

4. Explicit Strategy Instruction

• Monitoring Comprehension
• Determining Importance
• Inferring
• Analyzing the Characters' Arc
• Analyzing the Author's Craft and Purpose
• Citing Evidence to Support the Central Theme
• Summarizing and Reflecting

5. Aligned with Standards and the Science of Reading

• Fully aligned to the Common Core and Next Generation Standards for reading literature and informational text.
• Emphasizes close reading, text-based discussion, and writing in response to reading.
• Built on the research of the science of reading to increase students' reading success.
• Proven results!

📚 Program Components

• Teacher's Guides (detailed lesson plans for each novel)
• Novels (authentic literature) and nonfiction
• Nonfiction companion texts (downloadable)
• Vocabulary and word study lessons
• Student materials
• Assessments
• Writing units

We recommend supplementing the program with a grammar and spelling program published by Zaner-Bloser called GUM: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics.

 🐶 PreK-2 Program Partner: The Superkids Reading Program, published by Zaner-Bloser.