Fountas & Pinnell Blog

Within the social world of classrooms, students learn what it means to be a global citizen. They learn how to collaborate, how to learn, how to solve problems.

Share books that have a strong author point of view on a societal issue. Have the student write about whether the author changed their mind about the topic?

Encourage the student to take a photograph that they feel tells a story. Have them write an accompanying paragraph that explains the story the picture is capturing.

Invite the student to select photos showing family members or an event from their lives. Have the student write a brief nonfiction text using the photos as illustrations.

Share with the student several nonfiction books illustrated with photographs and hand-drawn illustrations. Talk about how they convey different information.

Have the student immerse themselves in a variety of their favorite book covers. Invite the student to pick a favorite and create a new cover for that book.

Choose a book or poem and ask your child to talk or write about their favorite scenes. Work together to transform scenes from the book into acts of a play. Gather props and perform!

Play your child's favorite song or sing it together. Encourage your child through prompts to talk, draw, or write about how they think and feel about the song.

Announcing the release of an introductory version of FPL Digital for customers who have purchased the Leveled Literacy Intervention Systems (LLI) K-5+.

Have children use a small notebook (or use their Reader's Notebook) to list all the books they read and that you read together. Encourage them to add a brief statement about each book.

Have the child talk to family members about special recipes. Put the recipes together to make a family recipe book, and invite the child to draw pictures to illustrate the recipes.

Using books and magazines, collect information on other places. Explore the materials together. Ask: “How do books help us travel to new places?”

Have the child construct a statement of two facts that describe an animal. For example, “I am orange and black and I have a loud roar. What am I?”

On a large piece of paper have the student create a mural that illustrates some of the different ways families show they care for each other.

Provide the child with puppets and have the child act out their own versions of familiar folktales, such as “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Have the child create an “All About Me” book with a photo or drawing of themselves for the cover. Have them add writing, drawings, and pictures to showcase their favorite things.

Brainstorm a list of different ways of getting around, such as walking, train, boat, airplane, etc., and record them on paper. Talk about which seem most popular and why.

Have the child choose an animal they are familiar with and have them draw a picture of part of the animal. Then have them write on another piece of paper: “I am a _____ .”