Today's early literacy programs are more demanding than ever. No longer
is it sufficient to teach letters, letter sounds, sight words, and
simple texts in kindergarten through second grade. Children are expected
to read and comprehend texts in a variety of genres with increasing
complexity. Then they must integrate the ideas and concepts from those
texts into their own writing. Two Books are Better Than One: Reading and
Writing (and Talking and Drawing) Across Texts in K-2 helps teachers
meet those demands. Each chapter contains an anchor lesson focused on a
different way of connecting texts, including: by theme, characters,
perspective, structure, or genre. The lessons feature research-based and
common core aligned strategies: interactive read-alouds; shared reading
and writing; scaffolded small group reading; accountable talk; close
reading; and opinion, narrative, and explanatory writing. Each anchor
lesson features two high-quality children's books, and each chapter is
rounded out with a list of other recommended book pairs to support you
in creating your own lessons.