Little Readers, Big Thinkers

Book excerpt: Young learners are full of questions and wonderings, so much so that sometimes they need a guide for their curiosity. Author Amy Stewart brings her manageable approach to close reading in Little Readers, Big Thinkers: Teaching Close Reading in the Primary Grades. With Stewart guiding, you'll be able to harness the big thinking we know is inside their inquisitive minds. She showcases ways that close reading can teach even the youngest students new ways to enjoy texts, think about them critically, and share that thinking with peers and adults. With its description of the pillars of close reading, multiple lesson sequences for grades K-2, and real-life classroom scenarios, Little Readers, Big Thinkers offers a trove of insights: What close reading is (and is not) How to encourage students to read like detectives Ways to weave close reading practices into your lessons How to cultivate real reading, organic thinking, and deep conversation Which books invite amazing learning and thinking experiences. By giving young minds a great foundation, close reading will become a stepping stone to a lifelong love of reading.