Units of Study – Reading, K-5

This series builds on decades of teaching and research—in literally tens of thousands of schools. In states across the country, this curriculum has already given young people extraordinary power, not only as readers, but also as thinkers. When young people are explicitly taught the skills and strategies of proficient reading and are invited to live as richly literate people do, carrying books everywhere, bringing reading into every nook and corner of their lives, the results are dramatic.
Lucy Calkins

The Units of Study for Teaching Reading offer a framework for teaching that:

provides a comprehensive, cross-grade curriculumin which skills are introduced, developed, and deepened
supports explicit instruction in reading skills and strategies and offers extended time for reading
provides strategic performance assessments to help teachers monitor progress, provide feedback, and help students set clear goals for their reading work
gives teachers on-the-job guidance in powerful reading workshop teaching

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The 10 Essentials of Reading Instruction

1. Above all, good teachers matter.

Learners need teachers who demonstrate what it means to live richly literate lives, wearing a love of reading on their sleeves. Teachers need professional development and a culture of collaborative practice to develop their abilities to teach.

2. Readers need long stretches of time to read.

A mountain of research supports the notion that teachers who teach reading successfully provide their students with substantial time for actual reading.

3. Readers need opportunities to read high-interest, accessible books of their own choosing.

Students need access to lots of books that they can read with high levels of accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. They need opportunities to consolidate skills so they can use skills and strategies with automaticity within fluid, engaged reading.

4. Readers need to read increasingly complex texts appropriate for their grade level.

A consensus has formed around the resolve to accelerate students’ progress so they can read increasingly complex texts. Teachers can find ways to scaffold instruction to provide students with access to these texts when they cannot read them independently.

5. Readers need direct, explicit instruction in the skills and strategies of proficient reading.

The National Reading Panel strongly supports explicit instruction in comprehension strategies, suggesting that the teaching of even one comprehension strategy can lead to improved comprehension, and that teaching a repertoire of strategies can make an even larger difference (National Reading Panel 2000).

6. Readers need opportunities to talk and sometimes to write in response to texts.

Talking and writing both provide concrete, visible ways for learners to do the thinking work that later becomes internalized and invisible.

7. Readers need support reading nonfiction books and building a knowledge base and academic vocabulary through information reading.

The strength of a student’s general knowledge has a close relationship to the student’s ability to comprehend complex nonfiction texts. Students who read a great deal of nonfiction gain knowledge about the world as well as about vocabulary.

8. Readers need assessment-based instruction, including feedback that is tailored specifically to them.

Learners are not all the same, and learners do not all need the same things to progress. Teaching, then, must always be responsive, and our ideas about what works and what doesn’t work must always be under construction.

9. Readers need teachers to read aloud to them.

Read-aloud is essential to teaching reading. Teachers read aloud to open the day, using stories and poems to convene the community and to celebrate what it means to be awake and alive together. They read aloud to embark on shared adventures, to explore new worlds, and to place provocative topics at the center of the community.

10. Readers need a balanced approach to language arts, one that includes a responsible approach to the teaching of writing as well as reading.

The National Reading Panel’s recommendations in 2000 supported the need for children to have balanced literacy instruction. Pressley and his colleagues conducted research in balanced literacy, seeking out examples of exemplary teaching in the primary grades and studying the approach to instruction. In every case, whenever they found a classroom with high literacy engagement, they found balanced teaching in place (Pressley et al. 2002).
(Adapted from A Guide to the Reading Workshop, primary and intermediate editions)

Overview and FAQs

Series Components

Four Units of Study: Grades K–2 include one foundational unit and three other units to address reading fiction and informational texts. Grades 3–5 each include two units in reading fiction and two in reading informational texts.
A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Primary or Intermediate Grades: Details the architecture of the minilessons, conferences, and small-group strategy sessions and articulates the management techniques needed to support an effective reading workshop. (Now available for separate purchase! Ideal for principals, curriculum coordinators, coaches, and other who are supporting teachers as they implement Units of Study.)
If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction, Grades K–2 or 3–5: Contains additional units to support and extend instruction and to prepare students for work in the main units as needed.
Reading Pathways, Grades 3–5: Puts a system for assessing reading into teachers’ hands and into the hands of students.
Online Resources for Teaching Reading: A treasure chest of additional grade-specific resources, including bibliographies, short texts, illustrations to show completed anchor charts, reproducible checklists, pre- and post-assessments, homework (grades 3–5), mentor texts, videos, and Web links.
Large-Format Anchor Chart sticky notes: Preprinted sticky notes with summarized, illustrated teaching points help teachers create and evolve anchor charts across each band and unit.
Read-Aloud sticky notes, Grades K–2: Preprinted sticky notes highlight possible teaching points the teacher might address during the read-aloud.

Learn about our new Middle School Reading Series

Order Units of Study for Teaching Reading, K–5

Purchasing Options

Series Bundles

Each Grade Level with Trade Pack

Each Grade Level without Trade Pack

Optional foundational Units of Study now available for selected grade levels

Word Detectives: Strategies for Using High-Frequency Words and for Decoding, Grade 1, with Trade PackElizabeth Franco et al. Grade(s): 1st

Word Detectives: Strategies for Using High-Frequency Words and for Decoding, Grade 1Elizabeth Franco et al. Grade(s): 1st

Mystery: Foundational Skills in Disguise, Grade 3, with Trade PackBrooke Geller et al. Grade(s): 3rd

Mystery: Foundational Skills in Disguise, Grade 3Brooke Geller et al. Grade(s): 3rd

Trade Packs

Word Detectives Trade PackTeachers College Reading & Writing ProjectLucy CalkinsGrade(s): 1st

Mystery Trade PackTeachers College Reading & Writing ProjectLucy CalkinsGrade(s): 3rd

Guides to Reading Workshop — Now available for separate purchase!

A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate GradesLucy CalkinsGrade(s): 3rd-5th

Order Forms

Download a Comprehensive Order Form - Color
Download a Comprehensive Order Form - B&W
Download the Reading Units of Study Order Form
Library Shelves Aligned with Specific Units of Study

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Regional Rep Lookup

Replacement Sticky Notes

Replacement pads for your Anchor Chart and Read-Aloud Prompts sticky notes are available to purchase. Please note, however, that these pads are only available as a convenience to users of the Units of Study and not available for separate purchase by nonusers.

For complete ordering details, please refer to the Online Resources for your registered Units. Additionally, feel free to contact your Heinemann sales representative for assistance.

Units of Study – Reading, K-5

The 10 Essentials of Reading Instruction

1. Above all, good teachers matter.

2. Readers need long stretches of time to read.

3. Readers need opportunities to read high-interest, accessible books of their own choosing.

4. Readers need to read increasingly complex texts appropriate for their grade level.

5. Readers need direct, explicit instruction in the skills and strategies of proficient reading.

6. Readers need opportunities to talk and sometimes to write in response to texts.

7. Readers need support reading nonfiction books and building a knowledge base and academic vocabulary through information reading.

8. Readers need assessment-based instruction, including feedback that is tailored specifically to them.

9. Readers need teachers to read aloud to them.

10. Readers need a balanced approach to language arts, one that includes a responsible approach to the teaching of writing as well as reading.

Overview and FAQs

Why do a reading workshop?

Download the Comprehensive Overview

How is explicit instruction woven throughout the Units?

Download a Grade-Level Sampler, K-5

How are the Learning Progressions used to raise achievement?

How can admins support communities of learning in their schools?

How are the reading and writing units connected?

Grade-Level Video Orientations

How are nonfiction reading skills developed across the intermediate units?

More Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

Getting Started

Grade-Level Support

Support for Specific Topics

Leadership