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To Read Stuff You Have to Know Stuff
Helping Students Build and Use Prior Knowledge

Teaching practices to build students' prior knowledge, a key component to reading comprehension. 

Industrial Age and Immigration
Short Nonfiction for American History
Industrial Age and Immigration is the latest volume in the Short Nonfiction for American History Toolkit Texts, part of The Comprehension Toolkit series. This resource highlights multiple perspectives and diverse voices of this historical time period. The last section, from the 1960s on, includes articles illustrating present-day perspectives, events, and issues surrounding immigration and innovation.
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Short Nonfiction for American History
Building on selections from popular children's magazines as well as original articles, these engaging, age-appropriate texts will keep your active literacy classroom awash in historical resources that depict the controversies, issues, and dramas that shaped historical events, including the exploits of lesser-known individuals.
Westward Expansion
Short Nonfiction for American History
60 nonfiction texts, 200+ images, 25 primary sources, and 10 lessons that build background knowledge. You'll help kids understand and draw connections between primary sources so they can create skillful arguments about the era.
The American Revolution and Constitution
Short Nonfiction for American History

52 short nonfiction texts for American History (1750-1800) with 10 new lessons for content literacy

Colonial Times
Short Nonfiction for American History

“We turn information into knowledge by thinking about it. These texts support students in using the Toolkit’s comprehension and thinking strategies as tools to acquire and actively use knowledge in history.”

—Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

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