Author Description

Journey with Tony Stead as he explores many amazing ways to make nonfiction reading and writing come alive in the classroom. This four-part video set takes you inside two classrooms at The Manhattan New School where Tony works with first-grade teacher Lauren Benjamin and third-grade teacher Lisa Elias Moynihan.Watch how literacy centers literally come alive in the classroom and see some of the original ways students respond to their nonfiction reading. Learn how to organize a nonfiction classroom library and to support children as they select appropriate texts. From learning about frogs, crows, and static electricity, to debating whether zoos should exist, you'll enjoy watching the whole-class mini-lessons that successfully integrate the content areas with language process. Program 1: Setting Up the Nonfiction ClassroomIn a nonfiction classroom, the teacher and the students need to establish the classroom library and give all learners the opportunity to engage with nonfiction as part of independent reading and literacy centers. Program 2: Helping Readers Select Texts: Mini-Lessons and ConferencesIf children are to be encouraged to actively select nonfiction as part of their reading lives, then they need support in selecting appropriate texts. This program explores whole-class demonstrations and individual conferences.Program 3: Whole-Class Mini-LessonsStudents need a variety of demonstrations in whole-class settings to help them as readers and writers of nonfiction. This segment highlights how to gather information and work with persuasive texts.Program 4: Completing the Jigsaw: Read-Alouds, Visual Literacy, and ResponsesThis program explores other ways to increase the presence of nonfiction in the classroom. See how to make the most of nonfiction read-alouds and notice how much information Tony and the first graders find in a simple homemade calendar. Through their responses to nonfiction — whether dressing up as an ant or reading a recipe and baking a cake — thes