With over ten years as a primary, intermediate, and junior high teacher, I have read lots of education books. This may end up being the book that helps me the most in helping improve myself as an educator, and in helping the school improve itself. This book was jam-packed with great ideas of what truly makes a good school. "Schools That Work" is geared for both principals, teachers, and anyone else in the education field. After reading this it makes for a great reference book. The book is well organized into the different components that make a good school. Also, it has great book, magazine, and web resources throughout the entire book. In short, buy this book without hesitation--it is that good!

Allington and Cunningham provide excellent insight as to what all schools need to ensure quality instruction to students. This book is a must for all educators, especially administrators. I am a Special Education teacher and a graduate student. I refer to this text often.

With over fifty combined years of experience between them, educational researcher/ consultants Richard Allington and Patricia Cunningham have many ideas to offer in their new book, Schools That Work: Where All Children Read and Write. The book is a natural follow-up to their first collaborative effort, Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. It is lengthy, but highly engaging, and offers practical, research based ideas for those who envision and want to work toward moving their school or school system toward being one where all children become literate. Because American society has changed, and is changing, at such a rapid pace, Allington and Cunningham contend that the current organizational structure of schools, while being well intentioned, is outdated. Existing structures do not effectively meet the needs of all children, especially those who are at the highest risk of school failure. Therefore, they believe that educational interventions that offer "more of the same" will not work to fix the inadequacies in today's schools. Because many schools are stuck, looking toward traditional solutions, huge amounts of federal and state money are being poured into educational programs such as developmental kindergarten, transitional K-1 classes, retention, and remedial, resource and bilingual programs that aren't effective in helping all at risk learners learn to read and write. Throughout the twelve chapters of the book, examples of effective large and small-scale school restructuring efforts in real schools are described. These descriptions are very helpful in illustrating the authors' key points. Models such as the Coalition of Essential Schools, Success For All, the Accelerated Schools Model, Reading Recovery, School Power and Schools for the 21st Century are included. Chapters of the book are organized around central themes of school organizational plans such as instruction, professional roles, allocation of time, parent involvement, assessment and curriculum materials. I will briefly summarize these chapters to give an overview of their content. In the chapter on curriculum, Cunningham and Allington offer many ideas for getting real reading material into the hands of children. Popular methods of literacy instruction are also described, but it is clear that the authors do not believe there is one best way to teach reading and writing. Instead, they advocate for quality instruction delivered in a multifaceted approach. This position is similar to that taken in Best Practices in Literacy Instruction, edited by Gambrel, Morrow, Neuman and Pressley, a resource text for teachers of literacy. Allington and Cunningham then go on to describe essential components of quality literacy instruction. One of the important points of the book is that "good schools are a collection of good classrooms" and that the job of everyone who works at a school is to support and enhance classroom instruction. An important point is made that while most instruction for at risk students slows down the pace of instruction, what is most effective is accelerating their learning through more and better instruction so that they are able to catch up with their peers. Concerning the issue of how instructional time is used; a chapter is devoted to describing effective classroom management practices that maximize the amount of time available for actual reading and writing. Innovative ways of creating more instructional time such as allowing teachers to work on flexible schedules opens up the possibility of students receiving extended amounts of instruction before and after school, in Saturday School and summer school. In the chapter on assessment, strategies for evaluating literacy programs and progress are given. Ideas for utilizing authentic assessments such as observational records, writing samples, narrative comments, interviews, self-evaluations, portfolios and anonymous student testing are presented.

Because schools can change only as fast as the instructional practices of teachers change, Allington and Cunningham devote a chapter to advice for supporting the professional development of teachers. The authors believe that systems need to allocate greater amounts of their resources toward professional development, as well as offer administrative and collegial support in order for teachers to remain life long learners who continually develop new areas of expertise. As our changing society affects schools, it affects families too. Most children now come from single parent families or families where both parents work. Because the authors believe that schools cannot be fully effective without parent support and involvement, ideas for improving parent outreach programs are described. Innovative ways to improve communication between schools and families, involve parents in school decision making processes, and create family literacy programs and interagency family support services that help break cycles of illiteracy and poverty are provided. A chapter is set aside for offering additional ideas for developing the literacy skills of special populations of children, such as those with learning disabilities and those who speak English as a second language. In another chapter, a tour is given through a hypothetical school that reflects some of the basic themes in the book. Readers are then prompted to take a tour through their own school and look for examples of effective practices they would like to see more of, as well as ineffective practices they would like to see decreased. The final chapter of the book offers some relief to the reader, who may at this point be overwhelmed with the scope and scale of school restructuring that needs to be done. Allington and Cunningham caution, though, that there are no quick fixes in education, and that successful reform efforts are done gradually with the long view in mind. Restructuring often begins with a small group of people, or even with one person at a school. Is that person you? Do you believe that all children can learn to read and write, and would you like to help them do so? If you think so, this book could be an invaluable resource that gets you thinking about large-scale changes by starting small. Read it and pass it along to someone in your school, as someone in my school passed it along to me. Who knows what might happen next?

I teach Title 1 disadvantaged reading students, most are learning English as a second language. I did a word a day with my 6th, 7th , and 8th graders. The making words lessons allowed me to introduce vocabulary, point out spelling patterns, talk about vowel variances, and talk about how our words are made up. I asked them to write the words as well as manipulate the letters. Sometimes, I asked them to group the words if there were several words with the same spelling pattern.

This is a great how-to book for one specific phonics & spelling teaching strategy. It has made a big difference in my third graders ability to sound out unknown words and incorporate their knowledge of spelling patterns. Making Words is geared for K-3rd. Making Big Words is for 3rd thru 5th graders. It's a hands-on approach and it is very adaptable. You can do it just as suggested or adjust it to your students' particular need. It includes hundreds of lessons. It can also be used in coordination with thematic units that you may be using in your room. A great resource. Worth every penny. I just love Patricia Cunningham!

This book is by far the most beneficial I have found for my upper elementary students struggling to improve their reading skills. It gives simple, step by step instructions for each of the activities and requires very little planning time for the teacher. EVERY child can succeed at improving reading skills, and the activities are appropriate for older students. They do not feel like they are doing 'baby' lessons- an issue I have dealt with when using other phonics books.

This is an excellent choice for teachers who wish to implement a phonics program that can really work for upper grades. The book is divided into months. Each month there are activities ready to be used. The activities are categorized into four specific goals. Once you learn how to teach the four goals for the first month, you will be prepared to teach the same lessons again the next month, of course, using different words.

The phonics activities help students notice spelling patterns in words through clever activities that the older kids will enjoy. For instance, there are phonics lessons based on brand names! I highly recommend this program because it will give upper grade students the chance to learn how to spell high frequency words, to identify spelling patterns in big and small words, to monitor their spelling, and to use root/prefix/suffix parts of words to define and spell words.

This book is suitable for 4-8 grades. It includes lessons that will last for nine months of the school year. Teachers on year round schooling will also be able to use this book. Each lesson should take between 15-30 minutes, depending on the teacher's scehdule. This is an excellent book for upper grade teachers!

What a great idea: to write the story of one imaginary class as it moves from grades K through 5 encountering different (but always reflective and hard working) teachers. It's a practical look at powerful literacy instruction in action. The teachers' "monthly logs" give the reader a peek inside their heads as they plan and evaluate their programs. This is a good read for brand new teachers (they will surely identify with "Miss Nouveau" in second grade!) and all those who strive to improve their instructional practice.

This is a great book and goes right along with the Four Blocks Literacy Program. It really explains how to implement the program in a sequential manner. After teaching Four Blocks this year I am excited to read this book. It really makes sense and I know will be a big help next year.

Colorful illustrations and informative writing make this an ideal picture book for Halloween or an other time of the year. This picture book is suited to elementary school children. It is includes facts and legends about the pine barrens of New Jersey and the Jersey Devil. But most of all, it has a good story, one to which children everywhere can relate. Andy, with the help of his Dad, learns how to confront fear and overcome it. A good read for parents and children alike!

Very practical guide for teachers struggling with visual and kinestic learners in Spelling and Reading. Easy to incorporate into your daily routine in small groups or large. Encourages students to remember pattens and sound/symbol relationships. I have been using this in my classroom this year and have seen results. This is a must for all elementary teachers!

This book is wonderful! It contains 50 lessons for making words. It comes complete with a teacher script; you also have the option of using your own letter tiles or cutting out the tiles at the top of each lesson. Once I started using this in my classroom, my students reading grades soared. They were able to break words apart for easier decoding.

Awesome book! The activities are great and my students love it!! It teaches phonics through word play, tongue twisters, poems, and games. My students have really learned a lot from it.

This book provides hundreds of fun, hands-on activities for teaching children phonics and spelling. I've used the book for several years, taught other teachers and interns the program, and I have not had a negative reaction by any student, parent or administrator. It is an excellent method for teaching learning disabled students at the elementary level. Children really learn phoneme segmentation, an essential reading skill, through this process. They especially love the culminating activity, finding the "Big Word."

Word Building was introduced to me about three years ago. I have been teaching for two years now and have used word building as a part of my reading program. I am pleased with the progress that my 2-3 graders make with this program. They understand how spelling and reading are related. Also it teaches them that two or three letters when put together make one sound. I purchased this book in September. I have been very happy with it. If you are unfamiliar with this method, this book is all you need. At the start of the book it shows you step by step how to set up word building in your classroom. Pictures are included. You will find over 150 word building lessons. Letter tiles for you to copy, cut, and laminate are included. I now feel that word building should be a part of every k-3 reading program.

As a first grade teacher, I have used this book for the past 4 years. We begin using the lessons every January. My students love the activities and I see tremendous improvement in their spelling, reading, and writing after we begin using Making Words. You must try it!

As I write this, this book is on back order. This is a great resource for primary teachers who would like explicit information on how to do a word wall and use many activities for using word families, etc. to teach phonics. But don't bother waiting for this book to be available again. Get the 3rd edition! It's worth the extra money. I purchased the 2nd edition several months ago, but when I examined the 3rd edition at the library, I noticed there seem to be many more activities and games for teaching phonics. The 3rd edition easily gets a 5+ star rating from me. It would be an invaluable resource, especially for new teachers! Making Words, by Cunningham and Hall is a good companion if you need help with the making words activities.

This book is full of great activities and strategies for teaching reading. It is not like the typical phonics lessons found in workbooks and basal series. You won't even know that you are teaching phonics! Who ever thought it could be fun! The kids love it and the teachers who use it do too!

I too had this for my reading methods class. I totally agree with the other responses. It is an excellent reference book