We’re having a party and you’re invited! It’s an online book study blog party where we discuss the book Literacy Beginnings by the gurus of literacy, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell.
Today I’m answering your frequently asked questions about the book study blog party.
I teach kindergarten, will this this book be helpful to me?
Matt, a kindergarten teacher and one of the blog party hosts has composed a fantastic response to this question, I encourage you to check out his thoughts.
I just found out about this book study, is it too late to join?
Of course not, that’s the beauty of an on-line book study, you can read the posts at your convenience. Scroll down for more details under “How do I follow the discussions?”
Where can I get the book?
You will probably not find this book in your local bookstore or teacher store. It is a textbook and therefore you will have more luck finding it at online booksellers like Amazon
or Barnes & Noble. Laura from The Seeds Network shared the best deal she found on this book. {Iced tea and sunglasses not included}
What is the cost?
The discussion is free 🙂 The price of the book is probably a little more than you are used to paying for a typical teacher resource book because it is not a resource book, it is a textbook. It includes 462 pages of fine print with tabbed dividers, 35 specific language and literacy lessons, and over 50 pages of blackline masters. Literacy Beginnings is written by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, two of the most recognized experts in early literacy in the U.S.; it is a comprehensive early literacy manual.
What’s it about?
It’s not about math, science, open-ended art, or music and movement- it is about best practices in early literacy instruction for the 21st Century. If I have a problem with the plumbing in my house I call a plumber, if I have a problem with the heating or air-conditioning I call in the HVAC experts, I don’t call a general handyman. The same goes for this book, the authors are experts in early literacy teaching and learning so if you are looking for the most current, research based information on early literacy instruction then this is the book for you.
How do I follow the discussions?
The list of chapters and the blogs that will be hosting each discussion can be found here. Simply follow each blog (that means sign up to receive e-mail updates or add them to your reader). Then you can read the posts at your convenience and post comments directly on the blogs or write and post a response on your own blog. If you want to join the linky party I created a tutorial for you explaining how it works. A book study is all about sharing your thoughts and reflections with others, therefore I strongly encourage you to post comments directly on the blogs or write responses on your own blog, this way everybody will benefit.
How do I save the discussions so I can read them later?
There are several ways to do this. One way is to bookmark each blog post using your favorite online bookmarking tool such as Delicious. If you don’t know what that is or how to use it you can find a video I created explaining it here.
Who are the teachers hosting the blog party?
I’ve linked up each blogger’s name below with their About page so you can read more about them. We have teachers from all over the U.S. hosting, some representing private education and some public.
- Karen from Prekinders
- Deborah J Stewart from Teach Preschool
- Matt from Look at My Happy Rainbow {click “about me”}
- Scott from Brick by Brick {see sidebar}
- Laura from The Seeds Network
- Eilis from Growing in Pre-K
- Leslie from No More Worksheets
- Vanessa from Pre-K Pages {me}
You can also follow the hashtag #literacybeginnings on twitter for the most recent posts and discussions.
I hope these FAQs answer your questions about the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party. Please post other questions about the book study below in the comments section.
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