Mid-Year Correction
It’s the nature of our profession that the best teachers are always looking for ways to do things better, smarter, and more effectively, both for themselves and their students. Even if you [...]
Why Kids Should Read Scary Stories!
We all have different tolerances for fear. Some people go out of their way to confront scary situations; others do their best to avoid them. But all of us can experience “manageable fear” through [...]
Hooked on a Series
The fifth-grader in our family recently informed me that she’s reading the Nancy Drew series. The original series ran from 1930 until 2003, then was recently reprised as an updated series [...]
The Enduring Appeal of Survival Stories
There’s nothing like a good survival story: The conflict is clear, the stakes are as high as they get, and you know exactly what you’re rooting for. –Todd Olson, The Children’s Book [...]
HIP SURVIVAL PACK
10 novels about survival in the snow, in the woods, in the water and in the city
SPECIAL OFFER! Over 20% off the [...]
Greeting Students at the Door: Helpful or Hype?
We’ve all seen the cute videos on social media of primary teachers giving their students a hug, a handshake or a high five outside the classroom door. But did you know that PGD – [...]
Good Riddance, Round Robin!
Recently, a friend shared this story of her 10 year-old granddaughter who has difficulty with reading. The students were required to take turns reading aloud to the class, and when [...]
Past Picture Books? You’ve got to be kidding!
In a recent HIP TIP, I defined “tween” readers as “beyond picture books but not yet ready for complicated novels.” Needless to say, I got a lot of pushback from [...]
You Mean It’s All Supposed to Make Sense?
On long car trips, I would often read to my husband as he drove. I couldn’t believe how often I made a mistake! (Surprisingly often, they involved “mis-guessing” a hyphenated [...]
Is Reading Speed Overrated?
Counting the number of words a student can read in a minute has become a popular method of measuring that student’s reading fluency. It’s certainly well established that slow, choppy [...]
Content or Strategies?
It’s generally accepted these days that the best way to teach reading comprehension is to focus on the strategies good readers use to make sense of text. In fact, I call comprehension [...]
Hey! What about Prediction?
“Make a prediction about what is going to happen in this book.” This has probably been the most popular pre-reading routine in schools for time eternal. But in a recent HIP TIP on [...]
Impact of School Closures
Toronto Globe and Mail, Nov. 25, 2020 Click to read more.
A MESSAGE FOR OUR UK CUSTOMERS
Please note that High Interest Publishing is no longer represented by Robinswood Press in the UK and Ireland. Not to worry! We ship all over the world from our North American warehouses. By [...]
In Defense of Easy Reading
I was once asked to judge a public speaking contest (remember those?) in which a middle grade student spoke about the author R.L. Stine. “Goosebumps was the first book I ever read all the way [...]
On the Level with “Leveled” Reading
Poor old Emmett Betts is getting a pretty bad rap these days. Betts was the guy who introduced us to independent, instructional and frustration reading levels almost 70 years ago. Betts [...]
Preventing the Pitfalls of Pair-Share
The “Think-Pair-Share” model was developed over 30 years ago to help students clarify and articulate their thinking. Its power has been documented in many research studies, and for good reason. [...]
Are we over-diagnosing dyslexia?
I recently came across an article called “Your Child’s Dyslexia Diagnosis is B.S.” by Julian Elliot, a professor of Education at Durham University in the UK. According to Elliot, dyslexia is [...]
Making the Most of Multiple-Guess
Confession: I am a recovering test developer. But those two years I spent as the lead consultant on a large-scale reading test taught me a lot about the assessment/evaluation process. And my [...]
RULES OF ENGLISH THAT WE THOUGHT WE KNEW
Never end a sentence with a preposition. And never start a sentence with “AND”. These golden rules of writing were drummed into most of us in school – and many of us still teach them to our [...]
“Boy Books” and “Girl Books”?
Whenever I open this can of worms, I get feedback saying that boys can, should and will read whatever girls read. And I don’t disagree! But here’s one fact no one can argue with: the [...]
Let’s Stop Teaching the “Hamburger Paragraph”
I was once asked by a group of teachers, “How many sentences should there be in a paragraph?” I was a little taken aback by the question but replied, “It depends on the [...]
WHY KIDS SHOULD READ NOVELS DURING SSR TIME
Part of me believes that kids should be able to read whatever they want during SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) Time, whether it’s magazines, manuals or comic books – as long as they’re reading [...]