AMSCO School Publications, Inc.

Purpose of the Strategy Central for the Active Reader Series

This three-book adolescent literacy program is designed to improve reading comprehension.

Students learn key reading strategies in the context of high-interest selections, using a before-, during-, and after-reading structure. The program’s essential components—readings, strategy instruction, and practice—are included in each workbook, making this program easy to implement.

Strategy Central for the Active Reader is research based and incorporates the main principles of effective literacy instruction, including motivation, comprehension, critical thinking, assessment, vocabulary, fluency, writing, and interdisciplinary collaboration. In developing this series, the editors at Amsco School Publications, Inc. reviewed literature and current research focused on effective methods of improving literacy. A list of these sources is available to sales representatives upon request.

Purpose of the Literature Volume

The Literature volume contains engaging short stories and novel excerpts on themes relevant to adolescents, such as secrets, equality, expectations, identity, loss, sibling relationships, and parent-child relationships. Authors include Walter Dean Myers, Nancy Werlin, Scott Westerfeld, Gail Carson Levine, and more. Fiction reading strategies—such as identifying main characters and main events, and summarizing a story—are taught in the context of these selections.

Features

22 reading strategies, such as identifying main characters and summarizing a story, taught before, during, and after reading a selection.

Authentic, high-interest reading selections organized thematically.

Before You Read contains one or two engaging prereading activities (for example, anticipation guides and surveys) that give students a sneak preview of the strategy and get students excited about the readings.

In While You Read, a Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson presents clear, friendly instruction on a reading strategy.

Watch This! models the reading strategy, and Give It a Try provides students with guided practice using that strategy while reading. Students write in graphic organizers or tables as they use the strategy.

A marginal help box guides students through using a strategy while reading.

Strategy tabs help students stay focused on a strategy during a lesson.

In After You Read, three exercises—Converse, Connect, and Write—have students discuss what they’ve read, make connections to the text, and compose short and longer responses.

Chapter illustrations provide students with an engaging visual way of thinking about a theme. Students first see an illustration at the beginning of a chapter and then think about it during the Reflections section at the end.
Optional Read-Aloud Opportunities provide students with fluency practice.
The Stepping Back section in the middle and end of each book provides a cumulative review and practice, and can be used as an informal assessment.

Complete Teacher’s Guide with Answer Key and Test Bank. The Teacher’s Guide includes a summary of each reading in the volume, as well as lesson plan ideas and handouts to give students extra practice with the strategies in the student book. There is also a complete Answer Key. The Test Bank contains chapter quizzes and volume tests, providing both brief, informal assessments and longer, formal assessments. The multiple-choice questions on these quizzes and tests provide useful standardized-test practice.

Teacher's Guide with Answer Key and Test Bank (CD):

ISBN: 978-1-56765-173-7

Code: N 254 CD $6.00

ISBN: 978-1-56765-172-0

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