Irene C. Fountas

Children want to make their mark - on paper, on any surface, in life. But the difficulties of transferring words to paper can be daunting enough to drown out even the most enthusiastic voice. Enter interactive writing, a new instructional approach in which teachers and children collaborate to produce a written text. Just as Fountas and Pinnell did in their best-selling Guided Reading, the authors offer powerful first teaching designed to accelerate and support children's critical understanding of the writing process.
Interactive Writing is specifically focused on the early phases of writing, and has special relevance to prekindergarten, kindergarten, grade 1 and 2 teachers. In a clear, step-by-step format, the authors show how teachers can use interactive writing to teach a range of foundational literacy skills by sharing the pen with young writers:

letter learning
phonological and orthographic awareness
learning the nature of words
building a writing vocabulary
learning concepts about print
organizing and composing narrative and expository text.
Important features include a rich array of examples of children's writing, down-to-earth practical advice, suggestions for using children's literature and art in the writing program, numerous photos of children's work, and suggestions for professional development. Additionally, there are thorough descriptions of how interactive writing can be used as a tool for inquiry across the curriculum - in content areas as well as in literature. With this kind of broad application, children can grow to see writing as a lifelong tool for learning - and see themselves as writers, right from the start.
The book is filled with practical information on how to get started with interactive writing, with explicit details from specific materials to fine teaching points.… (more)

If you're interested in learning more about implementing an effective phonics and spelling program, this follow-up to Word Matters provides all the information. This edited collection is a rich extension of Fountas and Pinnell's instructional system for word study, featuring chapters by the field's most important scholars and practitioners. These educators explore letter and word learning in a variety of reading, writing, and language contexts-with articles that range from detailed observations of individual readers and writers to full-scale analyses of classroom processes and student work. The book includes practical information on how to engage in interactive writing and shared reading, how to use a word wall and word sorting, and how to use effective assessment tools.

Special guest authors include: Billie J. Askew - David Booth - Diane E. DeFord - Dorothy P. Hall and Patricia M. Cunningham - Justina Henry - Susan Hundley and Diane Powell - Carol B. Jenkins - Carol A. Lyons - Andrea McCarrier and Ida Patacca - William Stokes - Sandra Wilde - Barbara Joan Wiley - Jerry Zutell.

Voices on Word Matters will extend your learning as it takes you into rich literacy classrooms, provides you with concrete learning activities, and expands your understanding of Fountas and Pinnell's instructional framework. There are also reproducible sheets and lists for classroom application as well as end-of-chapter professional development activities to support you in your work and in your collegiality.… (more)

The Fountas & Pinnell Prompting Guide 1 is a flip-chart tool that you can use to enhance your teaching power in guided reading lessons; intervention lessons; shared reading; independent reading; reading and writing conferences; and dictated, independent, and interactive writing. If you are a classroom teacher, reading specialist, literacy teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, or literacy coach, you can use this flip chart as a ready reference while working with students in several instructional contexts.

Fountas and Pinnell have compiled a comprehensive collection of precise language to use when teaching, prompting for, and reinforcing effective strategic actions in reading and writing. Based on your observations and analysis of students’ reading and writing behaviors, you can select the specific language that will work best for children as they build their literacy processing systems. The language in this guide will improve the reader’s or writer’s ability to solve problems and use strategic actions independently.… (more)