This popular text, now in its fourth edition, introduces pre-service and in-service teachers to the most current theories and methods for teaching reading to children in elementary schools. The methods presented are based on scientific findings that have been tested in many classrooms. A wealth of examples, hands-on activities, and classroom vignettes - including lesson plans, assessments, lists of children's literature books, and more - illustrate the methods and bring them to life. The text highlights the importance of teaching every child to become competent in all of the nuances and complexities of reading. Features new in the Fourth Edition are: a new chapter on technology with state-of-the-art applications; a new chapter with the most up-to-date information on how vocabulary is learned and on how it is best taught, responding to the national renewed interest in vocabulary instruction; a new section on Readers/Writer's workshop with a focus on supporting student inquiry and exploration of multiple genres; a more comprehensive chapter on literature instruction and the role of literature in the reading program with examples that support students' multigenre responses; a discussion of literary theories with examples for classroom implementation; broader coverage of the phases of reading development from the pre-alphabetic stage to the full alphabetic stage; a more inclusive chapter on writing instruction; and a thoroughly revised chapter on teaching reading to students who are learning English, including extensive information on assessment and evaluation.