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On-Line Resources

The South Shore Regional School Board curriculum site contains links for educators by subject area.  All of these links were submitted by teachers for inclusion on this site and therefore have been recognized as having some value for educators. As sites do change the SSRSB does not accept responsibility for the content on these sites. Many of these links have been referred to in the construction of this website.

Need a tutorial for a software program.  Many of the most common programs used in schools are listed on the Technology Professional Development page.  On this page you will also find helpful hints and links to supports for educators in Nova Scotia.

EBSCO- is an on-line service for teachers and students.  For teachers there are thousands of professional journals and magazines to access.  In addition, teachers can search for material appropriate for students in grades 2-12 by subject, topic and reading level.  For students this provides a safer search vehicle with access to hundreds of magazines organized by appropriateness for grade level, an encyclopedia, an animal encyclopedia, dictionary and more.  For students in grades 2-6 see the Searchasaurus section. This service has been paid for by the Department of Education for schools in Nova Scotia.  Staff and students can access this at school without a password and ID but for home use  this information is required.

Active Young Readers site from the Nova Scotia Department of Education contains a wealth of professional knowledge and ideas.  Background papers and information on AYR can be found here as well as sample lessons on research and comprehensions strategies.  Also on the site are several professional videos on Guiding Readers, Organizing Your Classroom for Literacy, Book Talks on Non-Fiction Matters and On Solid Ground. In addition, there are student videos, one student discusses copyright and the other talks about planning her research using a graphic organizer.  These videos feature students and teachers from the South Shore!

Writers in Action website from the Nova Scotia Department of Education currently contains information about the initiative and Let's Talk About It brochures that can be downloaded for use.

Dr. Leu from the University of Connecticut has developed a comprehensive collection of research about 'New Literacies'.  Information can be found on this site about boys and reading, visual literacy, media literacy and critical literacy.  I highly recommend this site for the breadth of content and its relevancy to our work in literacy and technology. 

A comprehensive teacher developed website to promote literacy development through the use of technology. Technology and Literacy

This site is divided into six sections for educators and contains an extensive literacy educational links section. This site was created by Dr. Joyce Hinkson from California.

Get the newest research from the Journal of Literacy and Technology.

Literacy and Technology Integration- this site provides examples of Literacy and Technology Integration.

Visions for the Integration of  Technology- Nova Scotia Department of Education curriculum document.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

National Education Technology Standards Project (NETS)

Language Arts Skills On-line- choose a specific area of interest and view the material presented.

Donald Graves has for many years been an authority on the writing process.  In his website he gives suggestions for teachers of writing and has links to many of his publications.

For more information on Explicit Instruction try these sites- Explicit Instruction in Reading Strategies, Lesson Plan Idea for Explicit Instruction.

Lucy Calkin has long been a noted author in the area of writing. She also has several publications on reading and on how to have your students prepared to take a standardized test in reading and writing. To view books written by her visit the Heinemann site.

Research on Technology integration- see EBSCO, Phi Delta Kappan- The Professional Journal for Education- Dec. 2002, York University Tech Report- 2000-02 , Education Week on the Web- Technology Education, IBM research, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Harvard University- articles on computers and schools.

Part of the Critical Issues in Using Technology Series, this article by Ann Holum and Jan Gahala looks at Using Technology to Enhance Literacy Instruction.   A good research based article that presents multiple points of view and numerous links to other sources. 

Looking at the Nova Scotia Grade 6 Literacy Assessment-

• 2004 Elementary Literacy Assessment- a review of testing procedure and general information about this year's assessment.  An overview of the October 2004 Assessment

•  2003 Elementary Literacy Assessment- Informing parents, community and other educators about what the assessment does do and what it does not do is the purpose of this first presentation. This  is one that would be presented to an audience and would use the power point presentation- The Assessment Investigation, a tracking sheet for audience members to predict what the picture is that is introduced to the viewers in pieces throughout the presentation and the story- Seven Blind Mice (Caldecott Honor Book, 1993) by Ed Young.  Speakers notes are included with the presentation.  To view the notes download the presentation to your computer. Please note that you will need Power Point or Star Office on your computer. To do this -open the link above by clicking on The Assessment Investigation, then go to File, Save As, choose a location on your computer to save this presentation, save the presentation, from the new location open the presentation, you will now see that it opens up within the program Power Point, under the slides you will see notes, on the left hand side you will see the content of each slide, you may make changes to suit your situation and to personalize as you wish, save your changes and then you are ready to present the material to your audience.
• 2003 Elementary Literacy Assessment- The second power point presentation- The Assessment Investigation- the Grade 6 Literacy Assessment contains the same basic information but is designed to be viewed independently.  This could be given rehearsed timings and could be run on its own for those interested to view as they wish.  Download the presentation to your own computer ( as described in the bullet above) and modify to meet the needs of your audience. To set rehearsed timings go to Slide Show and choose rehearsed timing. Set the timings by reading the screen (as your projected audience would) and clicking the mouse to advance items on the screen. As you click your mouse the timer will record how long an item will stay on the screen until the next one appears. To have your presentation run on its own (like in the hallway as parents wait at Parent/Teacher Conferences go to Slide Show and Set Up Show and make your choices.  Loop continuously until the Escape (ESC) button is pressed would be a good choice to have this run repeatedly.
• Tracking outcomes can be easier with the outcome tracking sheet that compares the Language Arts outcomes being assessed and shows all other grade 6 LA outcomes in addition. 
• The November, 2003 Inservice focused on Assessment in reading and on developing writers in your classrooms. Materials from this Inservice are posted on the South Shore District School Board Professional Development pages. There you will find, an overview of Writers in Action and the Stages of Writing Development, the power point outlined used on the Friday for our Active Young Readers Day that examined assessment and  introduced the Reading Assessment Resource and Stephen Jamieson's presentation. 
• The Write Traits are kits designed to assist with the development of writing skills.  Grade 5 and Grade 6 classes in Nova Scotia all received kits in the 2003/04 school year and grade 4 classes in 2005.  Marsha Freeman developed an introduction to the kit for teachers. 
• Department of Education Website on Testing and Evaluation for further background information on the Grade 6 Elementary Literacy Assessment and testing in general in Nova Scotia.
• Develop your classroom skills by viewing how others organize their classrooms for literacy, conduct guided reading lessons, use graphic organizers with students, use professional resources to develop best practices and more.  The Department of Education in cooperation with South Shore teachers have developed a series of on-line AYR videos for you to view.
• Blank Elementary Literacy Support Plan. To use, click the link, when it opens go to File and Save As. Save this file as a Word document to the location of your choice.  Begin to use the form by opening it from the saved location, go to Edit and Select All then copy the file and paste it at the end of the blank plan that you saved from this website.  Now, you have two copies of the plan- one to work with and one to keep clean that you can use to copy from again. Please note that this has been moved to another site. Information for this new link for the use of Grade 6 teachers and Administrators has been sent to school Principals..
• Ideas for the Elementary Literacy Support Plan- a plan with ideas in each field area are included. Use this to choose things that you already do in your classroom to support students and to get some additional ideas on appropriate adaptations that you may wish to include in your plan. 
• Improving your assessment practices.  For information on Assessment FOR Learning and related assessment research and ideas try the South Shore Regional School Board Curriculum Assessment page.

Print resources

• Fountas, Irene C. & Pinnell, Gay Su. 2001. "Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6, Teaching Comprehension, Genre and Content Literacy." Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann
• Routman, Regie. 1999. "Conversations, Strategies for Teaching, Learning and Evaluating." Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann
• Wood Ray, Katie. 2001. "The Writing Workshop, Working Through the Hard Parts (And They're All Hard Parts)." Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English
• Bennett, Barrie & Rolheiser, Carol. 2001. "Beyond Monet, The Artful Science of Instructional Integration."  Toronto: Bookation Inc.
• Hoyt, Linda. 2000. "Snapshots, Literacy Minilesson Up Close." Portsmouth, N.H. : Heinemann
• Harvey, Stephanie & Goudvis, Anne. 2000. " Strategies that Work, Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding." York, Maine: Stenhouse
• Nova Scotia Department of Education, English Program Services. 2003. "Technology in the Curriculum, Key Statements in Curriculum Documents." Halifax: Nova Scotia Department of Education
• Lyons, Carol A. & Pinnell, Gay Su. 2001. "Systems for Change in Literacy Education, A Guide to Professional Development." Portsmouth, N.H. : Heinemann
• McMackin, Mary C. & Siegel, Barbara S..  2002. "Knowing How- Researching and Writing Nonfiction 3-8." Portland, Maine: Stenhouse
• Strickland, Dorothy S., Ganske, Karen & Monroe, Joanne K. 2002. "Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers." Portland, Maine: Stenhouse

This site was last updated on 18/01/10.

Sue Taylor-Foley, Coordinator of Assessment and Technology, South Shore Regional School Board, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada  staylor-foley@ssrsb.ca

Material on this site may be used for educational purposes only.  Please request permission for other uses from the author. No responsibility can be assumed for sites linked from this one.