Genre Quick Guide

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Enhance your teaching expertise with this ready-reference tool created by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell as part of their comprehensive suite of Genre Study resources.

What is it?

The Genre Quick Guide is the companion to Genre Study:Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books.This spiral-bound companion is designed to help you actively engage students in the exploration of texts so that they can notice and name genre characteristics, and construct working definitions that guide their thinking as readers and writers.
Who is it for?

The Genre Quick Guide is a tool teachers can use with students in grades K-8 to embark on an inquiry-based exploration into the study of genre.
What is inside?

To support your efficient planning and teaching, Genre Quick Guide includes the definition and key characteristics of each fiction and nonfiction genre, as well as the demands each genre makes on the reader, and a short list of high-quality, age-appropriate mentor texts.
How is it implemented?

To enable your efficient planning and teaching, the Genre Quick Guide is designed to be at your fingertips as a reference tool that defines the fiction and nonfiction genres and summarizes key characteristics of each.

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Explore the Fountas & Pinnell Reader's Notebooks

Designed to encourage reflection, inquiry, critical thinking, and dialogue about reading, the Fountas & Pinnell Reader’s Notebook work seamlessly with the Genre Study Suite. These convenient and time saving notebooks help students account for what they read through drawing and writing as they explore and convey their understandings.

Reader’s Notebook, Grades K
Reader’s Notebook, Grades 2
Reader’s Notebook, Grades 4–8

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Genre Study Webinars

The Fountas & Pinnell Genre Study Suite + the Reader’s Notebook Webinar

Watch this 30 minute webinar on the Fountas & Pinnell Genre Study Suite and the Reader’s Notebooks presented by National Content Specialist, Terry Thomas. Her presentation is followed by a 10 minute Q&A in which participants were able to get answers to their questions.This webinar will walk you through The Genre Study Suite which focuses on genre study through inquiry-based learning with an emphasis on reading comprehension and the craft of writing. Terry will explain how you can enhance your teaching of genre study by using Reader’s Notebooks as an excellent assessment tool for documenting reading achievement over time in a reading workshop. This suite provides the tools needed to help you and your students lay the groundwork for a lifetime of literacy exploration.

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Genre Study: The Inquiry Approach Webinar

Watch a recording of our webinar Genre Study: The Inquiry Approach. In it Fountas and Pinnell consultant, Dr. Kathy Northcutt will:

Provide an overview and rationale of the importance of an inquiry approach to genre study
Explain how genre study provides students with opportunities for comprehending
Explain how to use genre study within an authentic literacy framework

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