Andie Cunningham recently taught kindergarten for five years at the Harold Oliver Primary School in Portland, Oregon. In the fall of 2006, she became a faculty member at Lewis & Clark College. Andie is the co-author (with Ruth Shagoury) of Starting with Comprehension. She has worked previously as a physical movement teacher. Andie also serves as a national facilitator for the Courage to Teach program.

Drawing to Words: Conferring with Luis (VIDEO) In this four-minute video, Andie Cunningham confers with Luis during writing workshop. Luis is a six-year-old English language learner whose passion is drawing. . . . more Seven Minutes of Listening Andie Cunningham Four-year-old Isabele pulled out the large alphabet puzzle, a big 2' by 3' wooden one that so many preschool and primary classrooms have. With her right hand holding the letter X, she said, "See, they match." I looked at her and asked how she knew. Like all brilliant children, she ignored my unimportant question and led the way. . . . more New Books for Strategy Studies Andie Cunningham I love finding new texts for the classroom. When I read new-to-me books, I often imagine the faces of young learners from past classes reading with me. A time-tested favorite practice of mine is also to ask my sixth-grade daughter to read the text and see what she thinks. With each of these texts, she agreed: all classroom ready and perfect for strategy studies. . . . more Blogs for Aspiring Teen Writers Andie Cunningham My soon-to-be fifteen-year-old niece wants to be a writer. Since her birthday is just around the corner, I wondered if creating a list of young adult author blogs might be helpful to her. I feel spoiled by what I learn on blogs these days, and the idea of offering her a little window into the world of writing through the web cemented the idea. . . . more Choosing New Books for Comprehension Strategy Studies with Young Children Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury The books I have chosen for reading comprehension have been amazing journeys that we've taken as a class. I thought I would use the books just to help to learn about comprehension, but they have b . . . more Best Practices for the Youngest Readers and Writers (CHOICE LITERACY CLUSTER) The purpose of this cluster is to help teachers reflect on best practices for teaching young readers and writers. With achievement pressure increasing for even our youngest students, this cluster helps teachers think about the best practices for reaching these young learners. . . . more Spacing Words: A Minilesson with Young Writers (VIDEO) Andie Cunningham In this three-minute video, Andie Cunningham reinforces the concept of spacing words with her kindergartners using her own writing and a brainstorming web. . . . more Bucking Broncs and Spitting Bulls Andie Cunningham It was in those opening moments of the rodeo that I thought of the first days of elementary school: how older students welcome the new and younger learners, how faculty energetically smile as they give directions to lost visitors. Assemblies, pledges, and administrative addresses all signal the beginning of great possibility. Announcements and messengers interrupt the day's activities with ease. The momentum of those first days encourages participants to dream of what is possible. The beginning of this rodeo felt vaguely similar . . . more Preschool Letter Detectives Andie Cunningham "What is a letter? A mystery." Five-year-old Gabe's response to my question stunned me. I realized from listening and observing his teacher Melissa's gentle nudging and guiding that letters are at the heart of what's being studied by these wonderful preschool students. It was obvious that letters are a primary source of meaning making for these students. . . . more Connecting Language and Hope: A Study Group Activity Andie Cunningham For the past three months, a group of teachers and I have been exploring words in our classrooms. To help us clarify how language affects us, some teachers listened to the language of their students in both academic and social situations. Other teachers studied their own spoken language as an entrance into the words of the classroom. . . . more Helping Classroom Volunteers Become Better Listeners Andie Cunningham In my school, asking students questions when the answer is already known by the questioner was a common practice. Frustrated by these conversations, I decided to see what might happen if I brought some of what I learned as a Courage to Teach facilitator into my classroom. . . . more Introducing Bull's-Eyes and Waves Written Responses in Synthesis Work (VIDEO with TEMPLATES) Andie Cunningham My students find different ways to communicate their synthesis, but we found we needed a substantial way to hold on to our knowing and in some cases, further unpack and give definition to it. To help all of us create placeholders for what we know, and to offer my students appropriate tools for explaining what connections they are making, we use two tools, the bull's-eye and waves sheets, both created on 18" by 24" manila or white construction paper. . . . more In the Zone: Conferring with a Young English Language Learner (VIDEO) The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a concept developed by the Russian language researcher Lev Vygotsky nearly a century ago. The theory simply stated is there is a learning "zone" each child . . . more Creating Anchor Charts with Sticky Note Responses from Young Readers (VIDEO) Andie Cunningham Learners who focus on comprehension strategies rely on different tools. One of the most popular is the three by three inch sticky note. High school teachers like Cris Tovani and primary teachers such as Debbie Miller write about how they use these little notes in their comprehension work with students. But what adaptions do pre-school and kindergarten teachers need to make in order to use these tools as successfully as teachers who work with older students? . . . more Reading Comprehension Posters: What, Where, and Why (PHOTO ESSAY) Andie Cunningham Several years ago, I started creating permanent posters to use in my reading comprehension strategy work. My hope for the large posters was two-pronged. I wanted the posters to serve as a visual reference, a way for us to all narrow our focus over and over again when we turned to strategy work. The second hope was to show the children (and classroom visitors) how important the strategies were to all of our classwork... . . . more Understanding the "Silent Period" with English Language Learners Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury If you have a new English language learner in your class who is not speaking, don't worry. According to language researcher Stephen Krashen, most new learners of English will go through a "silent period," where they are unwilling or unable to communicate orally... . . . more Webbing to Learn: A Writing Strategy to Chart Thinking with Young Learners (VIDEO) Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury Teachers and teacher educators used to think that a web structure was too advanced for our youngest school learners, and reserved this work for more academically experienced students. A couple of years ago, we decided to see what would happen when primary grade students are invited to use webs to document their new understanding of texts. What we discovered was that webs can play a crucial role in comprehension work even with five- and six-year-olds... . . . more Spacing Words: A Mini-Lesson with Young Writers (VIDEO) Andie Cunningham In this two-minute video, Andie Cunningham reinforces the concept of spacing words with her kindergartners using her own writing and a brainstorming web. . . . more Every Language Counts: Adding Multilingual Counting Activities to Morning Meeting (VIDEO) Andie Cunningham Every year I have children who come from homes with many different first languages. In the past year alone, first languages included English, Spanish, Hmong, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Russian. One way I help welcome these different languages and cultures into our classroom community is by counting in different languages during the morning meeting. . . . more Honor Books: Helping Children and Families Build Bridges Between Home and School Andie Cunningham The students I teach come from home environments of limited resources, but their years of family and life experiences are rich. Many of these families only recently immigrated to America, so there is a wealth of languages and cultures to tap in these homes. . . . more The Art of Listening in Writing Conferences with English Language Learners Ruth Shagoury and Andie Cunningham Listening to individual children in active writers' workshops is especially challenging, and understanding the words of students who speak a different first language than yours can be downright daunting. Here are some tips for mastering the art of listening in conferences with English language learners... . . . more