This follow-up reading’s focus is about deepening meaning of the book. Debra again models her thinking and invites students to turn-and-talk several times during their second reading of Which Pet is Best?

Students join in reading the text aloud with the teacher as they choose.

Debra uses a pointer to track the print by moving fluidly under the text, as all students in the class have one-to-one match established.

Debra Crouch works nationally as an independent literacy consultant, collaborating with districts and schools in designing professional learning opportunities. Her work empowers teachers, principals, and coaches to envision instructional decisions that matter for children—decisions about processes for learning that unfold over time, across texts and among practices. She actively shares her thinking and practices through long-term professional learning opportunities with districts across the country serving children from diverse backgrounds, languages, and socioeconomic needs.

Storyteller and educator Awele Makeba combines performing arts and history to tell a powerful story from the American civil rights movement.

Mr. Vosa from The Primary School reads The Little Red Hen by authors Brenda Parkes and Judith Smith and illustrated by Mary Davy. William, better known by his middle name, Vosa, was raised in Redwood City, and is an educator specializing in Early Childhood with an added passion for working with high school and university populations. In his nine years of teaching and leading, Vosa has enjoyed working with students in achieving their potential and creating a safe and trusting atmosphere. Vosa strives to build a life-long love for learning and to build a team of committed educators determined to create a sense of leadership and a strong community.

Dr. Tonya Leslie believes that education must engage cultural consciousness not solely content if the future of our society is to reflect the best of who we are. She specializes in using children’s books to open dialogue around challenging topics.

Judy Koch passionately believes in the power of children’s literature to spark lifelong reading habits and change lives —particularly for children in poverty. As a retired CEO, she’s in a position to do something about it. Koch’s Bring Me a Book Foundation, a nonprofit the Leland Manor resident founded nearly 25 years ago, has placed hundreds of thousands of books — in English and Spanish — in low-income preschool and elementary classrooms throughout the Bay Area. The foundation also has given tens of thousands of books directly to children to take home — along with child-sized “book cubbies” — to start their own personal libraries.

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