From one of many great blog posts on this subject of Essential Early Read-Alouds, Esme lays out several precious texts and when across the course of the school year she would read them aloud.  A quick way to be reminded of books you've forgotten or great ones you've missed.

Once your students have some access to the code, these read-along video songs are fun ways to squeeze in multiple re-readings.  The creator has done us a great service, too, by revealing multi-syllable words chunk-by-chunk so that the child will more likely infer the patterns in the words.  Children can watch them here at the readeez website or watch on vimeo.com by searching for "Readeez."  Enjoy.

When beginning readers are taking their first tentative steps into the world of independent decoding, it can be difficult to find easily decodable books that are also attractive and make sense.  A new small collection of readers by Miss Rhonda accomplishes all of these goals, fortunately.  She has a Montessori background so these books present simple Pink and Blue level words, as the TRI Word Identifcation leveling system was inspired by the nearly hundred-year-old Montessori approach. Your children may enjoy the look and feel of these books as well as the success of reading them on their own.  A sample book can be viewed online.

You could spend a week examining all of the lists of the best children's literature at this huge round-up of links--from the classic Caldecott to the newer Geisel award for young readers--at the blog Chicken Spaghetti.

Come here for access to thousands of read-along books for emergent and early readers.  The site is called TarHeelReader and is actually designed for adolescent students just learning how to read.  However, many of the books would be appropriate for younger students.  The quality of the e-books is uneven, but you will have lots to choose from.  The topics are numerous as well: plants to Native Americans to the alphabet.  Overwhelmed by the variety?  Click the box in the upper right hand corner of the initial book link to select your favorites.  Children might be motivated to read and re-read with the help of the read-along voices, which also could be turned off.

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children is a seminal consensus document that you can purchase or read online that presents a comprehensive picture of how and why children learn to read, why they sometimes struggle, and what we can do about it.

The most recent national consensus document on literacy focuses on early literacy research.  Particular attention is given to which children's characteristics predict later literacy outcomes.  Download the free executive summary or the entire report here or order a free hard copy.

In 2000, the National Reading Panel issued a widely-influential report on early reading development and instruction that formed the basis of the Reading First legislation of the No Child Left Behind Act.  Ask for a free copy of the report.