This new edition of Marie Clay's invaluable text contains the teaching procedures, implementation practices, and theoretical understandings that underpin Reading Recovery. This second edition includes teaching procedures that have been progressively refined and revised over the past ten years in response to the experiences of Reading Recovery professionals, new research, and changes in education systems around the world. Literacy Lessons describes an early literacy intervention that: builds on children's strengths as the foundation for learning; is directed toward a curriculum of in-the-head processes for working with written language; utilizes reading and writing activities; maximizes children's contributions to their own learning. .

Introduction -- Preventing reading and writing difficulties -- The shape of the child's series of Reading Recovery lessons -- Learning to look at print -- Writing continuous texts, stories and messages -- Reading continuous texts, stories and messages -- Adjusting teaching for particular difficulties -- Discontinuing individual lessons: the school team monitors for continuing progress -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Endnotes -- References.