Literacy instruction encompasses a lot of subject areas that usually have to be taught in a limited amount of time. Sometimes, it feels overwhelming to try and fit everything into a single 90 minute (or less) block of time. Plus, teachers have to differentiate, run centers, create small group lessons,
When it comes to teaching kids how to read, we want a research-backed, proven approach to our phonics instruction. We’ve learned that memorization, guessing, and just “reading a lot” will not effectively teach our children to read. We know that the Science of Reading shows us that we need this
What is the Science of Reading? I’m sure you have heard about this “new reading movement sweeping the nation” and are wondering if it really is the right way to teach students how to read. Spoiler alert: It IS NOT just an education buzzword or trend, and it’s not new
When I was little, I remember struggling with how to tie my shoes. I watched my mom show me 1000 times, but I just could not get it. It wasn’t until she helped me do it by placing her hands over mine while showing me, that I was able to
Teachers are often missing one simple key to their phonics lesson: visuals. You need to include visual instruction when planning your systematic and explicit phonics lessons. Visuals are essential to multi-sensory learning, and effective lessons will always start with some phonics type of visual reference. This is probably the simplest
You may have heard of a term floating around called “multi-sensory learning”. Maybe you know what it is but need help applying it to your daily lessons. Today, I am going to share what multi-sensory learning is and why it is important for early childhood educators. What is Multi-Sensory Learning?
Did you know that teaching kids to how to spell starts with phonemic awareness? Spelling, or encoding, directly correlates to oral segmentation, just like decoding stems from oral blending. Before a student can spell a word, like h-a-t spells hat, they need to know how to orally segment the word.
Are you looking for a last-minute, no-prep Kindergarten writing activity? As teachers, we tend to overthink and plan elaborate and engaging lessons every day. In reality, we need simple and no-prep activities that you can do with your students repeatedly. I’ve always liked to keep a list of quick writing
Are you tired of the “I’m done, now what” problem? It always seems like a few students finish any activity SO quickly, and then you are scrambling to give them additional work. I tried early finisher bins with activities they could pull out and do independently while they waited for
