Phonemic awareness is the foundation of reading success, but for many Kindergarteners, it doesn’t come naturally. Listening for and manipulating sounds can feel abstract without something concrete to hold, touch, or move. That’s why hands-on phonemic awareness activities are such a game-changer in early literacy instruction. By combining sound play
Have you ever had a student mix up “cap” and “cape”? You’re not alone—long and short vowels can be tricky for little learners! But once kids hear the difference and practice it in fun, meaningful ways, everything starts to click. Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite ways to
When it comes to teaching early readers, fluency is one of the most essential skills to develop. Fluency is not just about reading quickly—it’s about reading with accuracy, expression, and comprehension. One of the best ways to improve reading fluency is by giving students ample opportunities to practice decoding words
When teaching students how to read, the idea of deliberately teaching nonsense words might seem pointless. However, there’s a method to this madness. Teaching nonsense words is pivotal in developing a child’s foundational reading skills. This blog post will explore the importance of why you should teach nonsense words to
Learning how to read marks the start of a lifelong skill, beginning with mastering the alphabet and advancing to blending and reading CVC words. An important milestone of reading is the transition from recognizing individual letters to seamlessly blending consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. In this blog post, I will share how
Are your students practicing CVC words? Mastering CVC words is an essential step in early reading development, helping students blend and segment sounds to build fluency. Incorporating hands-on, engaging activities into your lessons can make learning more interactive and enjoyable. Whether you’re looking for independent work, partner activities, or fine
Not sure how to write a lesson plan to teach CVC words and teach it in just 15-20 minutes? I am going to walk you through a step-by-step guide of my phonics lessons from start to finish with a simple CVC words lesson plan. You can also grab the FREE
The main phonics skill you will be focusing on in Kindergarten is CVC words. Typically, I spent about 2-3 months working on decoding, blending, spelling and fluency with just CVC words! Once your students are able to read CVC words, their reading ability will skyrocket! Here’s how to teach CVC
Sensory bins provide so much opportunity to explore while practice fine motor skills. I love the fact that you can take any ordinary activity and make it instantly more engaging by incorporating a sensory bin. Today, I am teaming up with some of my teacher friends to share our Christmas
