Should you teach long vowels in Kindergarten? The short answer—yes, as long as your students are ready! If your students have mastered short vowel CVC words and are confidently blending sounds, many of them are ready to start learning long vowel patterns, especially by spring. In fact, introducing vowel teams
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
Phonics instruction is a critical component of early literacy development, and a well-structured approach can set the foundation for your students’ reading success. If you’re teaching kindergarten, you know how essential it is to have a clear plan for phonics instruction. That’s where a Kindergarten phonics scope and sequence comes
As educators, we know that every minute counts in the classroom. Balancing the curriculum’s demands with our students’ needs can be challenging, especially when it comes to foundational skills like phonemic awareness. That’s why I’m excited to offer you a free week of phonemic awareness lessons that take less than
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
One of the first phonological awareness skills that many Pre-K or Kindergarten educators teach is counting syllables. We say a multi-syllabic word and have our students clap it out, counting the syllables. But have you ever asked yourself, “Why are we teaching this skill?” Teaching children syllable awareness is an
Rhyming is not just a fun activity, but it is an essential skill that can help children develop their language and literacy skills. Research has shown that teaching rhyming can improve phonemic awareness, which is key for children to become better readers and writers. Plus, rhyming can be a fun
Teaching a multi-sensory phonics lesson is an effective way to help students of various learning styles and abilities develop their phonics skills. By engaging multiple senses, you’ll create a fun learning experience for your students, making phonics more accessible and enjoyable. The best part, it is really quick and simple
Most Kindergarten teachers will teach or practice syllables with their students at some point in the year. Usually, a syllable activity just involves counting how many syllables are in the word. However, there is so much more that goes into teaching syllables than just counting the number of syllables. Here’s
