Are you interested in learning more about the Science of Reading? Over the past 3 years, I have researched all about the Science of Reading and shared a lot of what I’ve learned on my blog through using engaging and fun activities. I compiled a list of books that I’ve
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
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.
Do you use a weekly assessment to keep track of your student’s progress for each phonics skill or unit? It may seem like A LOT more to add yet another assessment to your plate. However, getting a glimpse at where your students are can be so helpful. I’m going to
When you think about assessments, you probably think of a student sitting at a desk with a pencil filling in little bubbles on a test form. However, assessments in Kindergarten are a WHOLE different ballgame. If you’ve ever had to give Kindergarten students a “fill in the bubble” kind of
