St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th every year! It’s the perfect time to grab a St. Patrick’s Day read aloud for your classroom. There are many read alouds that are great to help teach about the holiday and students are sure to be engaged as they listen to silly stories of leprechauns, non fiction books […]
Read aloud lessons with read aloud strategies are one of the most magical moments in a classroom. They allow teachers to model fluency, introduce new vocabulary, and model the pure joy of reading rich stories. However, keeping little learners engaged during read alouds can sometimes feel like herding cats, especially in this tech world with […]
There’s just something magical about snow activities for kids! The way it seems to just appear on the ground when we awake, the soft blanket we can jump in, and so many more aspects that make it seem magical! We don’t get a lot of snow in Texas, but when we do the kids’ faces […]
Teaching phonics skills like the hard C and soft C sounds can be a thrilling journey for young learners as they unlock more phonics skills. Just think–now the word “circle” makes sense! It can feel tricky to teach, so let’s dive into an explicit explanation of how to teach each of these phonics skills. I also will […]
Election Day is right around the corner and there are so many good books for you to read aloud in your classroom. You can teach so much to your students about election day through different election day read alouds. You can talk about what an election is, who candidates are, and how a president becomes […]
Most of us, as teachers, really enjoy reading aloud to our students. We love it! They love it! It’s a win! The science of reading research has shown us how children learn to read and the best practices for teaching reading. Reading aloud to kids is a powerful tool that aligns well with these evidence-based […]
Are you looking for engaging activities to help your growing readers understand the concept of comparing and contrasting characters in books? Look no further! In this blog post, we’ll explore some fun and creative activities to make this important literacy skill come alive in your classroom. Plus, I have a free download of an event […]
When I was in the classroom, reading assessments looked like this: a large DRA box, a stack of running records that were to be carefully analyzed, leveled texts with lots of wear and tear, and maybe some checklists. But now that we know what we know, thanks to the science of reading research, we can […]
Introducing poetry to young learners can be an enjoyable and enriching experience. It fosters creativity, language development, and a love for writing. Sometimes, it can feel tricky to know where to begin when it comes to teaching poetry. With engaging activities and strategies for teaching poetry elements to our young writers, it doesn’t have to […]
Develop fluency with these fun, fluency activities for kids! As teachers, one of our primary goals is to equip our young learners with the foundational skills they need to become proficient readers. As we dig into the Science of Reading research more and more, we see this in Scarborough’s Reading Rope through the word recognition […]
Teaching reading is truly a science. As we learn more about the Science of Reading research that is rising to the top, schools are beginning to adopt best teaching practices for teaching reading, including strategies for those struggling in reading. We are better equipped to support kids in reading. But even with our knowledge base […]
Sound walls are a great change that many teachers are making in their literacy classrooms. Why? Sound walls are a great visual for students of how phonemes and letters or letter patterns are used to write words. Giving each student their own personal sound wall is a valuable tool in the classroom. Let’s dive into […]
Planning a reading small group can feel like a big task. It is incredibly important, and there are many pieces to consider, but it doesn’t have to be hard! Having a science of reading small group template at your fingertips makes everything easier! I have been there–the end of a long day, cleaning up my […]
A Kindergarten schedule is always jam-packed. I know it felt this way in first grade, too, but it was just a different level of “jam-packed” in Kindergarten. Not only are you constantly teaching them how to do school, but you also have so many core curriculum pieces to squeeze in. Among them were kindergarten reading […]
December is often a busy time not just in the classroom, but in our personal lives as well. That coupled with the holiday excitement that the students bring to school each day, it can feel overwhelming to manage everyone and everything. I found over the years that when I bring the holiday fun into the […]
There are so many different tools and resources to use in your reading small groups that help your students with their reading skills. One of my favorite tools is using reading comprehension passages with questions to help my students work on their comprehension skills. Let’s chat about reading comprehension passages with questions and how to […]
An easy to follow guide for teaching open and closed syllables. Recently, my friend’s daughter was reading on the couch as she was prepping dinner in the kitchen. She came and asked, “Mommy, what does the word “cat er” mean?” I didn’t understand what she was asking so I asked her to repeat the word. […]
Alphabet arcs…you’ve probably seen them if you are a primary teacher. But do you know how to use them? Do you know why so many people think they are a valuable tool? I remember during my first year of teaching, a had a small group set of alphabet arcs. But I really didn’t know how […]
