I love Book Club Flyers...it's so exciting to see what new books I will add to my classroom library and which ones my students can choose each month to add to their home libraries. But, honestly, some don't have that…
Making sets to 5 is a game-changer for students! When they can see sets of 5 with automaticity, they will soar. You know I'm a reading girl. I have a math husband and I gave birth to two math-minded boys,…
Had a teacher recently ask me what my favorite Back to School resources from my store were. "You have so much in your store, and there's so much on TPT, I get overwhelmed." Well, teachers don't need any additional stress. After…
Like I stated in the previous sound chart post, I love my sound chart. I believe this chart can be used in sort venter for more of the school year...it just depends how you use it. Abandoning the sound chart…
The teachers in our school district are tasked with teaching Main Idea and Supporting Details to our K-2 population. Here are a few ideas for teaching main idea, but also for independent practice AFTER you have taught Main Idea. So,…
Independent Centers. If you do it right, they can change your game. Whatever the hour devoted to guided reading/small group instruction is called in your classroom, the key to successful guided reading is successful self-monitored independent center time. This should…
Spelling can be far more complicated than you think. Writing words involves, at a minimum, knowing letter names, knowing letter sounds, understanding letter/sound associations, knowing letter formations AND being able to hold the pencil and make the letters. WOW. That…
Visualize is one of the strategies that will help with reading and writing at every level. One year I had 2 groups of first graders coming to me for extra reading help. We worked each week on a comprehension strategy…
Compare and Contrast is our latest unit. We are using Benchmark Universe in our school district and sometimes it's hard to get practice with our emergent readers. It can be an easy skill for students to TALK about, but we…
4 Square is a perfect tool for teaching students to write sentences. Many years ago, we visited friends with a newborn. We had been warned the baby was fussy and the parents were tired. When we got there, we were…
Writing Center is a must. But, I also think a 4 Square Center, a First, Then, Last Center, Fab 5 Center and a Word Wall Word Center with Configuration Boxes. Writing Centers are the most important part of their independence.…
Phoneme Manipulation is next in my "Barriers to Reading" series. The first post was Barriers to Reading: Reading the Whole Word. This post is about phoneme manipulation. Phonemes are units of sound. For example, cat has 3 phonemes: /c/ /a/…