I actually had someone tell me early readers didn't need to know about cause and effect because "it was too hard to bring it to their level." I, respectfully, disagree. It's not necessarily about the skill, it's about the approach.…
New Old Shoes is such a great book about recycling and reusing. It's the perfect book for teaching students about real-world ways to care for the earth. I found this INCREDIBLE book at a thrift store for 99¢ and it's…
WOW, where does the time go? My best advice for coming back form the holiday is jump into routines ASAP. Students crave boundaries and their routines are part of their boundaries. They find boundaries safe and predictable. The added bonus…
Character traits questions are infamously answered with "happy" and "sad." But we need to move students beyond that. Just teach them and practice. It's easy. One of the most common questions during a comprehension conversation is "How does the character…
"Back in the day" we used the Round Robin technique for reading. It seemed to be a way to make everyone participate in reading. Everyone took a turn, either in a specific order or in a random "popcorn" order. I…
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…
Kindergarten talk is the language we use with our kindergarten students. We have to be careful to talk on their level, but not talk down to them. So, I have to confess...brace yourself...get ready... every time I'm on Pinterest or…
When students are reading and exhibit structure errors, errors with tense, natural language or syntax, they need small group lessons related to these errors. Structure Errors Structure errors are all about the structure of the sentence and understanding the English…
Visual errors are errors regarding what the student sees. Sounds, symbols, print conventions, and analogies are part of regarded as visual cues. Visual Errors This is the second in the series. As I stated before, I believe in analyzing your…
Meaning errors are all about making sense. Grammatical Patterns and language structures are about meaning Meaning Error For a quick review, students who make meaning errors are using meaning to help guide their reading. Meaning errors are only looking at…
Making Connections is an interesting reading comprehension strategy. It seems so straight forward and it seems to be easy to explain. It is also over-used in comprehension discussions with students on the knowledge level. In spite of these things, making…
Reading at home is so important. This is my favorite advice to parents. Create a LOVE of Reading and you'll never regret it. I am heartsick when I hear students say they don't like reading. I think they are just…