Buffalo Fluffalo is a fun story of understanding who you are and loving who you are. The author, Bess Kalb, wrote a delightful book, sure to be a favorite. I discovered this book through the VSLA Virginia Reader’s Choice Books…
Daily journals can be an essential piece of writing practice is for young learners in kindergarten and first grade. Writing journals provide a structured yet flexible way to reinforce foundational skills while encouraging creativity. However, the key to journals is…
Phonics Games are the ticket for engagement and involvement. As primary educators, we know that young learners thrive when they’re actively engaged, especially when play is involved. Integrating games into phonics instruction not only reinforces foundational literacy skills but also…
5 Star Writing is an easy way to help students gain accountability and independence for their writing. Teaching young writers to take ownership of their work can feel like a challenge, but with the 5 Star Writing Rubric, students gain…
28 days in February doesn't seem like a lot of time to learn about special people in Black History, but Charles Smith, Jr's book does a great job! Check out these great people throughout the 28 days.
Opinion Writing lessons can feel complicated, but they aren't. I first wrote about this in 3 New Steps to Confidently Teaching Opinion Writing to Early Learners. This blog post centers around teaching early learners, like kindergarten how to write opinion…
SEL (Social Emotional Learning) is an integral part of early childhood education. Fostering emotional intelligence is a crucial aspect of a child's overall development. "An Emotional Menagerie" is a perfect book for this.
Art and Reading can seem to be separate goals, but they aren’t. In fact, combining the two gives your students the biggest bang. In the pursuit of comprehensive education, the integration of art into literature lessons has emerged as a…
Punctuation and expression is a early writing skill. These skills are also fundamental building blocks for their language development. The use of punctuation marks not only aids in effective communication but also contributes to conveying different emotions and expressions within…
B and D Reversals. See what I did in the in title? It's no Big Deal. It is not uncommon for young learners to struggle with letter reversals, particularly with letters like 'b' and 'd.' Let’s explore why these reversals…
Let's wrap this up with Phonemic Awareness. As mentioned before, Phonological Awareness is oral and students need to understand letters and sounds before the symbols are added. Previously, we have looked at matching beginning (alliteration) and ending (rhyming) sounds...moved to…
Do you need an intervention for students struggling with spelling words confidently? This is it. Stoplight writing is something students can hang on to. Teaching emergent readers to write can be far more complicated than you think. Writing words involves,…