Reading conferences can be a powerful and effective tool for developing reading growth in our students. Conferencing with each student doesn’t take long but can provide us with a lot of data about how students are progressing and how deep their level of understanding and comprehension can be. Plus, they can be just a whole lot of fun for both… View Post
Our list for must read books for October is here! October is one of the most fun months to share special books with students. After you share the books, be sure to place them in a special “Blessed Books” basket. These blessed books encourage students to look at, read and enjoy them all month long! It is a great way… View Post
Blending and Segmenting are crucial phonemic awareness skills for laying a solid foundation in our readers. Many studies have been done showing that students who have weak phonemic awareness skills may also have weak reading skills. Today we have some tips and tools for making teaching these two skills a bit easier for your students to learn. Rocks, hammers and… View Post
The BEST Back to School Books are on our mind as we are thinking about the new school year and getting our classrooms ready. Of course we have favorites, like The Recess Queen, but we like to add new books to our list. We held back and didn’t add that one, but it really is one of our favorites! Some… View Post
Science of Reading – Teacher Book Stack time is finally here! Even though it is summer and a time for teachers to recharge and relax, I have always enjoyed reading, sharpening my skills and planning for the next year. It fuels the teaching fire! We are going to introduce four professional teaching books and explain why each book is an… View Post
Free summer reading ideas! That’s right. School’s out (finally) but you don’t want your readers to stop reading. So we have some fun, free ideas to keep the learning happening and the brains to thinking! #1: Scholastic Summer Reading Program Scholastic has taken a lot of the work out for parents to get their kids to read during the summer…. View Post
It’s time to talk about the dreaded Summer Slide. Some believe the summer slide to be a myth. Some teachers believe it occurs more in developing readers. Either way, it IS real. When we don’t use our muscles for months at a time, they get weak. The muscles lose strength and can lose what gains had been previously made. Kids… View Post
