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Want to know how the Science of Reading applies to your classroom? Keep reading to discover what the research suggests, and how we should teach phonics and phonemic awareness to help all students learn to read.

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In the past 12 years of teaching, 5 as a reading specialist, I’ve changed how I organize my groups.  A LOT.  Today, I want to share the system I have finally settled on that makes my groups run as smoothly as possible.  And look friends, this isn’t going to be pretty.  You know I don’t do cutesy, and let’s face
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Synthetic phonics is more effective than embedded phonics. Phonics is ubiquitous. You honestly can’t read an education article or listen to a podcast without hearing about the importance of phonics. But what does the research actually suggest concerning phonics instruction? I believe that knowledge is power, and today I want to give you key points about the effects of phonics
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   I am the queen of simplicity and anti-hoarding.  If I haven’t used it in the past year or two, it’s going in the trash or the recycling bin.  I don’t get attached to objects in my classroom just because money has been spent on them, especially if they are not aligned with best practices.  I don’t keep stinky books, outdated
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This is one of the decodable texts I use from The Literacy Nest.                Do you want your students to become more proficient, automatic readers?  We all do, right?  This may sound like an oversimplification, but the one thing I suggest we all need a lot more of is practice.  If we want our children to become more automatic word
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               In 1997, the National Reading Panel was convened at the behest of Congress and the Secretary of Education.  It was gathered in order to “assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read”(National Reading Panel, 2000, p.1-1).  In 2000, the National Reading Panel (NRP) released their report, a document free to
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Definitely the kind of book you’ll need to take notes on. I may or may not have had to blur out coffee stains on this picture. It’s one of those books you know you should read, but it takes all of us forever to actually sit down and read it.  So is it worth all the hype?  In my opinion,
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A  few months ago, I started a series of blog posts where I do a deep dive into specific instructional practices.  I started with word chaining, and today I want to continue the conversation with sound-symbol mapping.  This practice can be done in whole group, small group, or one on one.  With some guidance, it can also be a valuable
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If you have a child that is about to enter kindergarten, you might find yourself wondering what they need to know when they come to us.  Do they need to know all their letter sounds?  Should they be reading?    Today, I want to put your mind at ease about what we expect when your child starts kindergarten.To put it simply,
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This was my first year where I fully implemented more evidenced-based practices in my intervention groups (AKA I followed the Science of Reading).  In March 2020 when the world shut down, I had just heard the term Science of Reading for the first time.  I was attempting to teach with both balanced literacy AND structured literacy formats.  I would teach