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Phonics, Science of Reading

The Power of Cumulative Review

Before becoming Orton-Gillingham trained, I rarely reviewed. I “taught” my spelling features for the week and then expected my children to magically remember those rules forever. I was still using leveled texts, so there was no review of skills in connected text. I knew I needed to do more, but I didn’t know how to make it all fit into

Phonics, Resources

Word Chaining: Practices That Work

I’ve talked a lot about word chains, but realized I’ve never dug deeply into why they are important and very explicitly explain the steps to take. So today, I’m diving deep into why and how, without extra fluff. (Look, I’m even keeping the intro short so this doesn’t become one of those recipe blogs that tells you the entire history

Science of Reading

Kids Don’t Have to Love Reading

I identify as a reader so much, I literally had a Harry Potter wedding. But that doesn’t mean my children have to love reading like I do. As teachers, we tend to be voracious readers. I wear my identity as a reader on my sleeve and quite literally on me at all times (I have a Harry Potter tattoo). Becoming

Book Reviews, Reading Research, Uncategorized

Book Review: Reading for Life by Lyn Stone

Fun fact: my best friend Rachel and I bought this book for each other this Christmas without realizing what the other one was doing! I’ve read a lot of books about teaching reading. Some have been great, some have been meh, and some have been so dense I have to wait until I’m on a break to read them because

Phonics, Resources

The Science of Reading and Teachers Pay Teachers (pt. 2)

I think Teachers Pay Teachers is great (biased, I know). But honestly? I think it can also be terrible for someone who doesn’t know what they are looking for. There are a LOT of, let’s just say questionable, resources out there. If someone were just looking for Science of Reading resources, they might run across something that isn’t aligned with

Phonemic Awareness, Reading Research

Addressing Key Issues in Phonemic Awareness

The issue of phonemic awareness right now is HOT. I can’t go to Twitter or Facebook without seeing another heated argument over phonemic awareness. It can be overwhelming, it can get nasty (who would’ve thought, right?), and it can feel disheartening. I felt like I had just learned about teaching phonemic awareness and then I had to completely change my

Fluency, Phonics

Let’s Talk Running Records

I was the queen of running records. You should see the composition books I had where I took a running record on every child in all of my groups almost weekly. I didn’t need a form, I didn’t need any fancy technology. All I needed was a book, a kid, and my notebook. I was so proud of my

Phonics

You Can Still Give Spelling Tests

As I entered the Science of Reading world, I heard a lot about how people were ditching spelling tests. When I was in the classroom, I had between 4 and 5 different “word study” groups, and each group had a spelling test on Friday. So that meant I spent over an hour each Friday testing children on their words. When

Phonics

10 Ways to Practice Phonics Skills

I love teaching children how to read. I enjoy teaching in general, but teaching phonics is just SO. MUCH. FUN. So today, I want to talk about 10 different ways I practice a phonics skill with kids. Each activity is something I do with my kiddos, and all of them are meaningful ways to practice reading and writing. I am

Phonemic Awareness

Sounder and Friends™: An Interview with the Creators

The characters from Sounder and Friends™. Recently, I had the chance to sit down and speak with Laura and Heather, the creators of Sounder and Friends™, an educational show airing on PBS (and streaming on You Tube) that focuses on developing phonemic awareness in young children. They also have a free phonemic awareness app coming out! Today, listen in as

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The Blog

The Power of Cumulative Review

Word Chaining: Practices That Work

Kids Don’t Have to Love Reading

Book Review: Reading for Life by Lyn Stone

The Science of Reading and Teachers Pay Teachers (pt. 2)

Addressing Key Issues in Phonemic Awareness

Let’s Talk Running Records

You Can Still Give Spelling Tests

10 Ways to Practice Phonics Skills

Sounder and Friends™: An Interview with the Creators

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