Orthographic mapping refers to the process of decoding and encoding words by analyzing letter-sound relationships. This is a key step in learning how to read, as it helps children connect letters with their corresponding sounds. Through the process of orthographic mapping, readers can decode unfamiliar words, practice spelling patterns, and develop reading fluency. Why is Orthographic Mapping Important? Along with phonemic awareness, orthographic mapping helps children learn how to decode and spell words. It gives them the ability to figure out unfamiliar words by breaking them into their comp ..read more

On February 17th, we celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day. This is an opportunity to promote and encourage acts of kindness in your school and community. Below are three simple ways you can celebrate this day with your students! (1) Read a Poem or Book – Read a kindness poem or book about kindness! Have a discussion about how even ONE simple act of kindness can make a difference. Help students reflect and set goals for how they can be kind to others. They can record their goals or share their goals with the class! You can even make a class book with all of the student goal pages. (2) Brai ..read more

Are you looking for a way to get more organized this school year? Every August, without fail, my brain kicks into gear and starts spinning with 101 things I need to do to get ready for the new school. The only thing that helps my cluttered brain is to “brain dump” and write it all down. I have sticky notes all over my house, and a growing list of all that needs to get done. Whether it’s your first year teaching or your 25th, the first few weeks of school are just exhausting. It’s important to get ahead of tasks and stay organized to make each day run smoothly, so to help you get org ..read more

Are you looking for a way to improve fluency skills and support students with their fluency goals? Incorporating reading fluency goal setting and reflection as part of your daily or weekly routine is one way to do this. Setting goals helps your students build accountability and take ownership of the skills they are working on. It often motivates them to practice and provides a personal purpose for reading.  Establishing reflection as a part of the learning cycle helps students look at their own reading and supports them in monitoring their own reading behaviors. Keep reading to learn how ..read more

A reading toolbox is a collection of strategies and skills (tools) that students apply while they are reading. It is specific to each student and acts as an inventory of reading strategies and skills that the student has accumulated throughout their reading journey. These tools are the skills and strategies that they use to decode and comprehend the texts they are reading. Of course there are specific strategies they learn at each grade level, but the ones that “stick” and stay in their toolbox from year to year are the ones they know how to apply. A students reading toolbox may change from ye ..read more

Do you have students who have a difficult time with retelling? They read an entire text and they can barely tell you what it’s about. Some teachers may write the text off as “just being too difficult” and bump down a level, but as an interventionist, I would take this as a cue to dig a little deeper. In this situation, I would encourage you to ask yourself: Does this student truly not understand what they read, or do they just not know how to retell? Retelling is more than just memory and text recall. Retelling is an active reading strategy that helps students monitor their comprehension ..read more

Summarizing non-fiction involves analyzing an informational text and applying higher level thinking skills to identify main ideas, determine importance, and synthesize ideas. Students have to think beyond the text and demonstrate understanding by identifying key words and phrases and putting them together in a text summary using their own words. The focus is on the most important facts or ideas of a text. Unlike a retell, a non-fiction summary should only include the main idea, as well as key words and important supporting details that are essential to understanding the text. For many students ..read more

If you’re looking for activities to help you leap into spring, then you’ll love my spring literacy resources for reading and writing!   Students will eagerly await reading group and literacy center time if they know that these fun and engaging resources await them.  When the snow melts, you’ll be happy that your classroom is filled with such a great variety of activities.  Your class will enjoy building reading fluency and comprehension skills, as well as showing their creative side with the writing tasks.   Students can work independently, with a partner, or in a sma ..read more

A weak foundation in phonics will affect a student’s ability to read with appropriate fluency and comprehension. Students must be able to automatically identify common words and recognize phonics patterns within words to read with proficiency. With struggling readers, especially, it’s important to dig deeper with assessments to determine if phonics is an area that needs targeting. If it is, there are many phonics interventions you can incorporate into your small group instruction to boost these skills and develop their phonics knowledge. Many school districts have formal research-based program ..read more

Do you have students who have difficulty decoding multisyllabic words? Words that contain multiple syllables can be difficult for students to read, especially if they don’t have strategies in their literacy toolbox to figure them out. These students often look at the word as a whole, or will focus on just the first syllable and guess at the rest. By teaching your students to decode words using syllables, not only will they have the tools to successfully read challenging words, but they’ll develop the confidence to navigate higher-level texts on their own. Why + How of Syllable Types Learning h ..read more