When it comes to literacy instruction, there are a LOT of materials out there.  Dry erase boards, letter tiles, multisensory items (like sand or shaving cream), pencils, worksheets, binders…the list goes on and on.  Now, I don't know about all of you, but when I started out delivering literacy intervention privately, I was on a tight budget to get all the supplies I needed for my students! And I was traveling to see my students so I needed materials that were easy to take along with me.  After a few years, I narrowed down the exact materials that I could not live without. Materi ..read more

You can't teach comprehension explicitly. ...at least, that's what we were told when we started in this field.  After working with hundreds of students, we realized that comprehension can and should be taught explicitly. ...and that teaching it doesn't need to be as hard as we once believed. It just relies on us recognizing one important detail before we jump in. The first step in teaching comprehension explicitly… …is recognizing that there are different styles of comprehension and that each requires different levels of processing. The way we answer a direct recall question is ..read more

We all remember it, right?  A stack of flashcards rubber-banded together. A word on one side, definitions on another. Quizzing our friends at lunch just trying to learn the words in time for our vocabulary tests.  …only to forget them as the bell rang and we went on to our next class. When it comes to vocabulary instruction, rote memorization of definitions has been the go-to strategy for students for a looooooong time. While this flashcard strategy can be an effective way to learn new words, it ultimately isn't effective for long-term retention.  This is important because stude ..read more

When you think about reading fluency - what comes to mind? Most often, we hear about "words per minute." How quickly is a child able to read? Some explanations also talk about accuracy or how "error-free" the student is able to read.  Now, rate and accuracy are definitely both components of fluency. However, fluency is so much more than that and there are a few fluency skills that get WAY less attention (but are just as important!).  Before talking about what exactly fluency is, we need to recognize WHY it is so important!  Reading fluency is necessary for reading comprehension ..read more

To teach, or not to teach…this is the question (especially because research seems to be ever-changing in this area)!! There are actually many questions about teaching phonological awareness. Some of the most frequently asked questions we get are… Do I need to teach phonological awareness skills?  What if I teach older students? Isn't this only necessary for younger students?  Should I focus on specific skills?  How do I incorporate these skills without it just feeling like a disjointed drill in my lessons? And last but certainly not least… What exactly is phonolog ..read more

Have you ever tried to organize something, but had no idea where to start? We're talking about organizing a FULL classroom with all of the decorations, games, resources, materials, and more.  It's hard! If we don't have a game plan to help us organize, the process can be completely overwhelming.  Learning phonics is kind of like that.  In English, there are 26 letters. Often, students are explicitly taught the alphabet when they are young and maybe a few of the digraphs (like sh, th, and ch). However, for many, this is where the explicit phonics instruction stops.  When we ..read more

Do you know how many minutes a day (on average) your students spend learning about literacy versus science and social studies? According to the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, students spend over 80 minutes a day receiving language arts instruction compared to an average of 21 minutes in science and 18 minutes in social studies. These numbers drop even more significantly when students who are struggling with literacy are pulled from class to receive additional reading instruction. Students need this content area instruction to develop background knowledge, a key contribut ..read more

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a student tell you that your instruction is boring. This past summer, we were doing everything we could to keep students excited during our literacy lessons. Especially when reading and writing are often the hardest tasks for them.  Today, we want to share a strategy that worked really well for us & our students. How we get students excited about what they are learning — When students would rather be doing anything other than reading, we need to get creative when we present reading tasks to them. When working with a hesitant student, we look for sub ..read more

As educators, we are always looking to synthesize all the research into meaningful frameworks we can use with our students. If you’re anything like us…you might love it when you can visualize the research. Visuals help us put the research together in a simple, easy-to-digest format. Research models like the Literacy Processing Triangle, the 5 Core Components of Reading, and Scarborough’s Rope are popular in the reading space. These visual models help us understand how the brain develops literacy skills and what instructional components need to be included in a Science of Reading-aligned lesson ..read more

Is there anything worse than combing through piles of worksheets to find the ONE you’re looking for? As a part of our organizational series, this week we are sharing our process for keeping all of our worksheets & full-page activities organized! The 3 keys we’ve found to keeping worksheets organized are… Using Binders Color-coding by Concept Organize Your Materials by Subskill Let’s break each of these down, shall we? Step 1: Get Your Binders We are big fans of binders here in our office. We like them because they sit neatly on the shelf, we can clearly label them so we know what is in ..read more