Bringing the Science of “Learning” Into Focus The Science of Reading movement has brought so much change to our schools over the past few years— new curriculum, new resources, decodable readers replacing leveled books and even swapping old assessments that have been used for the past 20 years…for brand new ones. Many important and exciting changes, but as Mark Seidenberg reminds us in his Yale Child Study Center Talk, Where Does the “Science of Reading” Go From Here?, we still have work to do to effectively incorporate these principles, practices and research. And to effectively i ..read more

  Bringing the Science of “Learning” Into Light The Science of Reading movement has brought so much change to our schools over the past few years— new curriculum, new resources, decodable readers replacing leveled books and even swapping old assessments that have been used for the past 20 years…for brand new ones. Many important and exciting changes, but as Dr. Mark Seidenberg reminds us in his Yale Child Study Center Talk, Where Does the “Science of Reading” Go From Here?, we still have work to do to effectively incorporate these principles, practices and research. To do this, we n ..read more

UFLI is the “backbone” of our phonics instruction and Secret Stories is the “lifeblood” that runs through it. Hi, my name is Leah Ruesink! I am an early literacy coach and adjunct professor from Michigan, here to share my thoughts on two of my favorite evidence-based phonics resources that complement each other perfectly —Secret Stories and UFLI Foundations—AND to explain why they belong together in the classroom.  What’s all the buzz about UFLI Foundations?  As a literacy coach, I first heard about UFLI Foundations in a facebook group (The Science of Reading- What I Should H ..read more

Secret Stories® Evidence Tier I Meta-Analysis & Literature Review Access the Research Download Meta-Analysis Can Embedded Mnemonics Rooted in Familiar Schemas Help Automate Phonics Skills for Improved Decoding? A Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Secret Stories ® Katie Garner, Nathaniel Hansford, Joshua King, Sky McGlynn & Elizabeth Reenstra   Authors Notes The author, Katie Garner, wrote the literature review section for this paper. Katie Garner is the creator of Secret Stories® Cracking the Reading Code with the Brain in Mind. The author, Marnie Ginsberg, contributed ..read more

The Best is Yet to Come – Part 2 A guest post by kindergarten teacher, Sheryl Nicholson. *Note: Sheryl uses Secret Stories to support science of reading-based instruction alongside the Wonders Reading Curriculum. If you read my first blog post, you know that I didn’t discover Secret Stories and start using them until the final weeks of kindergarten after a tumultuous year of Covid. While I documented my journey using the Secrets in those last few weeks of kindergarten, I wanted to write a second post about how to start from the beginning of the year on Day 1. This is that post, and ..read more

  Hello, I am Janelle Schneider. Some of you may know me as Mrs. Schneider from Engage & Inspire with Mrs. Schneider. I wanted to share with you two of my favorite teaching resources, Boom Cards and Secret Stories! I am going to explain why Secret Stories phonics activities on Boom are the perfect addition to any phonics routine, and why Boom Cards provide such effective and efficient skill practice. Like Secret Stories, Boom Cards make your life easier and maximize student achievement. As teachers, there are so many ideas and resources being thrown at us. It can be very ..read more

Decoding Sight Words with Phonics Secrets is finally DONE!! But before I share more about this, I wanted to explain why I created it in the first place…. It’s always seems odd to me when I hear questions like…. “How do I know which Secrets to teach for each sight word?” or “Is there a list of sight words that has the Secrets I need to teach with them?” or my favorite, “I don’t have time to teach the Secrets because of all the sight words that I have to teach!” (Can you see the irony in that last one?) ​Phonics Keys to UNLOCK WORDS for Reading Secrets are keys to unlock words. It’s really ..read more

Teaching is not a profession for the weak. It is a profession that you have to feel in your bones and your soul. You have to wake up in the morning and know that you are going to make a difference in a child’s life by getting up and going to work. The dedication and commitment it takes to be a teacher in today’s school system is not like it was when I graduated 32 years ago. School systems are asking more than we can give, yet teachers find ways to keep giving.  That is because we know that the best has yet to come.  This is why I get up each day and I show up for my students.  ..read more

  How to Make Phoneme Grapheme Word Mapping Mats This blog post has been reproduced, with permission, from Shelly Mahn’s blog. It provides step-by-step directions on make the Secret Stories® Phoneme Grapheme Word Mapping Mats that are included in the Science of Reading Secret Stories® Centers on TpT. (All links mentioned can be found inside the product.) Note: To make these mats, you must first purchase the Science of Reading Secret Stories® Centers on Teachers Pay Teachers here. (Active Amazon links mentioned in the tutorial below are included in the product.)   The post Orthogra ..read more

A guest post by Elizabeth George, a mother and “unexpected homeschool teacher” to a neurodiverse first grader with Autism.     Teaching Neurodiverse Learners Dyslexia, Autism, ADHD and More I am the parent of a neurodiverse child, which means that my child’s brain is wired differently. This causes him to think, learn and sometimes behave differently. This catchall phrase, “wired differently,” includes everything from ADHD or learning disabilities (like dyslexia), to children who are gifted or autistic. It’s a term used to describe kids who move through the world in a less typic ..read more