...because every child deserves reading success.
Lack of Cognitive Energy can Lead to a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” Have you ever read the book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Have you ever had a day like Alexander where nothing seemed to go right? At the end of such a day, you probably had, or felt like having, a meltdown. You…
Essential Assessments for Second and Third Grade Readers Second and third grade is where the ‘rubber meets the road,’ so to speak. Much of kindergarten and first grade reading instruction focuses on building phonological awareness skills and applying the alphabetic principle. Comprehension and vocabulary are addressed primarily through read aloud. In second and third grade, students are…
We are often asked, “At what skill or mastery level should I stop using decodable texts?” The answer varies based on each student. Before we jump into the answer, there are some basic understandings that must be addressed as to WHY the use of decodable texts in beginning and struggling readers is non-negotiable. Six Basic…
You know that assessing with leveled readers is just not giving you the information you need to help your students, but what is a teacher to do? The answer is to use decodable running records. Some folks are suggesting that running records are not a helpful assessment tool and teachers should not bother administering them….
Teaching handwriting is one of the cornerstones of literacy because reading and writing are reciprocal skills. As students learn to spell words with the same phonetic patterns they are reading, it helps solidify their understanding. Automaticity and accuracy in letter formation frees up working memory. Then students can concentrate on what they are writing, rather…
Ever wonder how to improve student behavior during reading groups? In this blog we share techniques that we’ve used during intervention to help students improve their behavior. Often students who struggle to read, or who are receiving intervention, exhibit behavioral difficulties that stem from anxiety. When students struggle with learning, they often blame themselves. They…