Whew! I survived Christmas. We had 4 days of Christmas. The one good thing with it being on Tuesday we didn't have to double up any of the...

Word Families are a group of words with the same ending. For example cat, rat, mat, hat, bat are all part of the “at” word family. Learning about word families is a key part of learning to read. Children can pick up on patterns and rhyming sounds very quickly which in turn lends to reading […]

Get this free set of sorting mats for learning consonant sounds! Perfect for pre-readers!

Teaching schwa-A vowels can feel tricky, but it really isn't! This article will help you discover some useful ways how to teach schwa

Decoding drills for building fluency helps students apply phonics skills when reading. Perfect warm ups and a great tracking tool, too.

Should you introduce letters to your preschooler in their order in the alphabet? Surprisingly, no. There are actually better ways to introduce letters.

A blog discussing how good customer experiences help companies in prepaid and emerging financial services gain customers' trust.

Conjunctions are joiners or connectors that bring together words, phrases, and clauses. A few of these important words follow: And Bu...

English tenses are of three types: Present, Past and future. Tenses are divided on the basis of time.

This week I taught a lesson about blends. I decided to make a large blender on posterboard as a visual for my kids. I printed out various ...

Super cute, free printable, Animal themed Alphabet Sound Cards are a fun way to work on phonemic awareness and reading readiness! Pre-k / K

We all know how much I love self portrait activities. I love how each of my kids draw themselves to reflect their personality. So when I saw...

Teaching emotions has been a constant work in progress for my oldest son with Asperger's over the past few years. Although we've spent thousands of dollars in therapy helping him strengthen his social skills awareness and

If you enjoyed our printable alphabet puzzles, you’re sure to also love our printable digraph puzzles! Much like our Speech Sounds pack, these printable digraph puzzles can be used to work on phonics or to work on speech sounds for the ch, sh, & th digraph sounds. *Find the free download link towards the end ... Read More about FREE Printable Digraph Puzzles

Here are some tips to get your students writing narratives as well as a free writing template below. What is a narrative? A narrative is a story! Narrativ

Back in April, during National Poetry Month, I was getting ready to start a poetry unit with my 3rd grade students, and we inadvertently created the most wonderful poetry anchor chart ever! We like to call it our “Poet-Tree”! Here’s what happened… I started out asking my 3rd graders, “What is Poetry?” to get some... Read more

Phonics pocket chart centers are one of my favorite ways to practice reading. Kids love moving around letters to build the words and get a l...

In this long e sound phonics game, there is plenty of time to practice recognizing the vowel digraph ee, as well as reading words with this sound.

Wishing to help my students better comprehend the verb “to be,” I decided to organise the two following activities. As you can see in the pictures below, I cut a red cardboard in the sh…

When I began my master's program about 15 years ago, I remember being exposed to the heated debate surrounding the most effective teaching method in reading. Some championed phonics, others were devoted to whole-language approaches. At the time, I really didn't understand why a combination of many methods wasn't a major part of the discussion. Now that miss Z is learning to read, I can confirm that both her and her brother learn very differently. J instinctively understood phonics and readily picked up on various rules. Miss Z has struggled a little more with phonics and needed more interaction than just reading on a page. This latest review from Reading Kingdom has given me a deeper appreciation for their differing needs in developing reading skills. Reading Kingdom is an online subscription K-3 Reading Program that was developed by Dr. Marion Blank, a literacy expert. Instead of just focusing on phonics or whole-language methods, Reading Kingdom incorporates 6 skills (Sequencing, Motor Skills, Sounds, Meaning, Grammar, & Comprehension) to provide a full reading and writing education. It also provides an extensive reporting feature that keeps you up to date with each student's progress. One of the things that sets Reading Kingdom apart is it's focus on meaning and real world exposure to reading through immersion rather than grouping words together simply based on sound or category. In this way, the program works to incorporate elements of writing in with the reading sometimes far sooner than other methods. Our Experience Both of the kids used this product and had a tough time at first with it solely because it relies heavily on typing and computer skills, something they had some but not a lot of experience with. In the beginning the students take a placement test and because of their lacking keyboard skills, they were both placed at level 1. I knew going in that the use of the keyboard was involved but perhaps in my rush to dive in I didn't pay attention to how much of a factor it was. One thing I learned was that you can change the settings on how long of a reaction time is allowed for answers. My kids might know the right answers but took too long to find it on the keyboard. Once we sorted that out and the kids got more used to using the keyboard in this way, things went a lot smoother. Plus, they both have improved their typing skills tremendously! Each lesson focuses on one word and requires the student to repeatedly interact with it in different ways. For my older reader, the repetition got old and wasn't always super engaging to him, though he didn't complain about it. For my beginning reader, though, the repetition seemed to be just what she needed. Overall, both kids enjoyed working through this program and benefited from it's reality based lessons. If you are looking for a traditional online reading program, this might not be for you. If traditional methods don't seem to be working for your student, I absolutely recommend giving Reading Kingdom a try. This research-based program at its core seems to be looking for your child's gaps in order to fill them in. Some of the Crew members also reviewed their ASD Reading Program designed for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Consider reading some of their reviews if this applies to your family. Reading Kingdom on Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingkingdom Twitter: https://twitter.com/readingkingdom Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingkingdom/

Paragraph writing activities and tips for teachers in upper elementary

So... summer break is here! My kids finished school yesterday and now we settling into our new "normal" for the next two months. Late nights playing outside, swimming, ice cream for dinner, picnics, the beach,

This simple shapes activity brings some magic to your child's learning by disappearing at your child's command.

Are you looking for a phonics resource to reinforce the tricky schwa sound? This set is FULL of hands-on, engaging activities to support your small groups!

Preschool and Kindergarten Writing Lessons This 10-part series from This Reading Mama and me took place in the spring of 2014. This series will help you understand how to teach writing to young children, from

Wooden spelling cubes with cards - perfect for phonics learning

I love teaching two syllable words! It’s always exciting when I get to that point in the year where they are ready to take that next step with reading and spelling. At the same time, it can also be a challenge for our struggling readers. I want to start this post by talking about some ... Read More about Teaching Two Syllable Words

Teach descriptive writing skills with these five writing activities that will allow them to practice "showing not telling."

Dive into this Amphibians Unit that is filled with activities that are interactive for the K-2 learner! This unit includes Real-life photos, flip books, mini-book, amphibian fact pages, and an adorable writing craft--all perfect for engaging little learners!