Do you have learners who sound out CVC words, but do it oooh sooo slowwwlly? Cat isn’t “cat.” It’s “/k/ /ă/ /t/.” Or maybe they mix up their middle vowels. Sip becomes “sap.” I’m currently working with a group of sweet, bright first graders for about 20 minutes each morning before they start the school day. Before our first session, their teachers had told me that they needed help with basic reading…
25 Books about opposites
Are you doing opposite activities with your preschooler? Be sure to read some picture books from this list of books about opposites! (This post contains affiliate links.) We love creating lists of our favorite children’s books! In fact, we’ve shared hundreds of our favorites in our letter of the week book lists. And you’ll find even more book lists in our collection of themed book lists. It’s time for another list!…
How to get started with literature circles
This post contains affiliate links. Have you ever been part of a book club? A number of years ago (pre-kids and gray hair), my sister taught kindergarten and I taught first and second grade. Though both of us had started our careers with older learners, we loved our young students – and we constantly sought out ways to improve our teaching. But we also knew that our content knowledge was…
21 Fun versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
This post contains affiliate links. It’s so much fun to explore different versions of familiar tales! They’re also great for building the skills of comparing/contrasting. We’ve shared a variety of collections featuring familiar tales in our book lists. Today’s list is a fun one … Goldilocks and the Three Bears! If you’d like, click here for a printable list. Fun versions of Goldilocks & the Three Bears The 3 Bears and…
Free hands-on printable for words with blends
Last week I had the privilege of working with a small group of first graders who need help with basic phonics skills. Their teacher is teaching beginning blends to the class, but these children needed extra, focused help in a small group. I gave each of them a phonemic awareness assessment (the one included in my online course, Teaching Every Reader), and I learned that they struggle with hearing beginning blends. I…
15 Free memory games for short a word families
I’m always looking for new ways to teach short a word families. This matching game was a big hit at our house! Now that she knows all her letters and sounds and has other important pre-reading skills, I’ve been teaching my daughter (4 years, 9 months) to read short vowel words. I’m not going to tell you she’s been jumping up and down about it. In fact, until recently, she…
12 Books for Veterans Day
This post contains affiliate links. I grew up near a large naval base. Many of my friends had dads who served in the navy – dads who were “out to sea” at least half the year. I remember how excited they were when the deployment was nearing its end! I have a huge amount of respect for those who serve in the military and for the families that keep things…
16 Engaging books about colors
When parents ask me for ways to teach colors to their toddler or preschooler, my first recommendation is to read books about colors. This list is a great place to start! This post contains affiliate links. There are a million books about colors out there, but for this post I wanted to focus on the ones that are best for teaching colors. If you have a toddler or preschooler who…
How to teach blending sounds
This post about blending sounds contains affiliate links. I’m currently teaching my younger daughter to read. She knows all her letters, most of her sounds, and has all the pre-reading skills I recommend before teaching a child to read. But we’ve been hitting a little bit of a wall with blending sounds. She’ll see a word like this: wag, and she’ll say the sounds /w/ /a/ /g/ … “Pat?” Woah ……
150 Fall books for preschool – grade 2
Check out my giant list of fall books for preschool and up! This post contains affiliate links. Over the years, I’ve shared quite a few book lists about fall – because I absolutely love this season! I’ll start this post with a list of general books about fall. Down below, you can click on any of the images for even more books about fall … apples, pumpkins, leaves, scarecrows, Halloween,…
