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 ... Read More
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! 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! These books about ... Read More
Versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
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! Fun versions of Goldilocks & the Three Bears Have you seen our Reader's ... Read More
Self-checking printable for beginning 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 ... Read More
Memory games for short a word families
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 didn't want to learn at all. What made the difference was teaching her to blend sounds using successive blending (I have a video here all about it if you ... Read More
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! 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 can't identify colors by name, try reading the books on this ... Read More
How to teach successive blending
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 ... where ... Read More
Books about scarecrows
Looking for some fun fall-themed read alouds? Check out my list of books about scarecrows! ... Read More
Books about multiplication
Children's literature can be a great way to introduce math concepts. Check out this list of books about multiplication! Today I'm sharing a big collection of books that you can use to introduce and reinforce multiplication. P.S. Find the mega list of books about math concepts at Imagination Soup! ... Read More
Cut & paste worksheets for short a word families
I'm teaching my daughter to read CVC words, so I created these simple worksheets as a way to get extra practice. Since she is only in preschool, she does these worksheets with me, and only after we've done a more hands-on blending activity. I cut out the words at the bottom of each page (of course, she could do this herself, but since I knew the activity would be challenging I wanted to conserve her energy - ... Read More