Education resources for parents and teachers
Breaking up is hard to do. But I'm doing it. I'm breaking up with a system I've held onto for twenty years. I'm breaking up with Fountas and Pinnell's text leveling system. You know - the guided reading levels from A to Z. I was all in on F & P. I spent countless hours leveling my classroom library. I even helped other teachers level their libraries. Read on to learn why I'm replacing my popular ... Read More
What are decodable books and passages? Why should we use them? And when should children stop using decodable books? These are all important questions that I'll be answering in today's blog post! What are decodable books and passages? Decodable texts are written to reinforce a particular phonics pattern. The vast majority of the words can be read using phonics knowledge. I like this definition from Iowa ... Read More
Do you have students who can't seem to remember letter names and sounds? This post is for you! Step 1: Examine your current methods. Make sure that what you're currently doing aligns with the research (references are at the bottom of this post). Here's a summary of what we know: Step 2: Think about your goal. Letter names and sounds are a means to an end ... this knowledge is useless if students ... Read More
This post is sponsored by Just Right Reader. All opinions are my own. I only promote products I know and love! Let's start the new school year off right! Did you know? Decoding is the literacy skill that slides most over the summer. Use Just Right Reader decodable books to reactivate decoding skills and give your students a reading boost! You can't go wrong with Just Right Reader's Back to School ... Read More
This post is sponsored by Just Right Reader. All opinions are my own. I only promote products I know and love! Looking for a way to eliminate summer slide ... and accelerate reading achievement in summer school and at home? You can't go wrong with Just Right Reader's Summer Take-Home Decodable Packs! We're all too familiar with the summer slide ... and decoding is the literacy skill that slides most of all. But ... Read More
I'm often asked, "What's the best order to teach letters?" The answer is: it depends. Keep reading to find out my recommendations! Many teachers and parents wonder what's the best order for teaching letters of the alphabet. Should we go in alphabetical order? Should we start with uppercase or lowercase? What does the research say? Well, here's the first thing to know: As I stated in the first post of ... Read More
The Measured Mom launched in January of 2013 ... which means that we're celebrating a big anniversary! 10th anniversary giveaway I'm giving away a 45-minute one-on-one call to 10 winners. That's right ... if you win, ask me anything! (Well ... anything related to teaching literacy. ;) ) Here are some things we might discuss: Please use the form below to enter. IMPORTANT *I will choose ten ... Read More
If you ask this question in a Facebook group, watch out. People on both sides of the aisle have strong opinions, and many of them will tell you that their opinions are absolutely backed by research. At a recent Reading League event, Dr. Steven Dykstra joked that people on both sides of this debate will start pulling punches if you put them in the same room! (I think he was only sort of joking.) So … who’s ... Read More
In this final post in our fluency series, we look at how to use the research-backed practice of repeated reading! Repeated reading is reading the same text multiple times until a certain (or better) level of fluency is reached. We've known since the 1970's that repeated reading improves fluency. It helps readers achieve automaticity - so that they can decode without thinking about decoding (Shanahan, ... Read More
Looking for books that will help you teach place value? Try these! Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens, by Cindy Neuschwander In this clever book, Sir Cumference and Lady Di are planning a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but so many guests have arrived that they can't keep track of them. When the knight and lady count tens, hundreds, and thousands of partygoers, listeners will get a fun ... Read More
