Education resources for parents and teachers
Improve reading comprehension with this free Ruby Bridges worksheet pack! This is a reading passage designed for children in grades 2-4. The content will also be appropriate for older, struggling learners. In the download you'll find a reading comprehension passage and two sets of questions. Before my Nine (a new fourth grader) read the passage, I asked what she knew about Ruby Bridges. She shared a short sentence ... Read More
Looking for a simple, low-prep activity to help your child learn beginning sounds? Here you go! Today I'm sharing a set of low-prep printables that will help your child or students master beginning sounds. Each sort asks your child to sort pictures into 2, 3, or 4 groups based on their beginning sounds. Simply cut out the headers and the pictures. Glue or place each header at the top of a column, and ... Read More
We had so much fun with these letter M activities for 2-year-olds! We're doing Letter of the Week with my Two, and she's really enjoying these hands-on activities - plus, she's starting to learn her letters! To introduce the letter M, I printed the letter and picture cards you can download for free at the end of this post. I attached a metal paper clip to each one and gave my Two a magnet wand (from this fun magnet ... Read More
Close reading is one of those big buzz words in literacy education. But what is close reading, anyway? This post will tell you exactly what it is, plus how to teach it! Have you heard the term close reading? If you're not sure what it means, you're in good company. Maybe this definition will help: "The primary objective of close reading is to afford students with the opportunity to assimilate new textual information ... Read More
Today I'm sharing a fun freebie that will help your child see shapes in everyday objects. My four-year-old was in a sour mood this morning. I suspect it's because it was the first day of school for his older siblings, and he had to adjust to three fewer playmates and a quieter house. Normally he asks for "projects," but when I told him I had some activities for him this morning he was adamantly against it. "NO. I ... Read More
Are you teaching the alphabet to your toddler? Check out these fun letter A activities for 2-year-olds! Shortly after she turned two, I began a Letter of the Week series with my younger daughter. After seeing her big sister and three older brothers do activities at the kitchen table, she was ready for her turn! I started with A, but not because it's the first letter of the alphabet. I began with all the letters in ... Read More
Looking for some simple ways to help your preschooler master counting and one to one correspondence? You're in the right place! (This post contains affiliate links.) Sometimes we confuse counting by rote with one-to-one correspondence. What's the difference? Let me give you an example. My two-year-old loves to count, and we often hear her counting all the way to 12 - not because I've taught her (I ... Read More
Are your students struggling to understand new words as they read? Today I'm sharing a free printable vocabulary journal! I don't have to tell you that a having a large vocabulary is important. You've probably seen your students or your own kids unable to make sense of what they read - because they stumbled on some tough vocabulary. What's a teacher to do? It's important to build vocabulary from birth, and to ... Read More
Find a variety of hands-on shape and color activities in today's post! Colors and shapes are two of those things your child should know before he starts kindergarten. Thankfully, they're fun to teach! Even though I have taken a very laid-back approach to teaching my kids colors and shapes, my oldest four kids have learned them well by age 3 1/2. I'm doing the same sort of activities with my Two. We talk about ... Read More
Have you ever read something and not remembered a word of it? Often when kids complete a reading assignment, they remember very little of what they read. This is especially true when reading nonfiction material such as a social studies article or textbook. If the material is confusing or uninteresting to them, it can be hard to retain it. Today I'd like to focus on a simple reading comprehension strategy to help ... Read More
