Looking for something to help learners distinguish beginning sounds? Try this free phonemic awareness activity! A reader asked for a set of clip cards to help her students distinguish beginning sounds. She asked for a set of pictures – three of which start with the same sound, and one that doesn’t. In answer to her request, I created this phonemic awareness activity. The clip cards come in two different levels….
The ultimate guide to early chapter books for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade
How can you know which chapter books are best for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade? This post will help you out! This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy here. Have you every tried to navigate the early chapter book section of the library? There are Just. So. Many to choose from. How can you tell which series is right for each learner? How do you know…
Free clip cards for CVC & CVCE words
Are your learners having trouble with CVCE words? Try these free clip cards for extra reading practice! If you have learners that have trouble distinguishing between CVC and CVCe words, this printable is for you. What are CVC and CVCE words? CVC words are consonant-short vowel-consonant. Examples: cat, box, rod, wig CVCe words are consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e. Examples: rake, tube, like, poke How to use the printable Print and laminate the…
8 Ways to help kids stop making b and d letter reversals
Are your learners mixing up b and d? Try one of these tricks to end b d confusion! I recently shared a newsletter with tips for helping kids with b and d letter reversals. Many of my readers e-mailed back with even more ideas. I’ve put them together in this blog post. Use these ideas to clear up that b d confusion! Then grab the free posters in the download…
Free games that build fluency with CVC words
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…
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…
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…
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 ……
Free 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…
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