You’ve probably said it a hundred times: “Q always needs a U.” And it’s true. But if that’s where the lesson ends, your students are memorizing a fact without understanding a function, and that gap matters more than most phonics programs will tell you. Here’s the complete version of the rule: The letters Q and…
Picture this: You teach the Magic E rule. You explain it clearly. You put it on the word wall. You do the activity. Students chant it back to you.Then you hand them a decodable text, and they read “cape” as “cap. Sound familiar? This moment – the one where a student can recite a rule…
Your students already know that SH spells /sh/. That part is solid. They read ship and fish without any trouble. But here’s the question worth asking: do they know where SH spells /sh/? And do they know what spells /sh/ when SH isn’t the spelling? Because /sh/ is one of those sounds that gets spelled…
Here’s something that trips up a lot of students – and honestly, a lot of teachers too. The /z/ sound can be spelled two different ways: with Z or with S. And both are correct. The key is knowing when to use which one. This is one of those phonics rules that seems almost too…
If you’ve ever felt frustrated watching students guess at heart words during reading, spell said as “sed,” or struggle with the same irregular words week after week, you’re not alone. For years, I assessed heart words the same way most teachers do: flash cards. A student either read the word correctly or they didn’t. If…
I had a fifth grader who wasn’t progressing in reading. She was brilliant. On the autism spectrum. Highly capable in so many ways. But no matter what I tried in her leveled reading group, nothing moved the needle. I kept thinking: more practice, more time, more exposure to text.I adjusted the books. I changed the…
You’ve planned the lessons. You’ve pulled the groups. Your students are working through activities, practicing their sounds, reading their decodables. And yet… progress feels slow. Or stuck. Or like you’re running in place. If you’ve ever sat with a small group thinking, “They’re doing the work. Why isn’t this clicking?”, you’re not alone. Here’s what…
You already know what struggling readers need. You’ve done the training. You’ve read the research. You know that effective intervention requires targeted practice, repeated exposure, and systematic instruction. The hard part isn’t the knowledge. The hard part is actually providing it, consistently, day after day, without burning yourself out. Because here’s the reality:Intervention isn’t just…
Small groups after winter break can feel… off. Students forget routines. Materials are scattered. The flow that worked in December suddenly feels chaotic in January. And it’s easy to think, Maybe I need to start over. Maybe I need a whole new system. But here’s the truth: January small groups feel messy for a lot…