As a teacher, you know that decoding strategies are essential for all readers. But what are the best ways to teach these strategies? And how can you make sure they’re effective? Check out these tips and ideas for decoding strategies for beginning and struggling readers! What is decoding? Decoding is the term for sounding out…
Have you ever heard of glued sounds before? These tricky chunks can be hard for struggling readers but there are some easy and foolproof ways to help your students learn glued sounds. In this post, I explain what glued sounds are and exactly how to teach them. What are glued sounds? Glued sounds are chunks…
Whether you’re new to teaching reading or you’re a seasoned educator, you know that using manipulatives in your reading instruction is important. Reading manipulatives help students of all ages engage with the text, build fluency, and develop comprehension skills. There are a lot of different reading manipulatives out there, so it can be tough to…
If you’ve read a few of my posts then you’ll know I teach graphemes and use phonogram cards all the time! They are such a great tool in phonics lessons and are so versatile and effective. I am often asked a number of questions on this topic: “What are phonograms? How can I use phonogram…
Are you looking for fun, no prep, and engaging St. Patrick’s Day worksheets and activities for your literacy block? I looked around and found a few literacy activities that would be great for the month of March or the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Some of the activities are free and some are available to…
There are a lot of important skills that kids need to learn in order to be successful readers. One of those skills is blending sounds together to form words. And yet, many struggle with blending words well into the middle and high school years. You may have some students that know all their letter sounds…
When it comes to teaching reading, there are two main approaches: structured literacy and balanced literacy. While both methods have their pros and cons, it can be tough to decide which is the best for your classroom or child. In this blog post, we’ll break down the key differences between these two approaches and share…
What are blends and digraphs? And what’s the best way to teach them? These are very common questions I get all the time. Many students really struggle with consonant blends and consonant digraphs, and some teachers are even confused about them In this post, I’m talking all about consonant blends, consonant digraphs, how to teach…
If you’re looking for spelling strategies to help struggling learners then keep reading. In this post, I share my favorite effective multisensory spelling strategies that help with any kind of spelling list. These spelling strategies have been very successful with struggling learners because they integrate multiple senses and provide several options for the information to…