heart words flashcard on screen
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Engaging Ways to Use Heart Word Flashcards & Slides in Your K-5 Classroom

Teaching students to recognize tricky words that don’t follow regular phonics rules can be a challenge. When words don’t play by the rules, they need extra attention to help them stick. That’s where the heart word method comes into play, and I have found that flashcards and slides are very handy. These mapped out cards…

small group reading instruction social image
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Small Group Reading Instruction That’s Science of Reading Aligned

Setting up effective reading groups can transform your classroom by providing targeted instruction that meets your students’ unique needs. However, getting started can feel overwhelming. This guide will walk you through each step, from assessing your students’ skills to planning engaging lessons and monitoring progress. By focusing on skill-based grouping aligned with the science of…

heart words foldable books example
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How To Set Up A Heart Words Center

Creating an effective learning environment for struggling readers, especially those with dyslexia, can be challenging. One powerful strategy to support these learners is setting up a heart words center. This specialized area focuses on teaching high-frequency words that don’t follow regular phonetic patterns. These words are often referred to as heart words because students need…

reading assessments for decoding and encoding
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Reading Assessments To Evaluate Decoding and Encoding + Freebies!

Whether it’s the beginning of the school year and you need to perform reading assessments, you’re working with a new student one-on-one, or you’re checking progress mid-year, there are a variety of reading assessments you can choose from to inform your instruction. In this post, I’m sharing my top picks for reading assessments that evaluate…

rainbow sounds

Rainbow Sounds: Why It’s Better Than Rainbow Words & Rainbow Writing

You’ve probably heard of rainbow words or rainbow writing as a fun way for students to practice their spelling words. But if you want to use effective methods based on research, you should focus on matching the sounds to their graphemes when practicing spelling words. Rainbow words and rainbow writing just don’t do that. But…