My son has started to show an interest in letters. He likes to point them out and try to name them, or asks me to identify them. I want to continue to nurture this interest, so I’ve made him a set of custom alphabet playdough mats. Custom Alphabet Mats Watch this video for a step-by-step …
Reinforce blending and segmenting skills with engaging and easy-to-use compound word activities. Students will have to segment a word into its word parts or use word parts to blend a compound word. These are valuable phonological awareness skills that students need to develop in order to become readers and writers. I developed some activities to work on how …
After teaching my students the phonics skills they need to start decoding words, I want them to use those skills to practice reading and writing decodable sentences. This is a big step for our young learners, and they need a lot of practice. Not only do I want my students to use the literacy skills …
Creating class books with your students is an amazing way to promote a love of reading and writing in the classroom. As I sought to find more ways to promote a positive sense of self with my students, I came up with some kindergarten book ideas that were a hit! (This post contains affiliate links) …
As I have learned more about the science of reading and how to teach my students to read, decodable readers have become a powerful tool in my classroom. I want students to be using the skills that I am teaching them in order to read. That’s why I love these decodable readers so much – …
As educators learn more about the Science of Reading and implement a Structured Literacy program, we must develop new ways to keep students engaged and learning during a literacy lesson. You can find even more ideas in my Kindergarten Morning Meeting Ideas post! During the school year, I try out a variety of lessons that …
Teaching students how to read has many components that they need to master. One of those strands is knowing the alphabetic code (including phonics). Some students will quickly pick up on letters and sounds, but others will need more direct, small-group instruction. Using a multisensory learning approach can help target key skills. Since I learned …
My students recently finished learning the alphabet! We used a phonics routine to learn each letter and the sound it spells. They were so proud of themselves (and so was I), so we had a party to celebrate! I asked them what they wanted to do, and we tried checking everything off their left. You …
When considering my structured literacy program, I want to ensure that I provide my students with all the skills they need to become readers. In kindergarten, read-alouds are an essential way to build comprehension and vocabulary skills. I have been using a 3-day interactive read-aloud plan, and it has been great for helping me plan …
Once I have taught my students some phonics skills, and they have an understanding of how to write words, I can start working on writing simple sentences for kindergarten. This is a big leap for students. They go from putting a couple of letters together to make a word to putting a few words together …
