Sentence level comprehension Sentence level comprehension. The phrase in and of itself seems so simple. Yet it is a concept I found myself not explicitly teaching. I took for granted the power and importance of the sentence and often jumped straight into the paragraph or the whole text. When I

Reading scaffolds are a great way to provide that extra layer of support for students who may struggle to access grade level text. As teachers, we want to see all our students reach grade level expectations and beyond. But the hard reality is so many of our students come to

If you’re anything like me, thinking about how to structure your reading block is exciting. It’s my favorite time of day. Every summer I find myself daydreaming about the next year… how do I want to structure the reading block? What will I focus on in my small groups? What

Summer time! The perfect time to spend far too much time & money surfing around amazon swooning after all the things. Just finishing up my tenth year teaching myself, I have spent the last decade of my life finding all the things during these beautiful summer months. Some of the

Understanding vocabulary words. A key component of a student’s ability to comprehend the larger text. As teachers we spend so much time with vocabulary words: explicitly teaching them to students, working on frayer models together, creating language rich environments in which our students get an opportunity to use their vocabulary

The internet is full sight word lists promoting all sorts of words that children have to memorize in order progress as “being readers.” For the longest time I bought into this notion they had to be memorized. They are common words that show up in our language all the time.

how to create a lesson plan on phonics for your guided reading instruction If you’re a reading teacher, you understand the importance and the *magic* that can come from small group instruction. Time spent at my small guided reading table is the most precious of the day. It is where

  Digital word work activities are one of those happy takeaways from the global pandemic we’ve endured over the past two years. And there just aren’t that many happy takeaways I can think of. Which gives all the more reason to celebrate the world of digital word work.  Much like

Interested in the science of reading vocabulary instruction? In this post, I will give you 5 vocabulary activities that your students can work on during whole group instruction, small reading groups, or independently that align with the science of reading. Picture this, teachers. You’re sitting down to listen to a

  It’s one of my favorite things as a classroom reading teacher:  A student is showing me they have mastered short and long vowels. They have a good sense of r-controlled vowels. They’ve got all their consonant sounds, blends, and digraphs. The sight words are clicking. And all signs are