Simply For Teachers

  Decoding is going great!  Now we have to work on fluency....so what can we do when it's not natural?  Here are some various ways that you can address fluency, more specifically rate & prosody.   These approaches range from intensive, direct instruction to practice and independent.  You can use a combination of these methods or pick one to start implementing today!  Remember, you are the secret sauce!  Teachers make the difference and pick what works best for their instruction & students. In my opinion, rereading works well for most students....but sometimes we need more explicit instruction.  All of these options can be highly effective, so just start trying them out.   Visit my TPT store Simply Primary, for resources that support exercises like rereading, smiles & eyeballs and "fun voices". Try decodable sentences : Try decodable readers : Thank You!

  High Frequency Words refers to words that are the most frequently found in text.  It is an umbrella term and can encompass words that are both irregular and regular.  For this purposes of answering this question, I am deliberately using the term "high frequency words".   You've taught the words you need your student(s) to know but they are still struggling with recognizing these words in text (or in isolation)......now what? Here are some elements to incorporate in your weekly instruction.... Incorporating these elements into your core routine will help with retention.  However, some students need some more support.  Try these strategies to further help your students obtain the necessary orthographic mapping.... You can find some print and go high frequency word curriculums with everything you need for an entire year in my TPT Store, Simply Primary. Features: words organized in marking period lists quarterly assessments quarterly letters for fam...

  Welcome to the next post in our series....What do I do when? This post will focus on the encoding side of using sounds...spelling!  Remember that reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. We should not teach them in isolation, but respect their relationship and teach them in tandem.   We teach the sounds in isolation paired with the correct grapheme, so we are teaching students to not only recognize the grapheme/sound relationship (phonics/decoding) but also to be able to produce the correct grapheme when given the sound (spelling/encoding). By directly instructing these two actions we are establishing the connection between speaking, reading, and writing.  This is a very powerful way to establish literacy skills. Let's say you've been directly teaching the sound/letter relationships and your student(s) can recognize them and even produce them when in isolation....but when they go to spell it all falls apart.  Now what? How can you help them mak...

One of the best parts of my job is problem solving.  Literacy is so complex and we have to troubleshoot to find what works best for our students.  Daily, I have conversations with teachers about "what to do when".  There is never one "right" answer or one approach that works for everyone.  Instead, I present a series of options because I know that each situation is slightly different. Welcome to the "What Do I Do When..." series!  I'll be posing common questions or problems that teachers bring to me regularly and how we approach them together.   Our first question "What do I do when a student can say the sounds but cannot blend?"... Again, there is no silver bullet.  As teachers, we have to be prepared with a number of possible solutions.  The best advice is to start at the simplest possible solution, monitor, and respond.  For example with this particular question I would first want to know how explicitly the teacher is modeling blendin...

  Picture books are one of the most meaningful and engaging instructional tools we have at our disposal as teachers.  They are wide reaching in content and theme.  We use them to model and to entertain....daily (at least we should). Using picture books to drive discussions around important topics, such as gratitude level the playing field for our students.  If nothing else, the events in the story build the background knowledge and set the stage to make connections.  Not all of our students come with wealth of life experiences or vocabulary.  Picture books can bridge that gap!   Plus picture books provide an opportunity to have a discussion around sensitive or difficult topics in a safe space.  When you are talking about the behavior or situation regarding characters, then there is nothing specific to students.  You can talk about the characters or the dilemma without offending anyone or breaching any privacy.  Let me be clear,...

  When you're working in skill groups....what are the other students doing?  This is the question I would get all the time when promoting small group instruction in reading.   I used literacy centers for a long time.  I spent countless hours prepping and planning not only what I would be doing with my small groups or during my mini lessons, but allllllllll the individual centers.  That was madness!  And sure, after couple of years I had a wealth of center games & activities prepared......but storing those was not easy either.  Not to mention, most of the time I would forget what I had and never reuse them. The literacy centers I made where very well planned, could be easily associated with standards, and had a built in assessment.  Sounds great, right? Well, this was fine but it wasn't great.  It wasn't great for me but more importantly it wasn't great for my students.  It wasn't meaningful.  It had failed to provide system...

  Getting early readers to meaningfully engage in independent reading or Read to Self in the classroom can be difficult.  They have limited sight words and need support decoding. Difficult is not impossible and if you use these suggestions, then you'll set your students up for success. Before you can use these effective strategies, it is vital to establish a learning community in the classroom.  This is accomplished by clearly outlining a code of conduct.  In addition to clear expectations for what reading independently looks like, students need to strengthen their stamina .  We build stamina slowly.  The first step in setting the expectations for the time and then engaging in reading until the expectations have been broken.  We should only keep practicing when we're doing it right!  So when it starts to go wrong, stop!  You can build stamina every day and move in minute or two minute increments until you get to a manageable length of ti...

  We work really hard to deliver the most effective literacy instruction to our students.  Using the techniques based in the science of reading has been a game changer!  We know better and we are doing better for our students....but we can't forget to build the love and interest of reading.  This starts with a love of stories FIRST. Building a love of stories and storytelling promotes a love of books and reading.  It seems so simple, but I'm not just talking about reading aloud a lot (although that's important too).  I challenge you to be more strategic and deliberate in how you build a love of stories.  Here are some simple and effective ways to get your students to ASK for stories and TALK about them outside of the classroom. Being deliberate means that you have to take an active role in knowing what your students like.  Take notes and ask questions.  Every class is different and just because last year's class couldn't get enough of Th...

  Hearing the term "Progress Monitoring" can make teachers feel nervous or anxious because it can feel like ONE. MORE. THING.  I get it.  As a former classroom teacher I understand the demands.  However, as a former classroom teacher I pressed on and found a way to make it work.  Why? Because I understood the power of the data and how it gave me a "bigger hammer" when I attended meetings and advocated for students or when I was able to plan strategic instruction.  That "one more thing" became something I would never want to give up because I understood the VALUE.  Let's break it down simply.... What is Progress Monitoring? (in my words) Why should we do Progress Monitoring? Who needs to be Progress Monitored? Technically we can monitor the progress of any student in any number of areas.  However, for our purposes we are going to focus on students who are below benchmark. What should you look for in a Progress Monitoring Assessment? it should be a ...

  If you've been wanting to start using a blending board or need some help with your current situation...I've got you covered! The blending board is an integral part of the 3 Part Drill.  It transitions students from seeing singular sounds to blending sounds together to form words.  Early readers and students that struggle with reading benefit from direct instruction on how to blend sounds properly.  This method supports the use of sound/symbol relationships to decode effectively.   The system is based on previously taught skills that are woven together week after week.  Every time a new skill is taught it enters the card deck and becomes part of the blending board.  As skills are mastered, you can start exciting cards from the deck.  Just keep enough to make words and boost confidence. Here are some simply laid out tips and tricks that you can start today! **Keep in mind that the blending board can be used for the most basic patterns, b...