Simply For Teachers

What can I do to help my kindergartener read?   How can I help my first grader read different books? Why isn't my first grader reading accurately? How can I help my struggling second grader with the words he doesn't know? All good questions and ones that I have heard from concerned parents and teachers.  The good news is that we can give our students strategies that work.   Teaching students the letter/sound relationship and how it applies to decoding words is called phonics.  A child with a strong awareness of sounds, how to make rhymes and play with sounds will have a stronger chance of being successful when the time comes to start applying those sounds to print (graphemes), phonics.  We are going to focus on the cues (strategies) that we can teach children to give them a greater chance of successfully reading. First, consider the kind of text you are providing your students.  Early readers should be provided with more controlled text ...

  What do you know about the "New Alphabet"?  Did you know that teaching the alphabet in the original order does not support students' understanding of letter/sound relationships?  Let's challenge the old alphabet and embrace the new to help give our students what they REALLY need. Here is what you need to know SIMPLY... The first letter/sound relationship I teach with my Kindergarten students is "c", hard "c" only.  We work on that sound and that grapheme all week long.  Once I have explicitly taught "c", "o", "a", "d", then we can start blending sounds and making words.  The goal is to get students to start blending as soon as possible but the key is that this is happening with sounds they have already been taught....NO GUESSING JUST SCIENCE!   Here is a typical instructional sequence over the course of a week with "d" (meaning, "c", "o", and "a" have already been tau...

  We have talked about High Frequency Words in another post here.  Now you can watch and listen to an IGTV from @simply_for_teachers addressing what you need to know about High Frequency Words.  Click here to watch this simple yet comprehensive explanation. There is more!  Not only is this IGTV free, but I've created a FREE downloadable cheat sheet you can print and put right in your teacher binder!  Click the link below to grab your copy today! Click HERE to sign-up and get your free teacher reference today!

Visit my TPT Store Simply Primary to get everything on your wishlist! Decodable Readers! High Frequency Word Readers! High Frequency Word Curriculums & Resource Packs! Simple Literacy Interventions! Don't forget to read about how to get free money to spend on new resources just for giving feedback!! Happy Shopping! Kristin