The Blog

Language is a complex system of intricate connections between words and meanings. It is complex code used to communicate. Morphology is...

I recently received an email from an educator asking a question that I think might be on the minds of many teachers. I’m rephrasing the...

Teachers and students alike often name the time set aside for reading aloud as their favorite time of the school day! There are so many reasons why a powerful read-aloud is so important in classrooms of any age group. Reading aloud to students exposes readers to authentic text representing a diverse range of authors and text types while building students’ knowledge about a topic of study. Reading aloud builds language and vocabulary, sparks curiosity, and provides opportuniti

By April Connelley Last February, I wrote a blog titled Five Steps to Get Started with the Science of Reading if you haven’t checked it...

Sometimes things can seem overwhelming so we avoid them. For example, my hall closet was a mess and I was desperate, so desperate I offered money to my teenagers to work on it. It’s the catch-all closet, the place where we shove stuff and then forget about it. Needless to say, that didn’t work, my teenagers wouldn’t take the bait, so eventually, after saying for several months I needed to clean it, I finally just did it. When it comes to hall closets, that’s okay, no harm, bu

Last year I wrote a blog 10 Simple Things Every Early Reading Teacher Needs. This year I’m going to shift my focus to the Instructional...

Are you looking for books that help your students WANT to read? Are you trying to match reluctant readers with books they fall in love with? Books that make them keep coming back for me? Here’s my list of 5 types of books that kids just might love, even if they profess to “Hate Reading”. I’ve added some of my favorite titles to each category for you to check out.

Writing skills refer to the ability to express thoughts, ideas, and information effectively through written language. This includes the...

Who doesn’t like a fun challenge? I’m doing one right now with my colleagues. It’s an easy way to connect with each other, self-monitor,...

A proficient reader has thousands of words in their sight vocabulary. Words that we automatically recognize at a speed so fast we don’t...

As I work with teachers, I’m hearing more and more about the transition away from leveled text in the early grades to decodable text. It’s a shift for many teachers who have based their early reading instruction on a patterned text that is predictable and highly tied to the illustrations.   As educators begin to shift practice, it is important to build a common understanding among each other. Then when we partner with others we are speaking the same language and have the same

If you’ve spent any time in education lately, you’ve probably heard the phrase “science of reading.” But it’s more than a buzzword. The science of reading is a large body of research explaining how people learn to read, why some students struggle, and which instructional practices reliably lead to success. It’s not a single program or trend — it’s decades of evidence that can transform how we teach literacy.

By April Connelley Students need the opportunity to read and write across the school day in every subject. Of course regular...

In many places it is time to gear up for parent teacher conferences. Everyone is also getting close to some kind of break, fall break, Thanksgiving break, winter break. It’s the season when teachers are asked  questions like, “How can I help my child with reading?”. Teachers also hear comments like “I just don’t know how to support my kiddo with reading.” 

Helping readers acquire automaticity with a set of words frequently used in the English language, is a widely used practice. It is so...

If you are an educator or parent, then you have likely spent some time thinking about the best ways to teach children to read. If you are...