As teachers, we are constantly bombarded with new methods, new information, and new ways we should be teaching our students. I will be the first to say, it’s overwhelming. I have been teaching for a long time and things change a ton even from year to year. And, teaching our students to read is an ... Read More about Why You Should Use Decodable Text in the First Grade Classroom

Sweet Summertime is here! A teacher’s brain is a funny thing; we wrap up at the end of the school year and our brains immediately go into plan mode for the following school year. I was able to meet some of my students coming in next year and it has me thinking about how important creating a ... Read More about Tips for Developing Positive Communication with Parents

Family involvement is a huge component in literacy development and success in our students. Learning doesn’t stop in the classroom and it is part of our job as educators to also encourage parents to be involved in their child’s reading at home. Being a teacher is all about building relationships ... Read More about Tips for Getting Parents Involved in Reading

Text features, what are they and why must we teach them? Text features are visuals or print that are included within text to help a reader better understand the information within the text. Headings, captions, maps, photographs....the list goes on and on. With half of our literacy instruction being ... Read More about Tips for Teaching Nonfiction Text Features to First Graders