Earlier this week, I talked on Zoom with my collaborator, Jan Richardson and showed off the new books and tools from our Literacy Footprints Fourth Grade Kit. This kit has been a blast to work on together, and we are so excited to share it with teachers. Check out this video where Jan and I […]
We don’t need tons of research to tell us that some of our students lose ground over the summer because they aren’t reading. We see it in classrooms at the start of each new school year. Students from low-income families often experience the most summer slide because they often lack access to books during nonschool […]
In my latest video blog, I’m diving deeper into the Word Study part of a guided reading lesson and sharing some tips about using Making Words. I’ve also created this helpful handout. It includes sample Making Words lessons for levels A through G. Want to see Making Words in the classroom? Check out this terrific free video on literacyfootprints.com to see literacy […]
This month, I’m sharing tips via video! How can you get students to use one-to-one matching? Check out the video below for concrete advice about helping readers at levels A, B, C, and beyond. I also discuss when students should use their reading finger and when they should put it away. Interested in getting a closer […]
Do you have students in your classroom who are not easily discouraged and pick themselves up and try again even when something is hard? It’s great working with these students. But what about the other kind of students, the ones that can’t seem to stick with anything and are easily discouraged? I recently finished reading […]
Students love seeing their own names in print, and that’s one reason that I love creating stories for BookBuilder Online. It’s simple to add names, print out the book, and assemble the story for classroom or home use. To celebrate the beginning of spring (even if it’s still winter where you are), here are two great FREE seasonal […]
Learning to compare and contrast different ideas deepens students’ understanding of what they read. How should you begin? Have students think of a question that compares and contrasts concepts, characters, or story elements. This can work for both fiction and nonfiction books. You can introduce this during a whole-class read aloud. You might ask students […]
One of the most important things for an emergent reader to learn is to check that what they read makes sense, looks right, and sounds right. This is called self-monitoring. Often the teacher does the monitoring for the student, but it is critical that students learn to check themselves. One of the first ways that […]
In my last post, I shared a video of educator, Amy Ferris, sharing about the data-driven teaching methods she is implementing at her kindergarten-only school in Richmond, Kentucky. My next data story comes from Julie Allsworth. Julie is a former literacy coach in Pinellas County, Florida, and also a Pioneer Valley Books consultant. She is currently working on […]
Many years ago, I was sitting in the Columbus, Ohio, airport after presenting at the National Reading Recovery conference. I eavesdropped on a conversation across the aisle, and that’s how I met Maryann McBride, a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader from Virginia. She was showing Excel data about Reading Recovery students to a group of teachers […]