Many students in the primary grades struggle with writing stories and reading with fluency. When I noticed that my first graders had mastered writing a good, basic sentence, but couldn’t string a few together, I knew a needed to find a solution. They also needed to work on their reading fluency, so I decided to solve both problems at once:…
Teaching new sounds using science of reading based approaches doesn’t have to be complicated. In my first grade classroom, after we review letter sounds quickly, we begin to introduce a new sound each week based on the sound progression from our phonics program. Here are the simple and effective ways we learn a new sound in first grade. Day 1-…
Narrative writing is often one of the first forms of writing kindergarten and first grade students do. This is because writing a personal narrative, or writing about our own experiences, is often less challenging than other form of writing. Still, teaching young children how to write narrative pieces can feel overwhelming. Here is how to introduce narrative writing step by…
Pumpkin activities are always so much fun in October. Even if you don’t celebrate Halloween at school, you can still have some pumpkin fun while learning science, reading, and writing skills. Here are 4 simple and fun pumpkin themed activities to do with your students in October. One Page Pumpkin Craft View this post on Instagram A post shared by…
Writing is important because it gives us the means to express ourselves. Parents often want to encourage their children to write, but aren’t sure how to help. Here are 6 ways parents can support their child’s writing development as well as a free printable support guide you can send home to parents. Why do parents need support? Parents often want…