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Author: Erica

  • Forced Fluency, The One Strategy for Increasing Reading Fluency

    Forced Fluency, The One Strategy for Increasing Reading Fluency

    If I could only have one strategy for increasing reading fluency, it would be Forced Fluency. The videos, research, and examples in this post should convince you why this is. Plus, by the end, you’ll see how to use forced fluency in guided reading groups in 5 simple steps (I use this exact strategy in…

  • New Warm-Ups for Back-to-School 2022

    New Warm-Ups for Back-to-School 2022

    We’re always excited to release the new set of warm-ups each semester. However, this year is especially thrilling because we’ve got two brand new areas of focus: Test Prep Grammar In the past, the new warm-ups focused on the same focal points: comprehension skills, word study, spelling, and fluency. But now, we’re branching out to…

  • Give It A Shot: Teacher’s Role

    Give It A Shot: Teacher’s Role

    This Give It A Shot article was updated June 2019 along with the newly updated free word study warm-ups. Give It A Shot is one of the first activities students do in the Word Fluency 1 unit, which focuses on basic word decoding practice for grades 2-3 and intervention in grades 3-6. It’s a straight-forward activity…

  • Affixes Word Sorts (Prefixes and Suffixes)

    Affixes Word Sorts (Prefixes and Suffixes)

    New release for all members! Free word study warm-ups and more extended word sorts for Awesome Members! These warm-ups were among the highest requested from our recent member survey…we’re also developing a fluency pilot and grammar warm-ups. These warm-ups are all animated word sorts, which are an essential word learning strategy, according to research. Categorizing…

  • Scaffolding Students During Open-Ended Questions

    Scaffolding Students During Open-Ended Questions

    This is the second post for scaffolding students during open-ended questions. And you can read part 1 here: 3 Ways to Use Open-Ended Questions. You know very well that scaffolding is not about giving students answers. But what is it? How can it be done in ways that promote thinking and comprehension? Scaffolding is coaching…

  • Open-Ended Questions: 3 Ways to Get Results

    Open-Ended Questions: 3 Ways to Get Results

    Open-Ended Questions: 3 Ways to Get Results is part 1 in a three-part series on Open-Ended Questions. You can read part 2 here: Scaffolding Students in Open-Ended Questions. In the reading comprehension warm-ups, you’ll find a variety of tasks, and one of the most beneficial tasks for learning is open-ended questions. In this post, I’ll…

  • Fluency 2 Days 1-10: Vowel Digraphs for Upper Elementary

    Fluency 2 Days 1-10: Vowel Digraphs for Upper Elementary

    Fluency 2 is a spiral warm-up unit in the free Word Fluency course. But what skills are in these warm-ups? Who are they for? What will students do during these 10 days? Let’s answer these questions as we walk through Fluency 2 Days 1-10. If you’re not a member, you can review our free membership…

  • [FAQ 3] What Comprehension Skills Are There?

    [FAQ 3] What Comprehension Skills Are There?

    Comprehension skills must be directly taught, understood, and mastered with fluency and automaticity. And that’s what the reading comprehension warm-ups help you achieve. What reading skills do the reading comprehension warm-ups focus on? Will there be more skills? These are two great questions we get all the time, so let’s answer them! What Comprehension Skills?…

  • [FAQ 1] How Do I Use the Warm-Ups?

    [FAQ 1] How Do I Use the Warm-Ups?

    This is the most frequently asked question, so let’s start here. Everyone believes that no-prep warm-ups for word study and reading comprehension are great, but how do you use them?How do You Use the Spiral Warm-Ups?After giving students brief direction on what to expect in today’s warm-up activities (i.e. turn and talk, needing paper), you…

  • [NEWS] Expanding the Comprehension Warm-Ups

    [NEWS] Expanding the Comprehension Warm-Ups

      We’re overwhelmed by the outstanding response to the launch of reading comprehension warm-ups and can’t wait to hear of the stories of stronger readers and writers! There are only 5 days left in the Early Adopter special where we’re essentially giving the reading comprehension warm-ups away for less than a burger on the value…

  • Five Techniques for Daily Spiral Review (Get 233% Growth)

    Five Techniques for Daily Spiral Review (Get 233% Growth)

    Achieving 233% Growth with Daily Spiral ReviewToday, I’d like to share 5 techniques that are needed for successful spiral review – and I’m talking about getting more than twice the growth compared to classrooms that don’t use daily spiral review in reading comprehension instruction! But first, a big thank you for all of the comments and…