Author: Matt
Planning Word Study Activities, Step-by-Step Guide
A well-structured word study plan is essential for fostering literacy development. By understanding the components of word study and tailoring activities to meet student needs, educators can create engaging and effective learning experiences. This guide provides a practical framework for planning and implementing successful word study activities. Understanding Word Study Word study is a systematic…
Word Study for Tutoring: 15 Activities and Best Practices
Discover effective word study activities for tutoring sessions! Learn how to implement engaging strategies for students of all ages. This article provides practical tips, lesson plans, and resources to help tutors boost students’ vocabulary, spelling, and reading comprehension through word study.
5 Must-Read Science of Reading Resources (2024)
I think by now the buzz has worn off – Science of Reading is now an established concept in teaching English Language Arts and Reading. Established, but not fully-understood and not without debate. So let’s dig into 5 must-see resources to further our professional knowledge of the science of reading in 2024. Read Also >>…
Security Update 05-09-2024
We’re pleased to announce a third security update, which adds additional security from our first update over a month ago. With the help of ChemiCloud or new website hosting provider and Stripe our secure payment processor, we’ve fully tackled the issue of credit card testing. What is credit card testing? Credit card testing, also known…
Science of Reading Literacy Block
The Science of Reading (SoR) is a body of research that informs us about how children learn to read and how we can best teach them. One of the implications of SoR is that we need to provide systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. But how can we fit…
Literacy Blocks and The Science of Reading FAQ
If you have any questions about our FAQs, please don’t hesitate to find support here. We’re here to help you find the best solution for your reading instruction needs. You can also sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates and tips from our experts. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about…
The Power of Daily Routines in Reading Classrooms
Having a daily routine can be beneficial for elementary students in many ways. For example, incorporating a daily independent reading routine can help build reading stamina that helps students persevere through complex texts. Experts agree that 10 to 30 minutes of reading every day, depending on age, exposes children to millions of words and helps…
Task Card Projectibles for Reading Comprehension
Over 400 teachers asked for it, so here they are! The new task card projectibles for reading comprehension warm-ups. These reading spiral reviews are going to be super simple to use, and help you start each day with a no-prep comprehension warm-up! Features of the Task Card Projectibles We believe you shouldn’t spend your evenings…
What to Do When Guided Reading Isn’t Working
When Guided Reading Isn’t Working. What do you do? This simple shift in thinking might be all you need!
The Role of Grammar in Literacy Skills
Grammar is not often discussed in ELAR standards or in curricular resources today. So we thought we’d give a quick glance into the research on grammar. Specifically, we are curious about the role grammar plays in literacy skills. We have questions such as: Does grammar increase spelling skills? Does grammar have a positive effect on…
How Do You Schedule a Literacy Block (and other FAQs)
How do you schedule a literacy block? It’s the key question to planning effective reading instruction. We all know there’s not enough time in the day to teach every strand of reading skills each day. The solution is streamlining the balanced literacy block (here are a few literacy block schedules to help and a sample…
120 Minute Literacy Block Schedule
The sample 120 minute literacy block schedule below is designed to help teachers, literacy coaches, and school leaders plan for effective literacy block time management. The two literacy block schedules below are for Grades 2-3 and Grades 4-5. If you’d like to see a full set of literacy block schedules, you can learn about them…
We’re Updating Our Free Guided Reading Resources
This summer we’re upgrading our guided reading tools, templates, and free activities. Thing is, we want your feedback! What is your biggest pain point in guided reading? What’s most frustrating? What’s the toughest part of organizing your reading groups? What gets in the way of your helping your students? We want to know these things…
Spiral Reading Program That’s Easy To Use
A spiral reading program that’s easy to use will make preparation simpler for teachers, engage student attention, and sequence literacy learning in a spiral curriculum. An effective spiral reading program is a research-proven reading intervention program for your lowest-performing students as well as for students who come to you ready to learn more and learn…
Improving ESL Learners’ Grammar with Gamified-Learning
Grammar is intricate. This is certainly true with the complexity of English grammar. Grammar can be difficult for learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). But can grammar be mastered using games or digital technology? You might even wonder Why is Grammar Important (more on that here)? Yes, grammar skills and knowledge can improve…
Oral Reading Fluency Assessment
It’s one of the best tools for reading instruction and assessment of student reading skills growth – oral reading fluency assessment. It’s simple to administer, we have them embedded into our progress monitoring tools at Spiral WarmUps, and they can be administered in a variety of settings (small group, whole class, online, formal, informal, etc).…
Did Students Lose Reading Skills During COVID?
This quick article presents the research behind student learning during COVID as it pertains to reading competencies. But before we look at the research let’s recap some common sense. Ask any teacher, and you’ll get one of two stories: Ask any parent who withdrew their child from school during COVID (2020-2021), and you will also…
What Are Word Study Warm-Ups?
Here’s a quick overview of the activities in the free word study warm-ups…The word study warm-ups are no-prep, interactive videos. This means you press play for the class to watch, the video begins, and the video prompts students to participate. You walk the classroom to monitor students, support struggling students, and then check the work…
Why is Word Study Important
Why is word study important? What are the components of word study? What does high-quality word study instruction look like in elementary and middle school levels? These are important questions, because everything – absolutely everything – we do in schools requires comprehension of words. PE instruction, math problems, and even art class all require comprehension…
8 Strategies for Teaching Context Clues
8 Strategies for Teaching Context Clues! Sign Up Login You might have seen the first two strategies for teaching context clues in this post, or you might have read how to teach context clues here. Today, I’d like to give you 8 Strategies for Teaching Context Clues – strategies that you can use this week with…