Spiral Warmups

Category: Reading

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…
June 12, 2023
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…
August 18, 2022
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…
August 17, 2022
Reading Skills for the Future – The Digital Brain
Reading is fundamental skill for life, and that’s a fact few can deny. But how has the digital age, and the digital brain, changed the way we view reading? The answer is quite simple. The digital age has brought many changes. Do you remember your high school math teacher telling you, “Learn how to do…
May 10, 2022
Reading Strategy Warm-Ups
We just released new comprehension strategies warm-ups! They’re focused on 5 of the nine reading comprehension strategies: Author’s Craft Making Connections Summarizing Asking Questions Making Predictions They’re available to all Awesome members, and you can find them in your member dashboard or by clicking here. The reading strategy warm-ups provide two task card projectables per…
February 3, 2020
The Only 9 Reading Comprehension Strategies Your Students Will Ever Need!
9 Reading Comprehension StrategiesThese are the only 9 reading comprehension strategies you’ll ever need to teach. It’s true. All reading comprehension comes from these reading comprehension strategies. Three of the reading comprehension strategies require thinking beyond the text, and six of the strategies involve thinking with the text. In this post you’ll discover:The 9 Reading Comprehension StrategiesWhy…
January 5, 2019
Literacy Sequences
The key to spiral review is consistency. But you already know that. You also know how challenging it can be to consistently deliver small snippets of reading skills, word study, and comprehension tasks. With consistent spiral review, it’s like a snowball. Students’ reading and spelling skills cumulate massively over time. Simply stated, it can be hard…
December 16, 2018
New Inferring Main Idea Warm-Ups!
We just revised spiral review 21-25: Inferring Main Ideas! The Inferring Main Idea Spiral Reviews 21-25 focus on biographies with multiple-choice and open-ended main idea questions. Students will read about Mrs. Baird’s bread business and American hero Hector P. Garcia. There are five days of warm-ups with two task card projectables each day. Multiple Choice The first card each…
December 12, 2018
Making Inferences: New Warm-Ups!
In our recent August survey, 200+ teachers overwhelming requested more making inferences task card projectables, so we just uploaded a new week of warm-ups for our Awesome Members! These are not basic inferences! You can find four weeks of basic inferences starting here, which are perfect for grades 2 and 3. These new warm-ups are…
August 26, 2018
Daily Spiral Review for Reading Comprehension
Daily Spiral Review, Reading Comprehension Daily spiral review for reading comprehension. Best Strategy for Reading Comprehension This is not just any strategy. Spiral review is the single best strategy you can use to increase reading comprehension! And that’s a hard claim to make, I know. (I welcome your thoughts in the comments at the bottom…
August 14, 2018
Fluency Pilot Quick Update (May 2018)
If you recently applied for the new fluency pilot, we are excited to say you will be notified in the coming days, and we are going to start the pilot earlier than expected! We had such an overwhelming response that we’ll only be able to accept the first 40 applicants. What’s in the pilot? There will…
April 3, 2018
How to Use Reading Comprehension Warm-Ups
Today, I’d like to share how you can use the new reading comprehension warm-ups to build stronger readers and writers, and that’s what it’s really all about! In this post, you will read two samples scenarios showing how to use, and you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the new reading comprehension warm-ups:How do I use spiral…
January 6, 2018
Short Vowel Spelling Assessment [Level 1]
BETA VERSION: We are beta testing student assessments. Feel free to use and provide feedback in the commnets below or via email. Thanks and happy learning! This short vowel spelling assessment allows students to identify correctly spelled words with short vowels. Students can earn up to 20 points and the quiz follows the unidimensional best practice. The…
December 3, 2017
Word Builder Spelling Activity [Free]
Word Builder is the free spelling activity that helps students visualize word morphology in spelling. I know, that’s technical talk, so here’s how it helps you: Students will see a word broken into word parts. Students hear the word. Students will combine the word parts to form the correct spelling. Students get instant feedback on their…
November 12, 2017
Spelling 1 Tutorial #2
Tips for the Open Sort in Spelling 1 If you’re working on Spelling 1, your students will find a challenging thinking task on day 5. It’s their first true open sort in the word study unit. Here are some tips to help your students find success as they struggle through this word study task. And…
October 9, 2017
8 Ways to Use Word Study to Support Reading Comprehension
Word study kills reading comprehension. Plain and simple. But there are ways to use word study to save reading comprehension…and that’s what I’m going to show you in this post. Plus there are a few teaching bonuses along the way! If you teach in upper elementary or middle school, you know you don’t have time…
July 27, 2017
Research-Based Word Study
How to drastically increase reading levels with word study! Did you know research-based word study is not just about spelling? Did you know word study is not just for primary grades? Are you prepared to use word study to transform your students’ reading level growth and reading comprehension growth using daily spiral review? Yes, word study can do that! In…
July 3, 2017