Do you ever stop and think…why do so many reading programs encourage us to teach reading sub-skills in isolated instruction? When you integrate early reading steps simultaneously into the context of words, it saves a lot of time and reduces your anxiety as the teacher. Because let’s be honest, teaching dozens of reading sub-skills to early […]
What if I told you there was a 3-part lesson plan that not only works for developing readers but works for first-graders straight through to struggling high school readers? How amazing would that be? Well, you can stop dreaming because, in this blog post, I share a 3-part lesson plan that moves the needle along for almost […]
Do you love getting free lesson plans as much as I do? In this post, I’m going to share the second week of lesson plans from the 3-part series we’ve got going on here at Reading Simplified. Previously, I shared lesson plans for brand new readers (which you can view here but this time, we’re taking […]
What’s the best gift you’ve received as a teacher? Whenever I receive a gift from one of my students, I cherish it. I love how a simple gift can hold so many wonderful memories, but I’d have to say that there’s one gift, in particular, I favor above ALL others. Can you guess what it is?That’s right, […]
Did you know that you can launch differentiated literacy centers within the first three weeks of school? If you’ve been keeping up with Reading Simplified, you’ll know that we’ve reached the final installment of our four-week Differentiating Literacy Centers series. And if you’re just joining us, you can catch up with the series by reading the […]
Have you tried to get your students into small groups by the second week of school? Sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it? Especially if you’re a kindergarten or first-grade teacher but let me tell you a secret…grouping your kids by the second week of the new school year IS possible. And I’m going to show you exactly […]
Preparing for the first week of school can be incredibly daunting, especially when it comes to planning for differentiating literacy centers. How can you work with a classroom of students where some are at higher or lower reading levels than others? It’s easy to get confused and even easier to overlook a struggling reader who may […]
Do you have a non-reader who seems stuck and unable to budge? Or perhaps you have a group of kids who are at a lower reading level, and you’ve got no idea how you can help them climb the reading ladder? Sound familiar?Well, I’ve got 3 KEY ingredients for a strong guided reading session for beginners […]
Have you heard of the “Rock, Pebbles, and Sand” story? Here’s a quick reminder…Imagine a jar filled with rocks, sand, and pebbles. The big stones take up most of the space and the cracks in-between are filled with small pebbles and grains of sand. The jar is full. But what would happen if you put the […]
Sight words, (otherwise known as high-frequency sight words), are common words that kids are taught to read automatically at first sight without having to use any decoding strategies. As you can imagine, there are a lot of sight words. Since there’s no way to master sight words other than repeated reading and lots of practice, teaching kids […]