For the past year I have been busy finding ways to make everything (that I teach) as visual as possible. It is working well in my classroom especially for differentiating between homophone pairs. With the homophone word wall cards in the picture above, I included an illustration to go along with each homophone right on each card ...

For the past year I have been busy finding ways to make everything (that I teach) as visual as possible. It is working well in my classroom especially for differentiating between homophone pairs. With the homophone word wall cards in the picture above, I included an illustration to go along with each homophone right on each card ...

Hang in there friends, summer is coming! But until then, do you have a terrific freebie or two to help each other get closer to the end of the year? We would ♥love for you to link up! Our featured item this week comes from Missy at Wild About Fifth Grade! She has a wonderful packet for using with the upper grade ...

Blue Ribbon offers the Interactives  which are designed to improve word recognition and encourage reading comprehension in readers. These 7  interactives can become a good base for a literacy lesson.

Here are two excellent additions to The Best Resources On “Close Reading”: Here’s a sample chapter from Notice and Note, the great book by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. Grant Wiggins has written a very thorough and helpful post … Continue reading →

Teacher B said to teacher A, “I knew a teacher who used to look up and learn some of the words that came up in some text he had just read, like ‘eviction’. In this way he pulled off a big plan of enriching vocabulary.” / Photo from: litstack com. colorful pile of books   

The concept of “close reading” has been getting more and more attention lately as the Common Core Standards are being implement. As Dr. Douglas Fisher explains: Close reading isn’t in the Common Core State Standards. However, an analysis of the … Continue reading →

Teacher A said to teacher B, “Some clues for working out a text in English? Ok, look. The first thing is understanding it. We’re talking about advanced-level texts, right?  So the student should read the text over and over, with the allied army of a dictionary. One I use a lot is online: Wordreference. Then, go on with more reading and getting ...

Teacher B said to teacher A, “Kids like stories, and many like to read.  A scholar and expert, A. M. Fabregat says the following. I translated from Spanish into English.  If we try a child get closer to a joyful reading, the best books are those that make up the world of literature for children. Classics, marvelous books, modern books… Those ...

Why Reading Really is Magic by Mem Fox Reading is magical because it brings parents and children together for fun, bonding and giggles. It also helps promote a children’s brain, social and language development. Reading aloud to young children, before they reach school age, is especially important to foster a love of books and ...