A reading toolbox is a collection of strategies and skills (tools) that students apply while they are reading. It is specific to each student and acts as an inventory of reading strategies and skills that the student has accumulated throughout their reading journey. These tools are the skills and strategies that they use to decode and comprehend the texts they… View Post
Do you have students who have a difficult time with retelling? They read an entire text and they can barely tell you what it’s about. Some teachers may write the text off as “just being too difficult” and bump down a level, but as an interventionist, I would take this as a cue to dig a little deeper. In this… View Post
Summarizing non-fiction involves analyzing an informational text and applying higher level thinking skills to identify main ideas, determine importance, and synthesize ideas. Students have to think beyond the text and demonstrate understanding by identifying key words and phrases and putting them together in a text summary using their own words. The focus is on the most important facts or ideas… View Post
If you’re looking for activities to help you leap into spring, then you’ll love my spring literacy resources for reading and writing! Students will eagerly await reading group and literacy center time if they know that these fun and engaging resources await them. When the snow melts, you’ll be happy that your classroom is filled with such a great… View Post
A weak foundation in phonics will affect a student’s ability to read with appropriate fluency and comprehension. Students must be able to automatically identify common words and recognize phonics patterns within words to read with proficiency. With struggling readers, especially, it’s important to dig deeper with assessments to determine if phonics is an area that needs targeting. If it is,… View Post
Do you have students who have difficulty decoding multisyllabic words? Words that contain multiple syllables can be difficult for students to read, especially if they don’t have strategies in their literacy toolbox to figure them out. These students often look at the word as a whole, or will focus on just the first syllable and guess at the rest. By… View Post
