I don’t know why students with behaviors always seem to take over our classrooms, our caseloads and our focus, but they do. We are often challenged to find solutions to help our students not only make it through the day, but to help our students learn all they need to be successful. The students struggle and so does the staff. I wanted to share a couple of ideas today to […]
Read moreAbout five years ago I worked with a middle school student with Down Syndrome on reading decoding. She had the worst time trying to sound out simple CVC words when I realized she just couldn’t hear the word she was decoding. I tried something to get my student to help her figure out what she was sounding out, not knowing that it was already “out there” as a strategy in […]
Read moreHere we go for 2020! I’m excited to start a new year of ideas, strategies and resources for you!! As you know, I’ve been giving tons of information for the past several months for your struggling readers! I’ve got more reading strategies coming but don’t worry, I plan to continue to include ideas for other areas of concerns for your child/student with special needs! Reading comprehension is always the goal […]
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11
Dec
2019
Do You Know How To Do a Word Chain for Fluency?
Helping students to become more fluent in their reading probably isn’t the most fun to work on but it is essential to building good reading skills! For me, if a strategy is effective, I love using it. I am tutoring a first grade student this year and I’ve tried word chains with him. It’s such a joy for me when he says things like, ” I can do this!” or […]
Read moreJust so you know, there are some really good fluency programs/kits out there (Wilson has one!), but if you don’t have the luxury of purchasing one, you have options! I have three fluency strategies that I want to share for some DYI ideas. I am sharing one of them with you today! Keep in mind that this vital foundation piece for reading must be part of your instruction so that […]
Read moreIf you have watched a student in early elementary formulating his/her letters, it’s painful to see! In fact, if you watch older students who got caught up in the period of time that handwriting was not a priority, that too is a struggle for me to watch. I’ve got a couple of visuals for you that I’ve learned from two organizations that teach the Orton-Gillingham multisensory approach to reading! Teach […]
Read moreI love getting the most out of what I teach students. I’m all about working smarter, not harder! When I learned a strategy on how to teach suffixes in a more strategic way, I actually got so excited! Does this make me a nerd? 🙂 Check out today’s video on how you can improve decoding, comprehension and spelling by teaching suffixes! Take a look! I can’t wait to hear how […]
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20
Oct
2019
14 Reasons Why You Should Teach Cursive!
I have a question for you. Is cursive writing gone? What are your thoughts on this? For me, there’s nothing more delightful than gorgeous penmanship. You’ve been hearing about the amazing training I went through this past summer when I learned how to implement the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading. Something else I learned from Janet George was the 12 reasons why we should be teaching cursive writing. It all made […]
Read moreYou know I love a good visual tool! I discovered another one this summer that is proving to be both and simple and effective. It’s a tool for those students that just seem to always forget that sentences need punctuation and capitalization! It’s also going to help your students with the phonological awareness component of word awareness. Some students just don’t recognize that sentences are made up of individual words, […]
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