Happy 4th of July holiday for my US subscribers! I hope this summer has been full of rest, relaxation and renewal for you! You know I’m always a sucker for an AWESOME visual support, so I’ve got two that work wonders with my students! They are so memorable that they are easy to “picture” even if they are not in front of the student. Just last week, one of my […]
Read moreSometimes the only difference between an OK session with your student and a GREAT session with your student is the reinforcer you use. I recently assessed some elementary students on their reading skills who struggle with an emotional disability. During the first session, I just brought my assessment materials and used lots of positive comments and encouragement. The sessions went just ok for some students, but it was a bit […]
Read moreWhat a great concept! Don’t you wish there really was a resource like this? If you are looking for a resource for all those things you want to know about sounds, spelling rules (that you didn’t get in school), word origins, or funky things about our language that you never knew but really need to teach, then I ‘ve got just the book for you! This resource does exist! Open […]
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23
May
2021
Spelling Help You Don’t Want to Miss!
Spelling, spelling, spelling! The thing that rarely gets taught and the thing that many students struggle with for a lifetime! Today’s communication that is done via texts and emails is done informally with abbreviations, slang and even a lack of punctuation and capitalization. Spelling has taken a backseat, yet it is still an important skill that often communicates a certain level of education or lack thereof when communication is riddled […]
Read moreIf you have been with me awhile, you will know the name, Sarah Ward. She is an SLP who is an author, therapist and international speaker on all things executive function. When a colleague sent out an email telling staff that Sarah Ward had posted something free on Google, I wanted to know what it was!! I had the honor of hosting Sarah Ward in our district a few years […]
Read moreDecodable Books. Something that there is NOT enough of! We have started doing Fundations in our school district that has been FANTASTIC. This Phonics and Word Study Tier 1 Reading has an Orton-Gillingham approach that involves a systematic, cumulative, mulit-sensory approach to teaching reading. It plays fair with students! Students are doing better in this program during a pandemic on a 4-day a week in-person schedule than they did in […]
Read moreHow many times have you ever said, “ Now why didn’t I think of that?!” That’s what I said when I was told about this tool. This is something you can use no matter what job you have. This is something that you can use in your home. This is something you can use no matter what subject area you teach. This is something that I’ve shared with my daughter […]
Read moreWhen you work with students who have special needs, you know that they often need all kinds of supports. The more we can scaffold the help they need, the faster they can reach their goals. Of course, what’s good for students with special needs is even better for students who don’t need supports so what I’m about to show you could be very helpful to many, many students! You will […]
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15
Feb
2021
Six Ways to Get Sight Words to “STICK”!
Helping students to learn those difficult sight words can be challenging! Gone are the days that we have students spell a list of words 10 times for a spelling test! They only forget all of those words a day after the test! We can create new pathways in the brain by making instruction a multisensory experience. Some sight words have parts of them what are decodable, and some of them […]
Read moreWriting….the last frontier! It doesn’t have to be as hard as our students think it is. I took a writing class a few years ago and of the many things I learned, it was the idea that writing a book was like making a list and then filling in the blanks that made the biggest impression. How cool is that to think that if you can make a list about […]
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