Happy New Year! I welcome 2021 with open arms and all kinds of excitement for his new year! I hope you have weathered this storm and are looking forward to getting the classroom back to normal as soon as possible! I feel that I don’t see visual supports for writing as often as I see other kinds of things. Do you agree? When I saw the ideas and strategies provided […]
Read moreYou get spelling rule # 4 today, BUT there are so many more! This one is easy and fun and who doesn’t like a bonus?? Anything that we can repeat, really seems to make things easier, right? Anna Gillingham calls adding a bonus letter to /f/, /l/, /s/ ( and sometimes /z/) the FLOSS Pattern. That stands for f..l..or s “floss”. Some people like to come up with their own […]
Read moreI wish I could have back all the time I’ve spent looking up whether or not I doubled the consonant in a word when I added a suffix! I know that sounds a bit ridiculous but think about all of the words you’ve spelled in your life and how many times you’ve needed to know this concept. For some reason I always thought that this was one of those things […]
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28
Sep
2020
Know the Rules so You Can Teach the Rules!
The only phonics rule that I ever remember learning was the one that went like this. When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. HA! That rule only applies 15% of the time! Now what about the spelling rules I learned. Zero. UG!!! I want to make sure that you know the rules so you can teach the rules!!! I’ve learned so many things since I’ve been […]
Read moreDuring the Orton-Gillingham training that I attended during the summer of 2019, I was introduced to some resources that I could tap into to help students learn grammar. One Fellow-In-Training, an educator working on the last requirements for becoming an official Fellow in the OG approach to reading, joined our cohort for a couple of days. She drew a simple T chart on the board and said, this is the […]
Read moreWhat was the saying, “The only guarantee in life is death and taxes.” In 2020, we can now add “change” to that statement. Things we took for granted now have to change. Maybe temporarily or maybe permanently I don’t know, BUT what I do know is that we can count on things changing. One of those things is how we help students with behavior issues to calm. Gone are the […]
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07
Sep
2020
What to Do About Face Shields!
For the first time in my life, I’m wearing a face shield! Not all the time, of course, but there are times when I really have no choice. I do adult professional development as part of my job, so I need to be able to have people understand what I’m saying. I am also aware that a face shield alone does not adequately protect you from COVID-19. A face shield, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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