Our school recently hosted a Spelling Bee for our 4th through 8th grade students.  I sat in amazement watching these brave students stand in front of their peers and parents and spell words ranging in difficulty.  Some of the words the students had to spell I hadn’t even heard of…and I consider myself a proficient...Read More

There was a reading unit when I was teaching third grade where the vocabulary word, perseverance, was introduced.  I loved teaching my students about this word!  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, perseverance is “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.”  The act of persevering is so important to instill in...Read More

The purpose of reading is comprehension.  Without comprehension, children gain no meaning from what they read; they are just word-calling. It is no exaggeration to say that comprehending what you read has a profound impact on everyday activities.  The earlier that kids develop this fundamental skill, the better off they will be in school, and...Read More

You may have heard teachers say that children in grades K-2 are “learning to read”, while children in grade 3 and above are “reading to learn”.  Although there is some debate as to whether this statement is accurate, when kids enter third grade, there is a definite shift in HOW they read and WHY they...Read More

I absolutely LOVE being the children’s librarian at my school…especially when my kindergarteners come to check out books.  They are SO EXCITED to look at the books and to take one home.  Many of our kindergarteners do not know how to read yet, so they “picture read”.  This is a wonderful “prequel” to reading.  However,...Read More

Writing is such an important literacy skill because it gives us a way to express ourselves.  As a teacher, parents often ask me for advice on how to help their child in writing.  In this blog, I will share a few ways that parents can support their child’s writing development in fun ways.   Make Lists...Read More

Have you ever heard of a “wordless picture book”?  Wordless picture books are books without words or very few words, but they are a great way to build critical literacy, listening vocabulary, and comprehension skills.  They also help increase a child’s awareness of how stories are structured. As the school librarian in my district, I...Read More

Raising a middle schooler comes with a whole slew of challenges including how to help them with their studies in school. Let’s face it, the content that kids are learning is different and HOW they are learning it is different from when WE were their age.  How are parents supposed to know how to help...Read More

As our school’s librarian, I hear book requests from kids ALL THE TIME.  The one genre that kids seem to really enjoy is nonfiction.  Kids LOVE to read about real people, animals, places, and events.  Nonfiction texts present real information in captivating and interesting ways.  However, kids spend WAY more time reading fiction books than...Read More

Vocabulary plays an essential role in the reading process and is critical to reading comprehension. Kids indirectly learn the meaning of most words through everyday experiences with oral and written language.   In last week’s blog, I shared a few ideas to help you increase your child’s vocabulary at home.  Remember that vocabulary development can become...Read More