When asking parents how they plan to keep their children’s skills sharp over the summer, most people mention practicing math and reading. Yes, these subjects are important and should be practiced almost every day to prevent summer learning loss. However, there are so many more opportunities for your child to learn and grow beyond paper-pencil...Read More
Your child knows the ABCs. He is starting to understand that each letter makes a special sound. He may even start to understand that when you put a few sounds together, it makes a word. What a great feeling! As a parent, I’ve felt this success. You may think to yourself, “Ok, this is going...Read More
Strong Foundational Skills If you have ever seen a child struggle when sounding out a word, chances are there are gaps in their phonological awareness skills. The great news is that getting a head start on building this foundational skill is easy to do and is most impactful if done early. I often think about...Read More
The Importance of Conversation Babies are born wired to pay attention to sound and language. Starting from a very young age it is important to engage in meaningful conversations with children. This could be as simple as talking to your child about the world around them – describing people, events, and places to them in...Read More
Relationships are IMPORTANT! As an elementary teacher in a public school, one of my favorite aspects of the job was truly getting to know my students. Each year, I welcomed a new group of students with eager and open arms. I couldn’t wait to discover their unique interests, likes, dislikes, and learning styles. I watched...Read More
Do I have to read that book again? Are you sick of Brown Bear? Have you read Goodnight Moon more times than you can count? Why do kids ask to read the same books over and over again and do I have to read it again? Kids love to hear the same stories more than...Read More
Does anyone else get nervous before parent-teacher conferences? Is it just me? Walking into a parent-teacher conference feels a little bit like walking into the lion’s den. Here’s the thing…I’m the teacher. Yea…it’s hard on all of us. I am the teacher, but I am also a parent. And I know the stress from both...Read More
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds. Phonemic awareness is very important. When kids learn to read, they need to have a good understanding of how spoken sounds go together to form words. One thing to know is that phonemic awareness is not phonics. Think of phonemic awareness as sounds and phonics...Read More
Why are sight words important? Is memorizing words as good as learning to read with phonics? The thing is, most sight words are phonetic words. The only reason that we teach sight words as words known by sight is because most students haven’t learned enough phonics skills to be able to read these words when...Read More
