Is “The Science of Reading” Something New?

The best training, I ever had as a reading teacher, was my Orton Gillingham training. After I completed my master’s degree and became a reading specialist, I still felt like something was missing. I was teaching and tutoring and working with so many students who were still struggling with their reading. I fell in love with the approach because Orton Gillingham was already using direct, explicit phonics instruction.

What Are The Benefits of Word Sorts ?

When I taught second grade, word sorts were my favorite way of giving my students a hands on, multi-sensory way to practice letter recognition, spelling patterns and word families. Now, I am teaching Kindergarten and I am using them again. In moving schools, I lost my “big book of word sorts” , so now I […]

Kindergarten Is A Zoo !

I have had so much fun decorating my classroom as a zoo and changing our dramatic play area each week that we study a new habitat. My students loved fishing, bird watching, and milking a cow on the farm. Here are some pictures so you can “see” what we have been up to !!