“Human brains are naturally wired to speak; they are not naturally wired to read and write.”

– Dr. Louisa Moats

So, what does that mean? Reading and writing, unlike speaking, cannot be learned simply by exposure.

In this post, I’ll first discuss what we’re doing wrong and then what we can do better to help our students to become better readers, especially our beginning, struggling, and dyslexic readers!

How Are We Preventing Students from Becoming Skilled Readers?

Teaching children to become skilled readers and writers is not a simple task. In an article from the American Federation of Teachers, Dr. Louisa C. Moats compares teaching reading to rocket science. It’s not as easy as repeated exposure. There are subtle nuances that skilled reading teachers must know to teach students to become skilled readers.

So, what are we doing wrong? Current teacher preparation programs are introducing future teachers to the Whole Language Approach, or Balanced Literacy. This practice expects that students will become skilled readers by being repeatedly exposed to words, guessing words based on pictures, and skipping words they can’t read (yikes!). It seems pretty obvious that this is NOT how kids can (or should) learn how to read.

What Reading Practices Must We Stop Right Now?

These widely used practices are preventing many students from becoming skilled readers.

First, stop memorizing sight word! The intent of memorizing sight words is to create ideograms of words. However, this is only successful for a small population of students.

Next, forget the saying, “Sight words can’t be sounded out!” Yes, with direct and systematic phonics instruction, they can. Check out my previous blog post on Decoding Sight Words to read more about why this phrase needs to go away forever.

Finally, drop the “three cueing” system! Skipping words, looking at the picture, and asking what makes sense is does not promote literacy. Once a student takes their eyes off the word, they are no longer reading.

These practices are not teaching students how to read. They’re teaching them how to guess or, even worse, simply skip over challenging parts. This is NOT reading and certainly not setting our students up for success.

How Can We Help Students To Develop Into Skilled Readers?

To help students become skilled readers and writers, they must receive direct and systematic instruction! This means they need tools to not only read and write new words, but to understand what they are reading and writing.

Systematic instruction focuses on the eight key strands of skilled reading broken up into two clusters: Word Recognition and Language Comprehension.

Word Recognition

Word recognition instruction provides readers the tools they need to read the words. This includes instruction and practice with:

1. Phonological Awareness, including syllables and phonemes
2. Decoding, including the alphabetic principle and spelling-sound correspondences (Check out these Letter Reversals task cards for FREE!)
3. Sight Recognition, including the most familiar words that have been taught and practiced explicitly (not simply memorized)

Language Comprehension

Language comprehension instruction teaches readers to understand what they have read. This includes instruction and practice with:

1. Literacy Knowledge, including print concepts
2. Verbal Reasoning, including inferences and metaphors
3. Language Structures, including sentence building and meaning
4. Vocabulary, including academic and nonfiction vocabulary
5. Background Knowledge

Dr. Hollis Scarborough created the Scarborough Reading Rope to provide a visual of how each of these individual components are intertwined to lead to fluent reading. To see a visual of the Reading Rope and learn more about each of the components, click this link to visit Really Great Reading.

The first step you can take is to swap out your guided reading books that focus on sight words and vocabulary from pictures and replace them with decodable readers with CVC words that students can easily decode. Click here to find Decodable Readers in my shop to help you get started.

What Does This Mean For Reading Teachers?

To help students become better readers, educators will need to make a dramatic shift away from using the whole language approach to a more explicit and systematic approach.

Is it scary? Yes. Will it be a lot to unlearn to relearn? You betcha! But, with numerous studies showing the insufficiencies of whole language instruction, it is vital that we follow the science of reading.

Have you been following the Science of Reading approach to literacy instruction? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

End Notes

Moats, L., 2020. Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing Company, p.15.

Moats, L., 2020. Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science. [online] American Federation of Teachers. Available at: <https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2020/moats>.

VanHekken, A., 2021. The Reading Rope. [online] Heggerty. Available at: <https://heggerty.org/blog/the-reading-rope/>.

The post Help Students Become Skilled Readers appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

As schools prepare for the new school year, teachers may be juggling how to use the best tools to teach in this strange COVID world. Whether in-person, hybrid, or fully virtual, digital math tools are an excellent choice. Digital activities keep students spaced, safe, and engaged! Even if you aren’t one to create your own activities, you can find plenty of resources online to help you get started!

In 2020, virtual math became a necessary element of digital classrooms. Now that teachers see the value in digital math resources, they are likely to be a part of future of education. Also, think about all the paper you can save by not having print every single thing!

Have I piqued your interest yet? Keep reading to find out how and why you digital math tools should be part of your curriculum!

Create or Buy

If you decide you want to create your own digital math centers, you can use these creative resources to design them.

1. Canva: Canva is a graphic design website that is free for educators to use! This program offers many templates and tutorials to help get you started.
2. Google Slides: Create your own digital math games and virtual math tools right in Google Slides. There are tons of free video tutorials that teach how to use the program to create activities to meet your students’ needs.
3. Seesaw: Many districts have moved to Seesaw which is fun and engaging platform. Create your own activities or import PDFs into the program to bring your activities to life.

There are so many ways to create your own resources. Check out YouTube to find free tutorials for each platform.

If you need inspiration to get started, you can find lots of digital math resources online at TeachersPayTeachers that will help get your creative juices flowing!

Not really interested in creating your own math centers? I’ve got you covered! Download my free digital math center to get an idea of what these math centers can look like in your classroom. If you love it and decide you want more, head over to my store on TPT to view all of my digital math center options.

Assigning Digital Math Activities

Now you have your digital math game or assignment ready for student use. Next, you need to assign them.

First, make sure students can access the activities from their device. If your classroom is 1:1 technology, you may need to borrow a student device during your prep to test it out. Testing it yourself will ensure the technology works and save you time from troubleshooting when in front of your class. 

Then, it’s time to assign. Assigning the digital math centers to your students will depend on the platform you are using. Seesaw requires you to have students assigned to your class. Google Slides requires your students to have email addresses to open the file.

A quick word of advice about using Google Slides: Make sure you force a copy of the file before you assign it. Otherwise, all the students will be editing the same document. Yikes! 

Check out this video on how to force a copy on Google Slides here.

Customize Digital Resources

Let’s face it, in our classrooms with 20-30 students, there are going to be a variety of needs among their adorable faces! How can we differentiate with digital math centers? Read on.

My digital math resources make differentiation super easy. With just a few clicks, you can easily adjust assignments to work for a small group of students or an individual student! Leveled recording sheets provide students the appropriate challenge that they need.

Students with IEPs or in the evaluation process may need modifications or accommodations. Try these options rather than creating something entirely different for them,

1. Remove answer options so students can pick from fewer options (e.g., 3 options instead of 5),
2. Reduce the number of slides to assign more or less to students as needed.
3. Rephrase the wording of the questions so they are easier to understand.

Most digital task cards in my store include differentiated recording sheets. These can also serve as a progress monitoring tool. Practice the task cards throughout the year and assign the recording sheets at an increasing difficulty to check how students are progressing to meet the grade-level standards.

Check out my article on how to differentiate virtual learning here!

Digital Tools Aren’t Just For Virtual Learning

Virtual math tools don’t have to be reserved just for virtual learning. Using them regularly as part of your classroom routine will get students acclimated to using them. And, should your district be required to go virtual again, it will make for an easier transition for you and your students!

There are so many options for using digital tools. Digital task cards can be used in whole group as a fun, engaging activity to get students excited to learn about the new skill. Use them in small group to monitor students’ responses and provide corrective feedback. Assign for individual center work or paperless homework.

If you are looking for more information about using digital math tools in your elementary classroom, check out my blog post on reasons to use digital math tools here! 

Why Use Digital Math Centers?

Using digital resources in your elementary classroom doesn’t have to be overwhelming or unrealistic. Students are often WAY more comfortable with technology than we give them credit for. As teachers in this technology-drive age, we must also become well versed in implementing technology. So, be confident and go for it!

Using digital math games are fun and engaging ways to get your students safely interacting with digital math manipulatives and building math skills. And all while thinking they are simply playing on a tablet! 

My store has tons of Digital Math Centers that your students will love! The digital resources I’ve created are differentiated and easy to use with the technology available in your classroom. Many also have a printable recording sheet option if you need an accountability or progress monitoring tool.

I recommend printing the recording sheets for use in your small group or as an independent work station so that students continue to get practice writing and working on paper-pencil math tasks. I promise your students are going to love them!

Do you have other tips and suggestions for using digital math cards in your classroom? I’d love to know! Leave me a comment below!

XoXo,

Candice

The post How and Why to Use Digital Math Centers appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

Since math is not the time to assess a child’s reading comprehension, instead give them problems that are easy to understand. Allow their working memory to attend to the math problem, not decoding and comprehending.

Here are some suggestions to write math problems in simpler, easier to understand ways.

Repeated Sentences for Math Problems

Math problems with repeated sentences give the student a predictable reading pattern to follow. When they catch on to the repetition, their focus will no longer be on decoding, but will be freed for the math problem. Using repeated sentences in math problems helps the student to focus more on the math problem and less on reading the words.

An example of repeated sentence math problems could look like this:

• Problem 1: I got 3 books. I got 2 more. How many books in all?
• Problem 2: I got 6 books. I got 1 more. How many books in all?
• Problem 3: I got 2 books. I got 8 more. How many books in all?

The problem is simple and repetitive, yet still challenges students to identify the keywords that signal which type of problem it is (e.g., more, in all) and provides an opportunity to comprehend a math situation.

Look at these adorable Zoo Animal Word Problems featuring predictable sentences. Each of the 3 sets includes a different phrasing for the problem. This allows the young readers 6 opportunities to practice with one particular word problem before moving on to reading a new word problem.

Decodable Sentences for Math Problems

Easily decodable CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), such as dog or bed are great for use in word problems for early readers. Many young, emergent, and struggling readers are capable of decoding, or “sounding out,” these words.

Here is an example of word problem using decodable words: “A cat got 5 rats. It got 5 more. How many rats did the cat get?” The bold words are all decodable and easy for emergent readers to sound out. The remaining five words would be sight words (a, more, how, many, the).

Sight word acquisition is a new skill for K-1, so minimal use in math word problems is best for that age group. Grades 2 and up should use sight words taught in previous grades in problems to ensure students have had ample opportunity to learn them through reading before being challenged to apply them in math.

The Takeaway

A child’s reading level should not prevent them learn math. Pay attention to word choice and readability when selecting word problems for emergent and struggling readers to prevent unnecessary hurdles.

Want to see more like this? Check out my shop for engaging teaching resources and sign up for my newsletter to have teaching tips and a freebie sent right to your inbox each month!

The post Math Problems for Emergent Readers appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

Don’t make your kids memorize sight words, decode them instead! I know… this goes against all we were taught. But I say this with good reason, so just hear me out.

You’ve probably heard and uttered the phrase “sight words can’t be sounded out,” but it’s simply not true. In fact, there’s only a small number of sight words that truly cannot be decoded and need to be memorized.

Read on and learn how and why to teach kids to decode sight words instead of memorizing them.

What are Sight Words?

Sight words are those that we expect children to memorize by forming a mental picture of the word. Memorizing sight words does not come easily to many readers and it does not prepare them to manipulate the sounds in those words to read similar, more complex words.

Instead of teaching kids to visually memorize words, we should be showing them how to sound out these words using decoding strategies.

What is Decoding?

Decoding is sounding out words to read. Words that are easily decoded are words like cat and mop. Instruction that explicitly teaches kids how to sound out words is proven to help kids learn to read better than visually memorizing the words. But if we know this, then why are we making kids memorize words?

Why Decode and Not Memorize?

When children are taught phonics patterns, a mental process occurs in which sounds and letters are mapped together in the brain. As a child encounters a new word, their brain is prepared with a mental map that gives them the tools to tackle sounding out the word as opposed to guessing from memory. This leads to more accurate word reading which improves fluency and reading comprehension.

Regular vs. Irregular Letter-to-Sound Correspondence

Sight words fall into two categories: those with regular spellings, like in, at, and had, and those with irregular spelling, like has, the, and of.

Sight words with regular spelling patterns can be taught simultaneously when that phonics pattern is taught. For example, when working on the short I sound, the words in and it can be introduced. When students know the consonant and vowel sounds, they can decode these words. They do not need to be memorized.

Irregularly spelled sight words have a part or parts whose letter(s) do not align to their typical sounds. These words should be taught explicitly to help students identify the tricky part of the word that they must memorize.

Teaching Irregular Sight Words

For most irregularly spelled sight words, there is just one letter or one part that is tricky. Look at the word is. The I is regular (/i/) and the S is irregular (/z/). Others, like of, need to be memorized by heart since both parts are irregular (/u/ /v/).

Group sight words with similar irregular letter-to-sound correspondences together when introducing to students. For example, when teaching is, also teach his, as, and has since they all have an S that makes the /z/ sound.

The Takeaway

Sight words should be taught like any other word. Give your students the tools to decode sight words by teaching them explicitly.

Want to see more like this? Check out my shop for engaging teaching resources and sign up for my newsletter to have teaching tips and a freebie sent right to your inbox each month!

The post How and Why to Decode Sight Words appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

Teacher mental health is something we should all be concerned about as the already staggering demands on teachers continue to grow. I’m not a doctor or any kind of medical expert, but I do know that this year has caused a lot of grief for a lot of people, including myself, and few have been as hard hit as traditional classroom teachers.

If you feel yourself struggling, losing interest in things that you normally enjoy, becoming easily irritable, and beginning to doubt yourself, please do yourself a favor and seek mental health care.

It has been a trying year for teachers. You cannot give what you do not have, so make sure to pour something back into yourself. Your work-life balance matters. Your mental health matters. Most importantly, your happiness matters.

There are many telehealth options available, such as my favorite, BetterHelp (I am not affiliated; this is a sincere review). What I love about them is I was able to pick through several people until I found a counselor I thought I “clicked” with. Now, I can schedule appointments via video conference, phone, or text chat. There’s also a daily journal feature with a notification to remind you to enter. It’s so convenient when you are working with small bits of time in your schedule!

I am no longer in the classroom and cannot know what a true challenge this past year of teaching has been for you, but you are in my thoughts. Please take care of yourselves. And please enjoy this FREE Donut Counting Math Center. With Halloween next Saturday, you’ll need some engaging activities to get through the week. I hope this freebie brings a smile to you and your students’ faces!

The post Teacher Mental Health appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

Digital Task Cards

Digital task cards are the way to go. You’ve heard about them. Boom Learning is all the rage right now and they are super cool if that is your thing…

But if you are just not feeling learning and adopting yet another new platform, don’t worry… You can still use digital task cards right through in Google Classroom with Google Slides, just like the ones you can find in my TPT store.

How Does Differentiating with Digital Task Cards Work?

Imagine you have assigned all of your students the same digital task cards as Google Slides in Google Classroom, but your students who need that _little extra have been assigned a recording sheet that includes aids that support the student in meeting the lesson objective.

On the other hand, your students who got it on the first go and are ready to show you what they know can be given a recording sheet that is at their needed level of challenge.

That’s it! It’s that easy to differentiate for virtual learning.

Digital and Printable Recording Sheets

Try to ensure that students have a written way to provide answers to you. Yes, technology is the way, but some students still need that tactile experience (and handwriting practice), so try to provide a digital and printable option for students.

Differentiation can be EASY!

Feeling overwhelmed? Stop it right now. This is tough, no doubt, but you are so much tougher. And I promise you, my resources are EASY to use.

Check out these digital literacy and math resources aligned to Common Core Standards for Kindergarten and Pre-K skills. These resources are leveled to help you meet each learner. Easily differentiate virtual instruction using digital task cards on Google Slides

Until Next Time…

Check back here soon to learn more about my THRT store Grand Opening (still “Under Construction”… whomp whomp). Or even easier, sign up for my email list and get notifications sent right to your inbox on all THRT news, products, and virtual teaching tips. Also, if you sign up, you’ll get an exclusive free digital download right now!

Hang in there, teacher-friend. Holler if you ever have any questions about how to differentiate instruction for virtual learning. I’d love to hear from you!

The post Easily Differentiate for Virtual Learning appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

Exploring manipulatives was one of my favorite parts of starting a new school year with my students. It’s amazing the complexity of math children are capable of doing when given the right tools. But, like most teachers, I often didn’t have enough tools needed to for each student to have their own set to explore. And when I wasn’t? I spent my own money, like most teachers do. Or, I would do the dreaded cut, print, laminate routine to MAKE the manipulatives for my students.

It’s time to stop printing, laminating, and spending so much of your own money, and it’s time to get DIGITAL!

Feel like you aren’t techy enough to create your own materials? No problem! I have created a digital math center for every Common Core Math Standard that includes digital task cards, recording sheets, and, digital math tools. These activities are conveniently bundled for you in my Big Bundle of Digital Math Centers. These are a great way to engage students in learning, integrate technology into your instruction, and save paper (seriously — stop printing and laminating so much!)

And honestly, do I even need to talk about the amount of germs on those ancient, dusty manipulatives? Yeah, let’s just put those things away and not even go there this year…

If you haven’t signed up for my email list, please do so by clicking here! You will receive monthly tech-teaching tips, updates on my newest product releases, and everybody’s favorite… freebies!

The post Digital Math Tools, Welcome! appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give to any parent is read to your kids every day. As an educator and now a mother myself, I cannot under-emphasize the POWER of reading to your kids DAILY. So, here are my personal reasons for why I encourage daily reading:

Daily reading helps children develop vocabulary.

Think about the words used in books that you would not likely use in front of your child, but you want them to know and understand. Reading to kids exposes children to vocabulary beyond standard conversational language that they will encounter when they begin to learn to read. Reading to kids provides them an opportunity to hear these words used in a context that is meaningful and memorable.

Daily reading helps children explore concepts beyond what they can experience in their surroundings.

We live in Florida. My son is not going to see snow, but he will definitely be exposed to snow and snowy weather concepts in school and in life. When I read him stories that take place in the snow, I can show him something he would not see otherwise.

Daily reading helps children build their schema.

Schema, or background knowledge, is the information you already know about a topic. Imagine your 5-year-old in school with a book in front of them. The story is about a family who visits the Statue of Liberty. You have read your child books and talked to them about famous landmarks. Your child is able to pull from their schema what they already know about the Statue of Liberty and is able to use this background knowledge to help them figure out new words.

Daily reading helps children develop print concepts.

Reading models for kids how to associate symbols with sounds and words with meaning. Kids passively learn how to hold books, how to turn the pages, how to track words from left to right. Kids who enter kindergarten without knowledge of print concepts will need explicit instruction. They will need to develop this understanding before they are developmentally capable of moving on to the kindergarten reading comprehension standards. Thus, children who enter kindergarten without an understanding of the concepts of print are likely to be at a deficit compared to their peers.

(Want your little one to learn about the concepts of print before kindergarten? Check out my Concepts of Print digital reading unit, currently available on TeachersPayTeachers.)

Now, when I say every day, am I being serious? Like, every. single. day?!

YEP! Communication is a daily part of life and that’s what writing is. Show your children written words every day and watch their communication skills grow every day.

You might be thinking, “That’s a lot of books and a lot of time, lady…” Don’t start sweating yet. Reading does not always have to be formal. You don’t need to sit down with a book for 20 minutes every single day for your child to benefit from reading. Not at all.

Read a recipe, a grocery list, or signs in the park. There are words all around you. Find them and read them together! It’s more about pointing out written words, associating the spoken words with the written words, and then putting those words into context through conversation.

Read to your kids every day, talk about what you read, and watch your little ones GROW!

If you liked this read and want to see more like it, subscribe to my newsletter!

The post Reasons to Read to Your Kids Every Day appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

1. You can connect with your students on a more personal level. That’s right, I said MORE personal. Why? Your distance learning sessions are intimate. You’re sharing each other’s homes, pets, family members. You are going to see your students in their elements (you know, once they get past that deer-in-the-headlights look where you wonder if their screen froze or if they’re just being shy).
2. Distance learning affords you the flexibility to focus on small group instruction. ALL. DAY. LONG. As an amazing educator, it has always been your goal to meet each child exactly where they are — and now you can! How great is that?!
3. Technology is continuing to grow, so distance learning gives you and your students a unique opportunity to explore with new technologies. Be brave! Technology is only scary at first. Experiment and try new things (check out my Pre-K and Kindergarten Distance Learning Resources by clicking here). You and your students will be technology wizards when this is all said and done! Which leads nicely into my final thought…
4. THIS WILL END. This isn’t forever. Yes, things will be different for a long time, if not forever, but it will not always be THIS. You’re simply riding out a storm in this season of your life.

And you will make it through this because you are strong, you are resilient, and you are an amazing teacher.

You’ve got this, Teacher-Friend!

The post Positive Ways to Think About Distance Learning appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.

In January 2020, I made a major life change and began staying home with my silly and sweet toddler son. (I have SO MUCH to share about that transition, but I’ll save it for a later post!) I consider myself lucky to have this opportunity, but y’all, I have some storiessss to share. Seriously… nothing prepares you for motherhood, especially during a pandemic! How do you meet a child’s social, emotional, and intelligence needs while locked in a house all day? Time to great CREATIVE!

Cue The Homeroom Teacher… Many of the resources I create are to meet my son’s learning needs. He loves learning and exploring with complex concepts, but he is still a toddler. He hasn’t developed the fine and gross motor skills typically required of the learning toys and games that teach these concepts. I got T.I.R.E.D. of trying to find these resources that just didn’t exist or were too expensive, so I decided to put my skills to work and create them myself.

I am so excited to share with teachers and parents these fun, engaging, and age-appropriate educational resources for toddlers, preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. These resources are ideal for both teachers and parents and are great because they support the Common Core Standards while still being easy to understand and use. No need to fear “new math,” Moms and Dads – I’ve got your back! Also, many resources are digital and set on Google Slides, so no worrying about printing. They are easy to assign in Google Classroom or simply use in Google Drive. The KID-FRIENDLY activities can be done right on a computer or tablet. Check out my shop to see them for yourself.

Be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter to be the first to know about new product releases, promotions, and FREEBIES! Looking forward to this adventure with you!

The post Teachers and Parents – Welcome! appeared first on The Homeroom Teacher.