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Sarah's Teaching Snippets

K-2 Science of Reading Educational Resources

Vowel Teams Part 1

Vowel teams can be really tricky for our new readers and can especially be a headache for struggling readers. Let's dig into what they are and how I teach them. What are Vowel Teams?Vowel teams are two or more letters that together produce one vowel sound. For example, the letters <a> and <i> together make one sound: the long a sound. Vowel teams are one of the syllable types. (Click ... Read More about Vowel Teams Part 1

Decodable Books

Recently I've been asked about decodable books: When to use them, why use them, and for how long. This is a hot button issue for many educators! Today I'm going to break down my understanding of both sides, along with my own opinion that has evolved over time. I am supportive of using decodable books for beginning and struggling readers. At the same time, students need to be exposed to rich ... Read More about Decodable Books

Boom Learning Cards

Hi everyone! With the sudden pivot to distance learning and the need for digital resources, I started making Boom Decks through Boom Learning. Think of Boom Cards as a digital learning app. It is incredibly user-friendly and engaging for kids. Since I started creating Boom Cards, I've had a lot of questions about them lately. Quick facts about Boom Cards:What are Boom Cards? Boom cards are ... Read More about Boom Learning Cards

The Jobs of Silent e

When you hear someone say silent e words, do you automatically think of words where the silent e makes the first vowel say it's name? Did you know that silent e does so more than that? The silent e has many jobs! I did not know there were so many jobs of the silent e when I started teaching. In fact, I didn't know this even after teaching ten years! When I started learning some of the "secrets" to ... Read More about The Jobs of Silent e

Alphabet Instruction: Sound to Symbol Awareness

Applying the alphabetic principal is the first step with phonics instruction. Once students learn these first sound-symbol relationships, they begin to read words. Good alphabet instruction systematically and explicitly teaches sound-symbol associations. In order to learn the letters of the alphabet, students need to first be able to visually discriminate between the different letter shapes. I ... Read More about Alphabet Instruction: Sound to Symbol Awareness

Effective Spelling Instruction

Effective spelling instruction emphasizes the structure of the English language. I'd like to start this post by throwing my past teacher self under the bus. That's right, I can honestly tell you that I made a lot of mistakes for years. Was I dedicated? Heck yeah! Did I have the right intentions? For sure! Did I think I was doing the right thing? You betcha! For many years,  I treated spelling ... Read More about Effective Spelling Instruction

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Sarah's First Grade Snippets

2 years ago

Sarah's First Grade Snippets
I listened to two great episodes from @literacypodcast with Richard Gentry. I’ve read two of his books, which I highly recommend! (Swipe to see.) I loved listening to him talk about spelling and dyslexia. There are so many great take-always from the conversation, but this stood out to me. I believe this so much! Analyzing a child’s spelling shows you what they truly have a grasp on. For example, if they are spelling “helped” as “helpt” then you know they don’t have an understanding of base words and suffixes. If they spell “take” as “tak “ then they likely don’t have a handle on the silent e (VCe) syllable type and the generalization with that pattern. If they spell “ship” as “chip”, then they need to work on that sound symbol correspondence. If they spell “step” as “sep” then they are not hearing all of the sounds and you’ll need to work on phonemic segmenting with consonant blends. If they spell “back” as “bak” then they don’t know the ck/k generalization. If they spell “set” as “sat”, they may need to work on short vowels more (and look into if they are having trouble hearing the difference or remembering the sound-symbol match ups). Teaching spelling is so important, but not in the old school way that we were all taught. It’s not effective to memorize 10-20 words for a spelling test at the end of the week. Dr. Gentry goes into this a bit on the podcast, explaining that it often goes into short term memory (long enough to pass the test) but not long term memory. Instead, study sound-symbol relationships and spelling patterns. Give plenty of practice with a variety of words related in some way. Both episodes are definitely worth a listen! .....#iteachfirst #iteachreading #iteachphonics #iteach #iteachtoo #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #explicitphonicsinstruction #teacherideas #readingspecialist #readingcoach #phonicsfun #teacherstuff #ortongillingham #firstgradeteacher #elementaryteacher #structuredliteracy #learntoread #iteach1st #readingintervention #scienceofreading #iteachsecond #iteach2nd #readingtutor #iteach3rd #spelling ... See MoreSee Less

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Sarah's First Grade Snippets

2 years ago

Sarah's First Grade Snippets
Tonight I got to celebrate with one of my favorite people, Barbara Steinberg. We were celebrating the 12 year anniversary of @pdxreadingspecialist . 👏🎉🙌🏼 Barbara also happens to be my literacy/ #scienceofreading hero. She’s basically my same age, yet I still say, “I want to be Barbara when I grow up.” 😄 Way back when I first started my SoR journey, when I just wanted to understand my students who were struggling with reading, she was the person who provided the training that was almost impossible to find at the time. She is the best professional development you will ever get! Now she has virtual training so she can reach more educators. You’ll want to follow her and check out the training that she has to offer. It’s so worth it! We all have those educators that inspire us. Sometimes we need to take a moment to tell that person! Love you, Barbara! #iteach #iteachtoo #iteachk #iteachfirst #iteachreading #ortongillingham #saydyslexia #iteachsecond ... See MoreSee Less

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Sarah's First Grade Snippets

2 years ago

Sarah's First Grade Snippets
Check my story for a longer explanation. Short story- in a consonant blend, each letter represents its own sound. In a digraph, the letters together represent one sound. When we read, the goal is automatic recognition so we train them to read /st/ instead of /s/ /t/ but it’s important to recognize they are still two distinct sounds. This is especially important with spelling. They need to be able to pull apart each sound to spell the word correctly. It’s also true that the sounds in a consonant blend do smoosh together when we pronounce them. Sometimes it’s hard for kids to hear both consonant sounds in a consonant blend. We don’t exactly enunciate every sound in a word so it’s hard to hear all sounds.Some blends like dr and tr literally sound like different sounds when combined in words. Think about <dr> in drill. It sounds /jr/ and <tr> in trip sounds like /chr/. When I teach blends, I explicitly teach these and point out how this happens. This is one example of coarticulation. Basically, a sound can affect another sound that it’s next to. I hope all this information is helpful!.....#iteachfirst #iteachreading #iteachphonics #iteach #iteachtoo #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #explicitphonicsinstruction #teacherideas #readingspecialist #readingcoach #phonicsfun #teacherstuff #ortongillingham #firstgradeteacher #elementaryteacher #structuredliteracy #learntoread #iteach1st #readingintervention #scienceofreading #iteachsecond #iteach2nd #readingtutor #iteach3rd #SoRsnippet #phonicssnippet ... See MoreSee Less

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Sarah's First Grade Snippets

2 years ago

Sarah's First Grade Snippets
As an interventionist, I put a lot of focus on ways to help and support students with dyslexia. Although well intentioned, this tends to put the majority of the focus on the academic weaknesses that may result from having dyslexia. In the traditional school setting, students with dyslexia often struggle and don’t get the opportunity to showcase their strengths. The book The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock and Fernette Eide talks about dyslexia-associated strength patterns found to be common in dyslexic people. “These strengths are not exclusive to individuals with dyslexia, but they are common among individuals with dyslexia and linked to specific cognitive and structural patterns.” (From the Dyslexic Advantage website)@pdxreadingspecialist just posted that 40% of entrepreneurs have dyslexia! That’s a big percentage! One of the common strengths is “out of the box” thinking among individuals with dyslexia. Another good book is The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan by Ben Foss. This book also talks about strengths. ..... #iteachreading #iteachtoo #iteachkindergarten #iteachk #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teacherideas #readingspecialist #readingcoach #teacherstuff #ortongillingham #structuredliteracy #dyslexia #learntoread #iteachfirst #iteach1st #earlyliteracy #saydyslexia ... See MoreSee Less

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Sarah's First Grade Snippets

2 years ago

Sarah's First Grade Snippets
Swipe to see common indicators of dyslexia at different ages. It’s helpful to know the signs. As teachers, we can’t diagnose but can use screeners like Acadience or DIBELS to identify at-risk students and we can recommend further testing if we think a student may have dyslexia. I know that many districts don’t recognize dyslexia specifically (which is completely unacceptable to me but that’s where we’re at unfortunately). This makes things extra challenging for teachers. In a better educational world, every school would have a dyslexia specialist who could do this testing, guide teachers, and provide support for students. I can say from personal experience, having answers can feel very empowering.Connecting with your local Decoding Dyslexia group may be helpful. I think every state has one now. (Decoding dyslexia is a parent led grassroots movement that has created some incredible change in many states. They provide resources and support for families.). Another place to look is the International Dyslexia Association @dyslexiaida. I am not an expert- I’m just someone trying to spread the word. Follow @pdxreadingspecialist @thedrlauren @thedyslexiaclassroom @theliteracynest @shinelearningservices @dyslexiatraininginstitute for people who actually are experts. 🙏💕Even if you feel like your hands are tied because of how your districts handles things, I think it can still be meaningful and impactful to be an educator who is knowledgeable about dyslexia. 💕🫶💡#saydyslexia #dyslexiaawareness #dyslexia #iteach #iteachtoo #iteachreading #ortongillingham #structuredliteracy ... See MoreSee Less

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