Differentiating instruction is more complex than just providing different students with different learning experiences. Learn about this distinction by reading classroom examples that contrast differentiated literacy instruction with simply different instruction.
One way to help a child comprehend what he is reading is to encourage him to visualize parts of the story in his mind. These “mind movies” help clarify information, increase understanding, and can include any of the five senses. Try these practices below when reading with your child.
Blending (combining sounds) and segmenting (separating sounds) are phonological awareness skills that are necessary for learning to read. Developing your child’s phonological awareness is an important part of developing your child as a reader. Learn how working on phonological awareness can be fun and easy below.
Suggestions for fostering independent reading include: (a) Give children books that are not too difficult. (b) Help them find books they will enjoy. (c) Encourage them to try many kinds of material. Although independent reading cannot substitute for teaching decoding, it improves reading comprehension and the habit of reading.
Reading with comprehension means understanding what’s been read. Here is a before-during-after approach that families can use to help children learn to read for understanding.
Nursery rhymes are important for young children because they help develop an ear for our language. Both rhyme and rhythm help kids hear the sounds and syllables in words, which helps kids learn to read! Here are some activities and recommended poetry books to aid your child’s developing poetry, rhyming, and rhythm skills.
When engaging in writing, young children are observing the way writing is used in our everyday lives. Here are some simple things families can do to support young children’s writing.
This research brief from the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement examines the research on teacher leadership and what it says about drawing on the skills of experienced teachers to facilitate school improvement.
Consider organizing a book swap for your neighborhood or block. It can be a simple afternoon undertaking, or with more time and effort, a fun event that will become an annual tradition!
Research about how much children lose ground over the summer is well documented, but kids don’t have to lose ground over the summer. In fact, you can encourage your child to have a summer of fun and learning with these five free and easy things to do.
Just a few pages from your newspaper can be turned into lots of early learning activities. Here you’ll find “letters and words” activities for the youngest, plus fun writing prompts and tips on how to read and analyze the news for older kids.
Sharing poetry with kids is a great way to highlight language. Poems offer humor, interesting words, tongue twisters, alliteration, and opportunities for choral reading (reading together). Find out how to plan a lively and fun family poetry jam!
Award-winning author of acclaimed middle-grade novels Sally J. Pla talks (The Someday Birds) about how her own autism informs the characters and stories she writes.
Being ready for kindergarten means having well-developed preschool skills, and being academically, socially, and physically ready for the transition. Here are some signs that your child is ready for kindergarten.
Think-alouds have been described as “eavesdropping on someone’s thinking.” With this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a selection orally. Their verbalizations include describing things they’re doing as they read to monitor their comprehension. The purpose of the think-aloud strategy is to model for students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text.
