Sight vocabulary instruction as being less about memorizing a list of words, and more about learning how to recognize and remember words. Research shows that as students get better with decoding, remembering sight words becomes easier.
It makes sense to include simple morphology lessons as early as kindergarten, increasing the lessons as vocabulary and spelling become more complex. Gradually the proportion of word reading instruction should shift from phonology to morphology.
Texts that are challenging and that represent a wide range of genres and content areas need to play much bigger roles in comprehension instruction. These texts expose students to rich content and vocabulary and can help build knowledge.
Children’s author and poet Jennifer Ann Richter shares ideas for engaging kids in observing and learning about birds. Jennifer is the author of the middle grade novel Bird Nerd, a warm and gently told story of friendship.
