In the last few years, it’s become really clear that phonological awareness skills are important for reading success. But if you’re anything like me, you didn’t learn about it in your teacher preparation classes. The importance of phonological awareness really hit home for me in the fall when my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. She could read okay, but she could not spell simple words like “fix” as a 2nd grader. When the neuropsychologist presented the results, we found my … [Read more...]
Free Summer Reading Charts
Summer is almost here! We can't wait for a more relaxed schedule and for all the adventures we'll have. During the summer, it's so important for kids to keep reading! We're planning to read at least 30 minutes a day. This will help my kids stay on track with learning. Sometimes kids need a little bit of motivation to read in the summer. I've found that having a fun reading chart helps with this! Today I'm sharing two free summer reading charts. One is for younger kids and the other is for … [Read more...]
100 Picture Books to Read This Summer
Every summer I give the kids the challenge to read 100 picture books. The boys are so excited about this and love to mark off the books they read on our chart. Sometimes we need some new ideas for books, so today I thought I'd share 100 of my favorite picture books for summer! I've personally read through all these books and can recommend all of them! Hopefully you can get some new ideas for reading! This list contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for details. These books are great … [Read more...]
Can You Read 100 Books? Summer Reading Challenge!
Summer is just about here! While we take a break from our school routine here, we do a lot of reading! I wanted to create a fun way to challenge my little ones to read, so I came up with the challenge to read 100 books together this summer. I also created a chart to track the books we read. On this chart, there are 100 colored circles. After we read a book together, we will either put a sticker on the circle, mark it with an 'X', or stamp it with a Do-a-Dot marker. I also created a … [Read more...]
25 Dr. Seuss Activities
Dr. Seuss Day is coming up on March 2nd! This day is also known as Read Across America Day. When I was teaching 4th grade, this was a super fun day! We got dressed up, did lots of fun reading activities, and spent a portion of our day just reading. I remember it so well and the students always had a blast. Today I'm sharing with you 25 really awesome Dr. Seuss Activities! These are so much fun to do with little ones! This post contains affiliate links. Ten Apples Up On Top Counting … [Read more...]
Zoey and Sassafras Book Review & Printable
Disclosure: I received a complimentary book from The Innovation Press in exchange for my honest review. As always, my reviews are 100% from me! I'm so excited to share with you a NEW chapter book series! The Zoey and Sassafrass books are perfect for young readers. We read the first book in the series called Dragons and Marshmallows and my 1st grader and preschooler were captivated with the story right away. Let Me Tell You About This Book... Zoey is a sweet little girl, who is always … [Read more...]
Rhyme Time Packet for Preschoolers
Rhyming is a very important skill for beginning readers to practice. It’s a phonemic awareness skill that helps kids hear sounds within words. It’s also a lot of fun! We love to play a game where we say a word and try to come up with as many words as we can to rhyme with it. It's something simple we do while driving in the car or waiting at the doctor's office. Rhyming can be fun and silly, but it’s a great way for kids to practice hearing the sounds in words. Today I'm sharing with you my … [Read more...]
Preschool Literacy 101
I love talking about teaching literacy. In fact, I love it so much that I minored in literacy in college. I talk to lots of moms teaching preschool at home and a lot of them want to know what children need to know before they head off to Kindergarten. This Preschool Literacy 101 post will go into the basics of teaching preschool literacy. Let's start with defining literacy. Literacy is teaching reading, writing, and oral skills. Beginning literacy is the knowledge and skills that precede … [Read more...]
Awesome Reading App for Kids + Giveaway!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Speakaboos. All opinions are my own. I'm really excited to share with you an awesome reading app for kids that we just discovered! Speakaboos is the reading app for kids ages 2-6 that turns screen time into reading time. If your kids are like mine, they LOVE screen time. We limit screen time at our house, but I do let them play educational games. This app is one that I feel great about because it encourages my children to read! Have you heard of … [Read more...]
Apple Tree Game with Sight Words
I love September...it is quite possibly my favorite time of the year! Since apples themes are everywhere right now, I thought I'd share with you a sight words apple tree game I created for my Preschooler and Kindergartener. They are both learning how to read, so this game is a great way to introduce sight words to them! For this game, children don't have to know how to read yet, because they will be looking at the letters in the words and looking for the same ones on the apple tree. If … [Read more...]