This list was created to help teachers know which spelling words should be taught to kids in grades 1–5. The list contains 850 words that account for 80 percent of the words children use in their writing — the ones they need to be able to spell correctly.
Not just educational institutions can play a role in preventing illiteracy. Find out what steps employers can take to help more children learn to read.
This teaching tip highlights a strategy that assists teachers in structuring classroom discussions about texts. Specifically, this conversational technique helps students think and talk about a text beyond its literal meaning. Students learn to make decisions about why a particular phrase is the Most Valuable Phrase (MVP) within a text as a whole.
Discover 20 ways to help children learn about concepts of print — that print carries meaning, directionality in a book, letter and word awareness, upper case and lower case letters, punctuation, and more.
Preschool-aged children love to write — and those early scribbles are an important step on the path to literacy. Here are some simple ways for parents and preschool teachers to support very young writers.
Emily Jenkins writes picture books (Five Creatures, Lemonade in Winter) and chapter books (Upside-Down Magic and The Toys series) for young readers. She says, “Growing up, I spent large parts of my life in imaginary worlds: Neverland, Oz, and Narnia, in particular.” Jenkins believes that all stories are part of a history of stories and she takes special delight in how words and pictures work together to shape the reading experience.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a law that ensures certain rights for children with disabilities and their families. Parents have a certain role to play in the process of getting children the help they need. Find out what parents of children with disabilities can expect in this list of rights and responsibilities.
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects a child’s ability to read, spell, and write at the word level. It is a language problem — kids with dyslexia have trouble hearing the sounds in spoken words. With explicit, systematic instruction and targeted support, children with dyslexia can become skilled, confident readers!
A Rand study indicates that well-designed summer programs can help low-income students read and do math better. The key to academic gains in summer programs are steady attendance and a high-quality program with engaging, fun activities for school children and highly effective teachers teaching for at least three hours a day.
Learn some best practices in helping children with language processing issues learn to read in this Q&A with expert Nanci Bell, director of Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. Find out what works with children who have weaknesses in concept imagery or symbol imagery.
Parents and teachers as well as other professionals are required by law to be involved in writing a student’s IEP. Find out about the members of an IEP team and the roles they play.
Learning a second language for school is not simply a linguistic challenge; it poses social, cultural, academic, and cognitive challenges as well. This article describes a conceptual model for acquiring a second language for school that reflects all these challenges, and makes recommendations for instruction stemming from this model.
While some young writers may struggle with traditional literacy, tapping into new literacies like digital storytelling may boost motivation and scaffold understanding of traditional literacies. Three types of struggling writers are introduced followed by descriptions of ways digital storytelling can support their development.
In this special Reading Rockets video series, experts answer real questions from families about reading and writing, and how to support their children’s literacy at home.
