• Science of Reading

    Finding the Sweet Spot: How Much Time Should You Spend on Teaching Phonics?

    teaching phonics

    If there’s one question I hear constantly in my literacy coaching sessions, it’s this: “How much time should I really be spending on teaching phonics?”

    Trust me, you’re not alone in wondering this. As teachers, we’re constantly juggling competing priorities within those precious instructional minutes. And with the renewed emphasis on the Science of Reading, many of us are reevaluating our literacy blocks, especially when it comes to effective phonics instruction.

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  • Science of Reading

    Making Your Classroom Sound Wall Work: A Teacher’s Complete Guide

    Classroom Sound Wall

    I remember the first time I saw a beautifully crafted classroom sound wall on Pinterest. Like many of you, I thought, “If I just put this up in my classroom, my students’ reading will improve!” But as much as I love making things beautiful, simply having a pretty display isn’t enough. Today, let’s talk about how to make your classroom sound wall truly work for you and your students.

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  • Science of Reading

    Make Reading Click: How Sound Walls Help Students Connect Letters to Sounds

    sound walls

    You know what I love about the Science of Reading? It keeps teaching us better ways to help our students succeed. One of the most powerful tools to emerge from this research are sound walls. Unlike traditional word walls that organize words by letters, sound walls tap into how our brains actually process language. And let me tell you, the results I’m seeing in classrooms are remarkable.

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  • Science of Reading

    Deleting and Substituting Sounds: Simple Strategies for Teaching Sound Manipulation

    deleting and substituting

    You know those moments when you’re teaching phonemic awareness and you think, “There has to be a way to make this click for my kids”? I had one of those moments last week working with a struggling reader named Maya. We were practicing deleting and substituting sounds, and she just wasn’t getting it. Then I tried something that changed everything – but let me back up a bit first.

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  • Science of Reading

    Teaching Blending and Segmenting: Your Guide to These Essential Reading Skills

    teaching blending and segmenting

    You’re sitting with a small group of students, and you can see the wheels turning as they work to sound out a new word. We’ve all been there – watching our students stretch and blend sounds, sometimes smoothly, sometimes with a bit more struggle. Today, let’s dive deep into two absolutely crucial skills that make all the difference in early reading success: blending and segmenting.

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  • Science of Reading

    How to Use Choral Reading to Build Fluency in Your Classroom

    A teacher points to a projected passage on a screen as a whole class of elementary students follow along on their own printed copies during a choral reading lesson, with a word wall and reading corner visible in the background.

    Choral reading is the entire class reading aloud in unison with the teacher. Every student participates. Every student hears a fluent model. No one reads alone, and no one reads under a spotlight. Think of it like a symphony orchestra’s first rehearsal of a new piece. The experienced players carry the tempo and the phrasing; the less confident ones follow the ensemble rather than stumbling through solo. Over time, the parts that needed the group’s support start to come naturally.

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  • Science of Reading

    How to Use Partner Reading to Build Reading Fluency (And Why Structure Is the Difference)

    A girl reads aloud from a copy of Wonders of the Forest while her partner follows along in his own copy at a shared classroom desk during a partner reading activity.

    Structured partner reading works because it delivers two things that build fluency at the same time: repeated oral reading practice and immediate, specific feedback from a peer model. Researchers Doug and Lynn Fuchs at Vanderbilt University studied what happened when teachers paired students intentionally, assigned the text, and gave both partners defined roles for reading, listening, and responding. They found this structured approach produced greater reading gains than comparison classrooms, for struggling readers, average readers, and strong readers alike

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