I have been making playdough as a teaching tool for many years and have tried a few different recipes. The one I share with you in today’s article is by far my favorite (I still have the handwri … read more

Are you a human grammar and usage checker? Maybe you see words spelled incorrectly on social media and have heart palpitations. Or, maybe you silently correct someone’s grammar as they speak. If so, t … read more

As a teacher, I regularly am asked by parents, “What can I do to help my child?” The answer to this question is very simple, but also pretty complex – phonemic awareness. On the complex side, phonemic … read more

“How can I encourage my child to want to read?” Every parent of a struggling reader regularly asks this. We know children gain important reading skills the more they read, however when rea … read more

According to author Jo Fitzpatrick, the path to phonemic awareness is sequential. It begins with an awareness of spoken words, then syllables (cat =1 syllable), followed by onsets and rimes (c-at) and … read more

Many of us in the education community have heard about the summer slide that our students experience. But what about us educators? How many of us have participated in useful professional development, … read more