Back-to-School Read Alouds for Building Classroom Community
Building Community from day one The first read-aloud of the school year carries more weight than most teachers realize. Before students learn your classroom rules, before they memorize the schedule, before they even know where the pencil sharpener lives, they are already forming impressions about what kind of…
Why Handwriting Matters
The Science behind Pencils vs. Keyboards I was in a classroom watching a room full of second graders “journal.” Except nobody was journaling. Everybody was typing. Tiny fingers hunting and pecking across a keyboard, eyes squinting at the screen, trying to find the letter S like it was…
What Actually Happens During Reading Time in My Classroom
For years, parents asked if their child could switch into my class. Not for math. Not for science. For reading time. I always told them the same thing. There was no trick. I just built reading time around four things, and once those four things were in place,…
Why Audiobooks Count as Reading | Literacy Expert Explains
Yes, Audiobooks count as reading why I’m not backing down It’s me…I’m the literary expert! A parent recently approached me, her voice apologetic. Her son had completed his reading assignment, but he had listened to the audiobook instead of reading the physical text. She wanted to know if…
