Kindergartners come to school with a fear of writing, and we did it to them. As classroom teachers, we need to break down the insecurities and build their independence. It’s easy, if we start from the beginning. From the first day of school, providing clear and concise writing instruction with step-by-step supports, the fear will fall, and the student will soar.

Wordless books can be enjoyed by all levels of emergent readers. They encourage children to apply critical visual literacy skills, which are important for today’s focus on visual images. Wordless books provide scaffolds for storytelling, vocabulary use and fluency, and language learning. Opportunities for creative dialogue and characterization abound when children “read” these stories.

“We covered it,” goes the familiar expression, “but they just didn’t learn it.” Crucial skills deserve something better than coverage. To improve early math outcomes and math outcomes for life, we must learn to understand the principles of informed instruction that lead to competency.

Schools have been attempting to cram more and more content into a typical teaching day, and asking children to learn overwhelming content at younger and younger ages, without taking the time to build the foundational skills needed for learning or behavioral success. Let’s consider a different approach.

Our youngest learners must develop the ability to hear the differences in the sounds of letters before they can ever read print. They must develop phonemic awareness. Here are some tips for helping children develop phonemic awareness, and making it fun!

Learning to read is like learning to ride a bike. The foundational skills in reading are best developed through instruction followed by practice with support and feedback. As teachers we need to find ways to support our readers in their reading while providing formative feedback during and after their reading.