by Jan and Kari | Apr 26, 2026 | Strategy Instruction
In the last few years, much of the national conversation about reading has focused, appropriately, on word recognition: phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency. But as foundational skills instruction has grown stronger and more aligned with the science of reading,...
by Jan and Kari | Mar 8, 2026 | Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Strategy Instruction
Much of the current conversation around the science of reading rightly emphasizes foundational skills—phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding—but what about reading comprehension difficulties? Yes, foundational skills are essential building blocks for proficient...
by Jan and Kari | Dec 12, 2025 | High-Frequency Words
By first grade, most children are well on their way to becoming skilled “word learners.” With foundational phonics and blending under their belts, they’re ready to take on a larger set of high-frequency words. This is when explicit instruction—especially with words...
by Jan and Kari | Nov 7, 2025 | Strategy Instruction
What Is Reading Comprehension, Really? Let’s try something.Read just this first word in a sentence: Sarah . . .With a single word, your brain is already at work. You’re predicting, filtering, and building meaning. Sarah is probably a person—a girl or woman—and she’s...
by Jan and Kari | Oct 10, 2025 | High-Frequency Words
We’ve all been there. We have kids chant, trace, and write a word. We think they’ve learned it, only to have them stare blankly at it the next time they encounter it in text or go to write. We find ourselves thinking (and sometimes even saying), “But you know that...
