by Jan and Kari | Apr 23, 2022 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Vocabulary
In Chapter 1 of Shifting the Balance, we untangle a widespread misunderstanding about reading comprehension. It is “Misunderstanding 4” in the chapter that is about language comprehension. Misunderstanding 4 goes like this,“Successful comprehension in beginning...
by Jan and Kari | Jan 27, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, High-Frequency Words, Language Comprehension, Literacy Leadership, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Prompting & Feedback, Video
If you approach learning to read and write as a speech-to-print -rather than as a print-to-speech – process, . . . . . . then you will want to start by making sure children have strong oral language. And if you are going to build children’s oral language, . . .....
by Jan and Kari | Dec 2, 2021 | Blog, Language Comprehension, Video
What’s oral language development got to do with reading, anyway? Well, it turns out . . . a whole lot. As we explain in Chapter 1 of Shifting the Balance, reading comprehension doesn’t begin with reading; it begins with comprehension of spoken language. And...
by Jan and Kari | Aug 22, 2021 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Strategy Instruction, Video, Vocabulary
All children love to become experts! Whether learning about ancient Egypt in order to understand the latest Rick Riordon title or building knowledge about the spread of germs in a global pandemic, knowledge building is a critical aspect of reading comprehension. In...
by Jan and Kari | Aug 16, 2021 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Strategy Instruction, Video, Vocabulary
Have you noticed? Kids love to talk. Babies come into this world naturally wired for language development. They are ready to soak up new words through exposure, modeling, and feedback. From our first breath to our last, we humans are wired to be language...