by Jan and Kari | Aug 4, 2024 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Strategy Instruction, Vocabulary
If you teach developing readers, you are probably thinking about strategy instruction. Maybe a lot.In many classrooms, strategy instruction has been the primary vehicle for helping children develop and enhance their reading comprehension.After all, kids can’t learn to...
by Jan and Kari | Jul 27, 2024 | Blog, Language Comprehension, Vocabulary
We’re confident you’re already familiar with Turn and Talk; it’s perhaps one of the most widely known yet underutilized instructional strategies. But given its simplicity and power, we wanted to invite you to brush up on this classic and maybe sprinkle in a few new...
by Jan and Kari | May 19, 2024 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Strategy Instruction, Vocabulary
It’s discouraging to work hard and continue to see some students struggle to comprehend despite hours and hours of strategy instruction year after year after year. You might wonder: Am I missing something? Am I teaching the “right strategies”? Are there some...
by Jan and Kari | Apr 21, 2024 | Blog, Language Comprehension, Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension Can’t Happen Without Language Comprehension Lately, we’ve noticed that some small but mighty practices for supporting language development aren’t showing up so much in classrooms. These instructional moves are ways to teach vocabulary or language...
by Jan and Kari | Apr 13, 2024 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Language Comprehension, Phonics, Vocabulary, Word Reading Instruction
Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction is a big deal, but . . . Everywhere we go these days, teachers are working hard to provide more explicit and systematic phonics and word study instruction. This is part of an effort to ensure that the students get...
by Jan and Kari | Jan 27, 2024 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Vocabulary
In this post, we offer a simple Morphology Lesson Planning Template that provides a systematic approach to integrating morphology instruction into your classroom. When you consider vocabulary instruction, probably the first thing that comes to mind is teaching...
by Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, Kari Yates | Dec 10, 2023 | Blog, Fluency, Knowledge Building, Literacy Leadership, Meaningful Independent Practices, Strategy Instruction, Vocabulary, Word Reading Instruction
Last week, we shared the first part of our two-part Q&A series about how the newest Shifting the Balance 3-5 book that we wrote with Katie Egan Cunningham came to be. Today, we will continue to explore common questions readers have about the newest Shifting the...
by Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, Kari Yates | Dec 3, 2023 | Blog, Fluency, Knowledge Building, Literacy Leadership, Strategy Instruction, Vocabulary, Word Reading Instruction
Q: Want to learn more about the newest Shifting the Balance book, which explores 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom? A: Keep reading because today’s blog is Part 1 of a 2-part Q&A series that answers some common questions...
by Jan and Kari | Aug 26, 2023 | Blog, Fluency, Knowledge Building, Literacy Leadership, Strategy Instruction, Vocabulary, Word Reading Instruction
While it’s true that most of the conversation about literacy practices these days seems to focus on the earliest grades, there is plenty of confusion and uncertainty about literacy instruction for older students, too. In Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the...
by Jan and Kari | Mar 30, 2023 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Literacy Leadership, Vocabulary, Word Reading Instruction
We love finding a Netflix or Prime series that we can count on – one that gives us something to think about after watching as well as something to look forward to in the next episode. In the same way, we hope that you find this “Decodable Text: Questions and...
