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If You Take a Speech-to-Print Approach
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, . . . . ....
The Power of Re-Work
Ahh, the little prefix RE- ! Small but mighty! We’re believers in fresh starts and REvised approaches. We’re advocates of taking stock and REevaluating. And in both our personal and professional lives, January has been a time of RE- for us. REflecting on how we have...
Are You Ready for Some Good News? It’s Here . . .
It’s exciting when the little people we support start to know and recite some letter names and their associated sounds in response to seeing those little black marks on a page. But the problem is . . . ...we’ve all known children who know LOTS, if not ALL, of the...
A Little Fun with Phon- Words
Phonics? Phonological awareness? Phonemic awareness? What’s the difference, really? And how can you keep all these phon- words straight? Well, confusion about the phon- words is created not only because they sound alike, but also because there is a...
Six Suggestions for Seamless Oral Language Development
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...
Helping Children Remodel Their Brains for Reading
Kari’s husband, John, likes to save scraps of wood and other building materials. Sometimes he buys new stuff . . . but, boy does he get excited when he can repurpose something he already has on hand, using it in a new and useful way. In the same way that John loves...
3 Things That Can Make Interpreting Research Tricky
Perhaps you are thinking about that second (or third or fourth) cup of coffee you have in the morning. Maybe you are wondering if coffee is really good for you after all. So, you decide to get on the internet and do a bit of reading to find out what the research...
What is the science of reading anyway?
It’s in the news. It’s in the title of our book. It’s in the name of countless Facebook groups. It’s the topic of conversation at school board meetings and in state legislatures across this country. So, what is “the science of reading” anyway? First,...
Top 10 Reasons to Start a Book Study!
We’re book lovers, for sure. We’ve got stacks of books on our counters, our tables, and our nightstands. Our bookshelves are filled to overflowing, the delivery person keeps delivering new books that have fallen into our shopping carts! We do lots of kinds of...
Learning on the the Go – Six Shifts Podcast Series
In a fast-paced and over-scheduled life, finding any margin between the activities that begin when your alarm goes off in the morning and end when you lay your head back down on the pillow at night can feel almost impossible! If you’re like us, you probably wish you...
Overcoming Overwhelm by Finding Entry Points
What prevents us from making the changes we want to make in our lives? Whether in our personal or professional roles, we all have visions of reaching for our better selves. Whether we want to eat better, keep a tidier house, get in shape, read more. . .the list goes...
5 Keys to Creating a New Habit that Sticks
Did you ever really surprise yourself? This summer Kari did. She did it by water skiing 70 days in a row! She didn’t originally plan to go for 70 days. In fact she still has a hard time believing she did it. If you had said to her in July, “Kari, you should ski 70...
Instructional Levers for Making Work Easier
Who doesn’t want to make their work easier? Our ancestors certainly did. If necessity is the mother of invention, then the need to lift heavy objects led to the invention of the lever. A lever is--as you well know--a simple machine that makes work a lot easier. With...
Inside-Out Literacy
Whether it’s broccoli in the teeth, frosting on the chin, a shirt inside-out, it often takes someone else - with honesty and caring - to help us notice what we haven’t yet seen for ourselves. As we dig deeper and deeper into the wide body of research that shows us...
Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension
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...
Talking With Children In Ways that Support Comprehension
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 learners. ...
Avoiding Walls and Building Bridges
In our experience, putting up walls is easier than building bridges . . . Just not nearly as helpful. A while back, Marnie Ginsburg of Reading Simplified called us “bridge builders,” referring to the way our work seeks to connect reading communities that are often...
Commitments to Ourselves and Each Other
Change can be challenging. Especially when you are shifting long-held beliefs and practices. Sometimes regret gets in our way. Sometimes overwhelm. Sometimes fear. And while it is good to acknowledge and make space to process these feelings, camping out with any one...
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