With Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom about to be released, you might be wondering how this second Shifting the Balance book came to be.  Well, there’s a story there that Jan, Kari, and I thought was...

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...

We are glad you are here for this bonus blog as we reach the end (really!) of our six-part (turned seven-part) series on the ways that familiar prompts may or may not be good for students in the long run. As it turns out, some of the familiar prompts that we have...

Over the last several weeks, we have taken a close look at some familiar prompts--along with their Beanie Baby mascots--that are often used in an attempt to support students when they are stuck on a word. Our journey through these common prompts has been mapped out...

This is the fifth part of our series exploring how some of the ways we’ve been prompting readers can actually send them on unnecessary detours - or even worse, down dead-end roads - when it comes to developing reading fluency. If you’ve traveled with us through this...

This is our fourth installment in a 6-part series about how practices for supporting readers when they are stuck on a word can either help them find their way or potentially set up roadblocks in the future. So if you are wondering, “How can I help my students learn to...

This post is our third in a 6-part series about how you can support readers who are trying to read a word they don’t know. Deciding how to prompt readers when they are stuck or uncertain is one of the most nuanced and critical jobs of literacy educators, and its...

In our last blog, we used a map-reading metaphor to introduce Linnea Ehri’s phases of word learning (1987, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2017). Today we take that conversation a step further by l unpacking a specific (and in many cases beloved) prompt that we’ve relied on to...

It is summer! Perhaps you are traveling somewhere. While you probably rely on the little person inside your phone to tell you which way to go, we want you to think about how you navigate using a paper map--you know, like in the old days! In preparation for an upcoming...

We think every day is the right day to celebrate the work of educators. So, for every single teacher committed to making our schools better places for kids, this one’s for you. Today, we celebrate educators. We celebrate those committed to finding more ways to make...

As more and more schools are making shifts to more brain-friendly practices, many have embraced the idea of marking certain parts of a high-frequency word with a heart, a star, or a surprise face. Chances are you have, too! And whatever the symbol you use, your...

Listening to proficient readers, it is easy to assume that the word you hear them say is the word their brain is processing. From the outside-in, it just looks like their comprehension coincides with the words they are saying. But this is one of the places where...

Friends, When we wrote our little book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, we wanted it to be an invitation for balanced literacy educators to take an honest second look at some current practices. Turns...

We love it when educators ask for something to simplify their busy lives, and we can find a way to make it happen! Since our Fall 2022 blog series highlighting our structured (but flexible) Phonics Lesson Template, we’ve had a number of people ask if we could offer an...

In this Decodable Text Series, we’ve been exploring questions about the place, the purpose, and the practicality of using decodable texts with beginning readers. You can catch up here if you’ve missed our previous posts. Today’s question:  What are some other...

Tax-free. Gluten-free.  Free sample.  Free time. Free shipping. Free parking.  Who doesn’t love a freebie? We know we do!  And, if you love free stuff, then Part 5 of our “Decodable Texts: Question and Answer Series” is for you! Here we begin to...