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...

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...

Talk of decodable texts is everywhere these days. And if you’re like many educators we know, you might be working to sort through the hype to make sense of it all.  We’ve written a lot about decodable texts—exploring their significance, selection criteria, creative...

We all know that teachers, not programs, make the difference when it comes to effective instruction. Scientific research bears out this idea that teachers matter more than programs, especially when it comes to beginning reading (Bond 1966; Readence & Barone 1997)....

Elkonin Sound Boxes: What They Are & How to Use Them Phonemic awareness serves as the foundation for a child's journey into the world of literacy, and Elkonin boxes offer a powerful tool for nurturing this crucial skill. In this post, we will explore Elkonin boxes...

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...

Do We Really Have to Know the Difference Between Sight Words and High-Frequency Words? If you're like us, you've likely used these two terms – high-frequency words and sight words – interchangeably. But to really understand the brain science of word learning (for all...

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...

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...

We have been touched by readers’ responses to our books, including our latest title, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom, which we wrote with Katie Egan Cunningham. Along with your positive feedback, our...

We’re really excited to share this study guide with you today, especially since so many people have been asking about it! As we were preparing to share this new study guide--written to support you as you dig into Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of...

Over the past two years, we’ve been touched and humbled by your overwhelming response to our first Shifting the Balance book, which we wrote to support those of you who work with beginning readers. After it was published, we quickly realized that educators were also...

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...