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Parents
New report explains the confusing numbers and letters teachers use to explain your child’s reading level.
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What is Literacy?
We all have a fundamental understanding of what literacy means. Webster’s defines literacy or literate to mean 1) Educated, cultured 2) able to read and write 3) versed in literature 4) having knowledge or competence…..
A Couple of Keys to Master Literacy
I’ve never been a massive fan of working out, but I do know that with any training program, consistency is key. Think about it: if you start a workout routine at the gym for a couple of weeks but then take a few months off before starting up again, out of sheer guilt, you’ll never see the results you were hoping for. Persistence and consistency will always prevail!
Early Literacy Intervention
Imagine you are leaving the house for work one morning. You put the key in the ignition, turn your car on, and immediately hear a faint clunking sound coming from under the hood. You know it wasn’t there the day before, but you chalk it up to the early morning chill in the air and go about your day.
What Has The Pandemic Done to Literacy Skills in 1 Year
Amplify(an educational testing and curriculum provider) just released a study involving 1.2 million elementary students across the United States on the student’s early literacy skills and the effects of the pandemic shutdowns. The results show the troubling effects our young children are experiencing and what this could mean to these children now and in the future. The learning losses are staggering…
Reading Practice Growth Factors
In this blog, I talk about reading growth factors that attribute to students reading scores and grades. Quality and diversity of reading materials, and effort. While these studies’ results are not surprising, they are so basic and vital to reading performance, that sometimes we tend to overlook them!.
Reading Practice – Zone of Proximal Development
Kids need more reading practice, I don’t think anyone would argue that fact. But, reading practice doesn’t just help struggling readers get on track for success; it helps all students! We would like to think that just sending our kids to school each day would be all that is needed to help them grow and excel in their reading…
Covid, Our Schools, and Teaching Reading
While hard data regarding the effects of the nationwide shutdown of schools is sparse. There is plenty of anecdotal data that shows the Wuhan Virus shutdown has been devastating to many students and particularly to early elementary students learning basic reading and math. Thousands of our students aren’t learning to read, and the patchwork of instructional programs, limited resources and frequent change from hybrid to virtual schooling surely is contributing to the problem.
Reading Engagement
This week, I continue my thoughts and research on the “mantra” of getting your kids to read more, not just for school but for the pure enjoyment and benefits they will accrue. At The Reading Ranch our motto is “We make reading FUN“, we want our students to have fun and learn to love reading.
Reading Time – 15 minutes!
In my last post, I wrote about how the 5th-6th grade are key times when students start to read text that is well below their reading levels, and these times can be critical to the academic future of a student in the 5th-6th grade.
Sixth Grade Struggling Readers
As noted previously early elementary reading performance has a key role in high school graduation rates. Middle school reading performance is even more critical to graduation rates. A study by Balfanz and Herzog (2007) of almost 13,000 students found that only 12% of students who failed an English course in sixth grade graduated from high school, and the other 6% graduated late. 82% did not graduate!…