Phonics instruction has become the most controversial of all areas of reading education over the last ten years. Phonics has become my main stay in small group instruction. Once the only aspect of reading instruction, it has now become one of five important components of reading education (with phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary instruction and fluency building making up the other four areas). Phonics builds a strong literacy foundation.

Timing and Grouping

Phonics instruction provides the most benefit for young readers. The critical period for learning phonics extends from the time that the child begins to read (usually kindergarten) to approximately three years after. In studies, children receiving phonics instruction starting in kindergarten and continuing for two to three years after saw the greatest gains in learning and applying phonics to reading tasks.

Phonic instruction for young readers can be offered in any grouping configuration. There was no notable difference in children receiving instruction one-on-one, in small groups or as a whole class. The most influential components were the age of the students and the instructional format.

Systematic Instruction

The best way to teach phonics is systematically. This means moving children through a planned sequence of skills rather than teaching particular aspects of phonics as they are encountered in texts. Systematic instruction can focus on synthetic phonics (decoding words by translating letters into sounds and then blending them), analytic phonics (identifying whole words then parsing out letter-sound connections), analogy phonics (using familiar parts of words to discover new words), phonics through spelling (using sound-letter connections to write words) and/or phonics in context (combining sound-letter connections with context clues to decode new words). Regardless of the specific method used what is most important in systematic instruction is that there is a deliberate and sequential focus on building and using the relationship between sounds and letter symbols to help readers decode new words.

Modeling Followed by Independent Practice

Because the connection between letters and sounds is not readily apparent to new readers, modeling is an important aspect of phonics instruction. Both teachers and parents should model ways that a reader uses the sound-symbol relationship to decode unfamiliar words by reading and thinking aloud. The best texts for modeling are high interest or informational. These include (but are not limited to) nursery rhymes, songs, non-fiction books and poems with repetitive language.

Once children have been exposed to adult modeling several times, they should be encouraged to practice applying phonics to their own reading. This independent practice helps young readers truly build the connection between symbols and sounds. Adults should guide children in strategically applying phonics to authentic reading and writing experiences to help them develop good decoding skills.

Literature-Based Instruction

For many years phonics was taught in isolation.  Worksheets or textbook that asked them to decode and write lists of words is not the answer. Researchers discovered that young readers could not apply the decoding skills “learned” in isolation to real reading tasks such as reading a story or a book. It is now recommended that phonics be taught through literature. While this may seem contrary to the systematic approach to instruction, it is not. Teachers and parents should select pieces of age and developmentally appropriate literature that highlight the phonics skills focused on at particular points in the sequence of instruction. For example, if children are learning to identify the sound-letter connection in /b/ an appropriate piece of literature to teach and reinforce this skill would be one that uses alliteration (repetition of beginning sounds) of the /b/ sound. Plus it helps with skill transfer.

Individualized Approach

Because students come to kindergarten at a variety of different reading readiness levels, it is important that teachers assess where students are at and individualize their phonics instruction. One student may begin the year already knowing single letter sound-letter connections making her ready to work on blends. Another student may have very little phonemic awareness and exposure to print texts. Therefore teachers must tailor instruction to meet each student’s needs. This ensures they will continue to develop appropriate phonics skills.

Home-School Connections

As with every academic area, parental involvement is one of the keys to success. This is especially true for reading development. The more a parent can read with a child at home, the better chance she has of developing a strong interest in and ability to read. Parents should reinforce phonics as they read at home with their children. Modeling phonics use to decode unfamiliar words and guiding children as they attempt to apply these strategies to their independent reading helps them develop as readers. Teachers can help parents by providing information on phonics and how to use the sound-letter connection to decode words.

What is phonics?

Why is phonics important?

When is phonics usually taught?

Phonics Word Match: 35 phonics activities- Learners match the word to its picture. (Needs Shockwave)

Happy Tuesday!! Today I'm linking up with Stephanie from Forever in 5th grade for this months Show and Tell of my Mild/Moderate Special Education room.  It's hard to believe that I'm beginning my 13th year in special education and the beginning of the year is always just as crazy as the last.




This year I have gone back to student binders. I want them to be way more responsible for everything. I don't want to be the holder of any of it. I'm hoping that this idea will help with building on Growth Mindsets, IEP input, and increase student buy-in on IEP goals. My district is huge on student voice and choice and innovation, my hope is that with the Personalized Learning Plans students will demonstrate all that and more. I'm looking forward to taking this idea out of a spin with them. I have shared this idea with my Speech/Language Pathologist and came up with some great ideas to build in a week of finish projects, progress monitoring, finish student choice assessments, and build in student driven next steps. Finger crossed this works.


 I created student snapshot folders for each of my IEP students for their grade level teachers. I'm hoping this way they leave them for guest teachers. I'm also hoping that it will help when it comes to planning and documenting accommodations. The district IEP system prints out the IEP information, I added Avery labels and documentation samples that I have found over the years to give them ideas or they could use their own. Many said they loved having the information in once place, so time will tell if this really does help them out at the end of the day.



Happy Tuesday!

My top 10 must dos for each back-to-school tips I do to emphasize communication, organization, and a focus on student success.

1. Organize all that paperwork
Special educators handle lots of paperwork and documentation throughout the year. Try to set up two separate folders or binders for each child on your case load: one for keeping track of student work and assessment data and the other for keeping track of all other special education documentation.

2. Start a communication log
Keeping track of all phone calls, e-mails, notes home, meetings, and conferences is important. Create a "communication log" for yourself in a notebook that is easily accessible. Be sure to note the dates, times, and nature of the communications you have.

3. Review your students' IEPs
The IEP is the cornerstone of every child's educational program, so it's important that you have a clear understanding of each IEP you're responsible for. Make sure all IEPs are in compliance (e.g., all signatures are there and dates are aligned). Note any upcoming IEP meetings, reevaluations, or other key dates, and mark your calendar now. Most importantly, get a feel for where your students are and what they need by carefully reviewing the present levels of performance, services, and modifications in the IEP.

4. Establish a daily schedule for you and your students
Whether you're a resource teacher or self-contained teacher, it's important to establish your daily schedule. Be sure to consider the service hours required for each of your students, any related services, and co-teaching. Check your schedule against the IEPs to make sure that all services are met. And keep in mind that this schedule will most likely change during the year!

5. Call your students' families
Take the time to introduce yourself with a brief phone call before school starts. You'll be working with these students and their families for at least the next school year, and a simple "hello" from their future teacher can ease some of the back-to-school jitters!

6. Touch base with related service providers
It's important to contact the related service providers — occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech/language therapists, or counselors — in your school as soon as possible to establish a schedule of times for your students who need these services. The earlier you touch base, the more likely you'll be able to find times that work for everyone.

7. Meet with your general education co-teachers
Communicating with your general education co-teachers will be important throughout the year, so get a head start on establishing this important relationship now! Share all of the information you can about schedules, students, and IEP services so that you're ready to start the year.

8. Keep everyone informed
All additional school staff such as assistants and specialists who will be working with your students need to be aware of their needs and their IEPs before school starts. Organize a way to keep track of who has read through the IEPs, and be sure to update your colleagues if the IEPs change during the school year.

9. Plan your B.O.Y. assessments
As soon as school starts, teachers start conducting their beginning of the year (B.O.Y.) assessments. Assessment data is used to update IEPs — and to shape your instruction — so it's important to keep track of which students need which assessments. Get started by making a checklist of student names, required assessments, and a space for scores. This will help you stay organized and keep track of data once testing begins.

10. Start and stay positive
As a special educator, you'll have lots of responsibilities this year, and it may seem overwhelming at times. If your focus is on the needs of your students and their success, you'll stay motivated and find ways to make everything happen. Being positive, flexible, and organized from the start will help you and your students have a successful year.


Click the apple to visit Reflection & Resources with TarheelState Teacher.  Below is a freebie perfect for putting reading progress monitoring in one place. Have a great beginning of the year.





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Use IEP Goal Pages Teacher Binder

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 Utilize Online Assessment Tools

• Instructional explicitness
• Instructional design that eases the learning challenge
• A strong conceptual basis for procedures that are taught
• An emphasis on drill and practice
• Cumulative review as part of drill and practice
• Motivators to help students regulate their attention and behavior and to work hard

• The Illustrative Mathematics Project connects mathematical tasks to each of the standards. Bill McCallum, a lead writer of the Common Core State Standards, helped create the site to show the range and types of mathematical work the standards are designed to foster in students.
• The Arizona Academic Content Standards contain explanations and examples for each of the standards created by teachers with the help of Bill McCallum a lead writer of the Common Core State Standards.
• Achieve the Core is the website for the organization Student Achievement Partners (SAP) founded by David Coleman and Jason Zimba, two of the lead writers of the Common Core State Standards. The website shares free, open-source resources to support Common Core implementation at the classroom, district, and state level. The steal these tools link includes information on the key instructional shifts for math and guidance for focusing math instruction.

• The Model Content Frameworks from Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) were developed through a state-led process of content experts in PARCC member states and members of the Common Core State Standards writing team. The Model Content Frameworks are designed help curriculum developers and teachers as they work to implement the standards in their states and districts.
• The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) has released a new Practice Guide: Teaching Math to Young Children. From naming shapes to counting, many children show an interest in math before they enter a classroom. Teachers can build on this curiosity with five recommendations from the WWC in this practice guide. The guide is geared toward teachers, administrators, and other educators who want to build a strong foundation for later math learning.

• What Works Clearinghouse released a practice guide, Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools. In addition, Doing What Works has developed professional development resources associated with the practice guide for Response to Intervention in Elementary-Middle Math.
• The Colorado English Language Proficiency Standards provide educators with an invaluable resource for working with not only English Language Learners in mathematics but developing mathematical language in all students. The Can Do descriptors are particularly helpful entry point to the standards.
• Open source Mathematics materials for English Language Learners, released by Understanding Language, were developed using research-based principles for designing mathematics instructional materials and tasks from two publicly accessible curriculum projects, Inside Mathematics and the Mathematics Assessment Project. Each lesson supports students in learning to communicate about a mathematical problem they have solved, to read and understand word problems, or to incorporate mathematical vocabulary in a problem solving activity.

Today, I'm linking up with Ashley from Ashley's Brainy Centers for a Back to School Giveaway.

My top 10 must dos for each back-to-school tips I do to emphasize communication, organization, and a focus on student success.

1. Organize all that paperwork
Special educators handle lots of paperwork and documentation throughout the year. Try to set up two separate folders or binders for each child on your case load: one for keeping track of student work and assessment data and the other for keeping track of all other special education documentation.

2. Start a communication log
Keeping track of all phone calls, e-mails, notes home, meetings, and conferences is important. Create a "communication log" for yourself in a notebook that is easily accessible. Be sure to note the dates, times, and nature of the communications you have.

3. Review your students' IEPs
The IEP is the cornerstone of every child's educational program, so it's important that you have a clear understanding of each IEP you're responsible for. Make sure all IEPs are in compliance (e.g., all signatures are there and dates are aligned). Note any upcoming IEP meetings, reevaluations, or other key dates, and mark your calendar now. Most importantly, get a feel for where your students are and what they need by carefully reviewing the present levels of performance, services, and modifications in the IEP.

4. Establish a daily schedule for you and your students
Whether you're a resource teacher or self-contained teacher, it's important to establish your daily schedule. Be sure to consider the service hours required for each of your students, any related services, and co-teaching. Check your schedule against the IEPs to make sure that all services are met. And keep in mind that this schedule will most likely change during the year!

5. Call your students' families
Take the time to introduce yourself with a brief phone call before school starts. You'll be working with these students and their families for at least the next school year, and a simple "hello" from their future teacher can ease some of the back-to-school jitters!

6. Touch base with related service providers
It's important to contact the related service providers — occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech/language therapists, or counselors — in your school as soon as possible to establish a schedule of times for your students who need these services. The earlier you touch base, the more likely you'll be able to find times that work for everyone.

7. Meet with your general education co-teachers
Communicating with your general education co-teachers will be important throughout the year, so get a head start on establishing this important relationship now! Share all of the information you can about schedules, students, and IEP services so that you're ready to start the year.

8. Keep everyone informed
All additional school staff such as assistants and specialists who will be working with your students need to be aware of their needs and their IEPs before school starts. Organize a way to keep track of who has read through the IEPs, and be sure to update your colleagues if the IEPs change during the school year.

9. Plan your B.O.Y. assessments
As soon as school starts, teachers start conducting their beginning of the year (B.O.Y.) assessments. Assessment data is used to update IEPs — and to shape your instruction — so it's important to keep track of which students need which assessments. Get started by making a checklist of student names, required assessments, and a space for scores. This will help you stay organized and keep track of data once testing begins.

10. Start and stay positive
As a special educator, you'll have lots of responsibilities this year, and it may seem overwhelming at times. If your focus is on the needs of your students and their success, you'll stay motivated and find ways to make everything happen. Being positive, flexible, and organized from the start will help you and your students have a successful year.

Ashley from Ashley's Brainy Centers  Back to School Giveaway is live for 24 hours--be sure to get in on the fun and get a $5.00 Teacher pay Teacher Store credit from me and others.

Until next time--

Good Morning, today I'm linking up with Stephanie at "Forever in 5th Grade," to bring you a glimpse into my end of summer planning for my Special Education Resource Room. This year I'll be working with 2nd and 3rd grades. Many of these guys were with me last year. Most of my thinking has been around how I want to strength or change systems I had in place last year like communicating with parents and making it authentic for students.
This summer I had the privilege to be my nephew's nanny. We have spent the summer between the library and playing with water in the backyard. The animals are from the Vancouver aquarium. (I visited Vancouver in early June.)

I miss not sending home monthly newsletters to parents.  The twist I want to add is the students writing something each month that I can add to it as well. This idea will help with two things--increase parent communication and two help students to write to an authentic audience.  I'm looking forward to see what they do. They will also be contributing authors on the classroom website. I'm hoping since we use Google Sites this idea will not be all drama and something everyone will see of high value.





One thing that I added to my Data binders was a way for my students' for reflect on and take control of their learning and a perfect way to use it as a Formative Assessment. Last year to used Robert Marzano's Checking for Understanding. This is one of three versions I have in my Teachers pay Teacher store. Even though I'm keeping the same students just a grade older than last year--this version was perfect for them as first and second graders. This is perfect for students to self assess and reflect on their learning, you can target specific skills they say they are missing or confused or speed up you instruction because they've got it. You can buy it from my store-click on the picture.

Preschooler, experiencing the world through play as they explore and learn with great enthusiasm. Giving preschoolers a solid foundation in early math literacy is critical to their future academic success, not to mention how important it is to their day-to-day functioning.

How preschoolers learn the many aspects of math

Most preschoolers, even without guidance from adults, are naturally interested in math as it exists in the world around them. They learn math best by engaging in dynamic, hands-on games and projects. Preschoolers love to ask questions and play games that involve the many aspects of math. The table below lists the key aspects of preschool math, along with simple games and activities you can use to help your child learn them.

Math Games and Activities

• Count food items at snack time (e.g., 5 crackers, 20 raisins, 10 baby carrots)
• Use a calendar to count down the days to a birthday or special holiday. Help your child see the connection between a numeral like "5," the word "five," and five days on the calendar.
• Practice simple addition and subtraction using small toys and blocks.
• Play simple board games where your child moves a game piece from one position to the next.
• Have your child name the shapes of cookie cutters or blocks.
• Arrange cookie cutters in patterns on a cookie sheet or placemat. A simple pattern might be: star-circle-star-circle.
• Let your child help you measure ingredients for a simple recipe - preferably a favorite!
• Measure your child's height every month or so, showing how you use a yardstick or tape measure. Mark his or her height on a "growth chart" or a mark on a door frame. Do the same with any siblings. Help your child compare his or her own height to previous months and also to their siblings' heights.
• Talk through games and daily activities that involve math concepts.
• Have your child name numbers and shapes.
• Help them understand and express comparisons like more than/less than, bigger/smaller, and near/far.
• Play games where you direct your child to jump forward and back, to run far from you or stay nearby.
• Use songs with corresponding movements to teach concepts like in and out, up and down, and round and round.

Website Ideas

The Early Math Learning website (www. earlymathlearning.com) includes free downloads of PDF files of this Early Learning Math at Home booklet as well as individual chapters. Additonal articles and resources for families will be added regularly.

The California Mathematics Council maintains a For Families section at its website (www.cmc-math.org/family/main.html). Here you will find articles on mathematics education issues of interest to parents, hands-on activities to do at home, and information on how to host your own Family Math event at your preschool or education center.

The Math Forum (www.mathforum.org) is a web portal to everything “mathematics.” Here you can ask Dr. Math questions and get answers! You will also find weekly and monthly math challenges, Internet math hunts, and math resources organized by grade level.

Head Start–Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc) is linked to the federal Head Start Program. Here you will find information about government programs for early learning, including resources that are available to families.

Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org) is a project of the Verizon Foundation. This website has more than 55,000 resources—including many that focus on math—that have been screened by educators to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased, and appropriate for students. The resources on this website are grouped by grade level and subject area.

PBS Parents, the early education website of the Public Broadcasting Service (www.pbs.org/parents/education/math/activities), offers numerous resources, including the stages of mathematics learning listed for babies through second grade children. It is also a rich source of math activities to do at home

Math at Play (www.mathatplay.org) offers multimedia resources for anyone who works with children from birth to age five. Here you can explore early mathematical development and the important ways that caregivers nurture children’s understanding of math concepts through social-emotional relationships, language, everyday play experiences, materials, and teaching.

Let’s Read Math (www.letsreadmath.com/math-and-childrens-literature/ preschool/) wants to make parents and families aware of the growing body of children’s literature with themes related to mathematics. Here you will find a long annotated list of live links to preschool children’s books with math themes, listed by title, author, and mathematics topic.

• Realize that sentences are made up of words.
• Realize that words can rhyme. Make your own rhymes.
• Realize that words can be broken down into syllables. Start breaking down words into syllables.
• Realize that words can begin with the same sound. Practice these first sounds.
• Realize that words can end with the same sound. Practice these ending sounds.
• Realize that words can have the same medial sounds. Practice these medial sounds.
• Realize that words can be broken down into individual sounds. Practice these sounds.
• Realize that sounds can be deleted from words to make new words. Practice these.
• Start blending sounds to make words.
• Start segmenting words into component sounds.

• They list the following behaviors that indicate children's growing mastery of phonics.
• Know consonant sounds
• Know that a, e, i, o, and u are vowels.
• Know sounds of digraphs. Example: /sh/ in shell.
• Know sounds of consonant blends. Example: /bl/ in block and /str/ in string.
• Know short vowel word families. Example: at, an, op, on, it, in.
• Break words into syllables.
• Find familiar words within unknown words. Example: mat in matter.
• Substitute or add letters to make new words. Example: When asked to take away the letter t in the word tan, can the child say the word is an? Can the child put the letter t on an to make the word ant?

Things to do at Home

The good news about building vocabulary and oral language skills in for young children over the summer is it's really fun and easy! Two of the best things you can do are to allow time for free play and to spend time talking and reading with your child.

Play-based Learning

Children build vocabulary and oral language skills doing many of the things they love to do: drawing, playing with dolls and stuffed animals, playing with cars, building with blocks, dressing up, and playing pretend in a kitchen or home center. The language and conversation kids use during these play times provide a strong literacy base for a child entering kindergarten. The type of dialog that children use while playing in a home center will be very different from the language they use while building with blocks, so having a variety of activities for your child to choose from will encourage a broad range of vocabulary words incorporated into their daily play. As you are playing with your child, or observing their play, use language and vocabulary that will help them grow. Identify and explain the uses for different objects in the kitchen and use interesting language when playing with stuffed animals and dolls. Young children are like sponges, ready to soak up the language around them!

Conversations Count

Spending time engaged in conversation during your shared experiences will also help build vocabulary and oral language. Taking walks, going for bike rides, heading to the park, flying a kite, cooking together, visiting a farm or petting zoo, and even raising pets at home can all be terrific experiences for kids and give you lots to talk about. Be sure to talk to your child throughout these day-to-day experiences, using language that helps them grow in their vocabulary development. Too often parents, teachers, and caregivers will use simple words with kids. While it’s important to explain things to your child, using words within their developmental level, it’s also important to remember that kids can handle a lot more than we give them credit for. When you’re cooking with your child, ask them to get the measuring cup instead of calling it a scooper. They may have never heard that term before, but suddenly it becomes part of their vocabulary.

Thematic Explorations

Exploring passion topics such as gardening, studying rocks, planets, trees or animals can be incredibly engaging for young children. By simply finding something they are interested in, and setting up some learning experiences, children may be naturally drawn to explore and learn more. Do the birds come back to your yard when the weather warms up? Set up a basket with binoculars, books about birds, and pictures of birds that live in your area. If your child is truly interested in this topic, the questions will start flowing and it becomes another great opportunity for vocabulary development.

Poetry & Rhyme

Poetry, nursery rhymes and songs are fun and engaging for young children, but they also contribute to the foundational skills young children need in their oral language development. They will begin to hear rhyming words and be able to predict the words that are coming next in a song. When singing songs, children will learn how to articulate words and will practice pronouncing words over and over while having fun. Nursery Rhymes also provide a great opportunity for conversation with your child. Talk about how Jack and Jill might have been feeling and ask what they think happened after Jack and Jill tumbled down the hill. Spending time acting out different songs and rhymes will also help children internalize the meanings of different words they are hearing. While a child may be new to the word tumbled, they will certainly remember the meaning after playing around and tumbling across some pillows (an imaginary hill) in their living room.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

You have your first teaching job, what did you think about? If you’re like most people, you thought about making a difference in children’s lives, about helping them learn, making them think, “touching the future.” You didn’t think about IEPs, disinterested parents, students with behavior problems, or the isolation of being alone in a classroom with thirty students.

You weren’t wrong before you started teaching. Hang onto that idealism. But you may be finding out now that making it a reality is harder than you thought. Hopefully, these ideas will out you out.  The first thing I always do before jumping in head first or tackling a difficult situation I always remember to breathe. A deep yoga breath.

Unfortunately, many of us in the education profession are guilty of exacerbating the difficulties faced by new teachers. Handbooks and websites for beginning teachers often try to reassure you that teaching is simple or straightforward, offering quick solutions for simple problems — if you have this kind of “troublemaker,” deal with him this way; try this handy checklist to “get organized.”

So now what?

Ask your team mate. They will help you find the resources, support, ideas, and advice you need to make your classroom the rewarding, positive learning environment you want it to be.

Keep this in mind

Teaching is hard.

Like anything worth doing, good teaching takes work and experience. You can’t expect to walk into a classroom for the first time and immediately connect with every student, make everything clear to everyone and teach every child everything he or she needs to know. What you can do, though, is learn from the experience of successful teachers. Ask questions. Visit others. Ask for help!

You can’t go it alone. (And you don’t have to.)

Are you feeling isolated? Lonely? Many teachers believe that they can — or should — go it alone in the classroom. But you can’t, and you don’t have to. Our resources will help you take advantage of mentoring, learn to communicate more effectively with parents, colleagues, and administrators, and build the support network you need to grow as a teacher (and survive as a human being).

Every classroom is different.

Just as every student is unique, every teacher is unique, too — and every class and classroom is unique. There are no “one size fits all” solutions in teaching, and we don’t try to provide them. Instead, these articles give you the perspectives of real teachers who have faced problems like yours and overcome them. You’ll see how different teachers have used their own talents and teaching styles to be successful in a variety of environments.

Classroom management means solving problems before they occur.

Running your classroom is about more than just discipline. Experienced teachers know that effective classroom management begins before you ever meet your students and carries through every aspect of teaching. It’s about preventing problems, not just cleaning them up after they occur. Instead of looking at student behavior in isolation, our resources for new teachers consider it in the context of classroom design, curriculum, and instructional strategies. It's never perfect and always changes depending on your students. Get to know your students.

Remember to breathe and ask questions. The Colorado Tribe is giving away five meet up bags and five subscriptions to planbook.com. There will be five winners! The photo shows you what's in the meet up bags! Wow!!

Have a great week!










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