The school year is finally winding down—and what a year it has been! Teachers, parents, and students will all be happy to take a break from distance learning. Unfortunately, the summer slide will not be taking a break. In fact, the impact of the COVID slide, as some are calling it, may be substantially worse, […]
Give your students a break from their screens with an activity that connects all the language arts! Puppetry involves reading, writing, speaking, listening, and the creative arts as well! Much loved puppets, such as Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch, and Mr. Rogers’ Daniel Tiger, have kept both children and adults entertained for decades. Benefits […]
Opening day has come and gone, and your favorite Major League Baseball team (and mine) is still undefeated! We all hope the suspension of sports is a temporary situation and that we will soon hear those two familiar words, “Play ball!” Until then, here are some activities to create new fans among your children and […]
Looking for more learning opportunities to use at home? At Summer Solutions, we specialize in keeping students academically engaged outside of school, so here is another lesson idea with a free download you can use right away. Trying to participate in a global educational and celebratory experience feels like an insurmountable challenge right now. Most of […]
While the best way to teach reading is still debated, years of research support explicit, systematic phonics instruction as the foundation for reading success. In 2000, the National Reading Panel¹ recommended teaching phonics patterns by following a defined scope and sequence. “Learning to read is not natural or easy for most children. Reading is an […]
Writing Task Activity Story mapping is the ability to identify the components of a story—setting and characters, as well as the sequence of the story (beginning, middle, and end). Story mapping is an important skill that contributes to a student’s ability to comprehend what he/she has read. This skill is particularly important when reading narrative […]
A recent post introduced our new Reading Comprehension books for grades 7 and 8. Continuing the thread of reading’s preeminence for learning got us thinking about reading, literacy, and education around the country and around the world. Recently published books, such as World Literacy: How Countries Rank and Why It Matters, by Miller and McKenna […]
Reading is the fundamental building block of all learning. Statistics show that the reading habits and achievement levels of students at all levels is in decline.[1] The US ranks 7th in reading literacy among 60 nations in the world.[2] Although this number has improved, more needs to be done. The key to increasing proficient readers […]
What are your goals for teaching reading to 6th, 7th, or 8th graders, and how do you find the time to achieve these goals? One way to shore up reading skills is to make efficient use of independent study time – that includes homework, bell work, study period, or anytime students work on their own. […]
Get Students to Publish Their Writing I had the opportunity to attend OETC (Ohio Educational Technology Conference) in Columbus, Ohio, with my writing team from Simple Solutions. It was exciting to be around teachers who are passionate about their students and what they do every day. For every teacher I met, I know there are […]
