One of the many perks of having a child attend college at a Big 10 university is attending sporting events.  My son, AJ, is a sophomore at Michigan State University and we’ve been fortunate to be able to attend several MSU basketball games this season.  While watching basketball, I’ve been particularly drawn to one player, Adreian Payne.  Adreian is a junior, an amazing talent and will likely be drafted into the NBA.  If you’ve ever coached or are really into team sports you know that there are players who can change the course of the game by their mere presence on the field or court.  Although talented, these players are often not the most talented player, but they possess a

Isabel Beck’s book Bringing Words to Life has been sitting on my “should read” pile for quite some time.  Well, honestly, quite some time is an understatement.  I’ve heard so many raves and reviews from co-workers, I certainly should have read this book long ago.  The title of chapter 1 is “Rationale for Robust Vocabulary Instruction.”  How cool is that word?- robust– love it!  Reading this chapter started me thinking… how exactly strong, or robust, is vocabulary instruction in our schools.  It seems as if so much of our efforts have focused on phonics and fluency, that vocabulary and comprehension have taken a back seat. In chapter 1, Isabel Beck argues three “conventional wisdoms” about vocabulary development and instruction. Conventional wisdom

Response to Intervention is the practice of providing high quality instruction and intervention matched to student need and using learning rate over time and level of performance to make important educational decisions. Schools who implement a RtI model use a tiered system of instruction and intervention.  The 3-Tier Model introduced by the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts in 2005 has been primarily the model that we have used to help us guide our RtI practices.   In a tiered system, students are provided with research-based core instruction and intervention.  Depending upon their response to that instruction, they progressively move though the tiers.   In a tiered system, research would indicate that 80% of the students in the classroom should

It’s always so much fun to add a holiday twist into center and small group activities.  The Pot O’ Gold activities have been a hit during the first few weeks of March.  When you download this activity you will receive 25 letters of the alphabet (omitting “x”) printed on golden pots and over 100 colorful beginning sound pictures printed on coins.  This activity is easily differentiated as you can choose which and how many coins to use.  The Pot O’ Gold Activities for Beginning Sounds can be found in my online Teachers Pay Teachers store. This activity is also available for Word Families, Short Vowels, Consonant Digraphs, and R-Controlled Vowels.

Click HERE to download 7 FREE sight word game boards. The St. Patrick’s Day sight word game boards and the Lucky You! games were one of the very first activities I made for digital download last year.  I thought I’d pull them out of the vault to share during the early weeks of March.  When you download the game boards, you’ll receive 7 free game boards containing words from the Dolch sight word lists 1-6.  I’ve included a blank game board so that you can even add your own words.  You can even use the blank board for reviewing math skills if you choose. The Lucky You! games are one of my favorites.  It’s a variation of Fiddle Sticks (my all-time