Just a Primary Girl

My window view this year. 😍I move my furniture around each year. I typically don’t pick this spot for my teacher area because you can see it straight on from the door & I’m forever hiding in my room. 🫠 the window makes me incredibly happy. Our courtyard is so pretty in the fall. In the spring, Daisy duck lays her eggs. We watch the tree go through the seasons as well. Do you have a spot in your room that you love?

This is the little jingle I teach my students with our drill deck. Ed spells /id/ after d or t. Ed spells /d/ after a voiced sound. Ed spells /t/ after an unvoiced sound. Listen to🔈 it on the reel posted right before this one. We do the drill deck Every. Single. Day. I taught my students this chat November 30th this year. Once I explicitly taught each of the three sounds, we added each jingle in. By the end of the year, not only did they know the three sounds but could apply them to writing and flex the sounds in reading.

Do you use jingles with your students?

explicitphonicsinstruction

Did you know this? For the longest time, I taught kids that give, live, love, and have were words they had to memorize. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Teaching these generalizations are so much easier than memorizing hundreds of words and their spellings.

What’s a generalization that you’ve recently learned?

explicitphonicsinstruction

School is out! Thank goodness. I’m so excited for a well deserved break.
This year has been my most quiet here on social media. I dedicated myself to learning as much as I could. In the last 365 days, I completed two levels of Orton Gillingham training, Vol 1 of LETRS and trained to be a National Letrs facilitator. I’ll finish Vol 2 of LETRS by July.

Doing all of this while mentoring two new staff members took me out from social media and creating. I had a very emotionally taxing group this year that I love with my whole heart.

I’m looking forward to sharing all the things with you this summer.

I hope you had a great year. What would you like to chat about this summer?
explicitphonicsinstruction

When I learned this rule a few years ago, I was like 🤯. As a child, I spent so many nights memorizing spelling words and making up tunes to remember spelling patterns. This would have been so helpful.

Apparently, I’m not the only one. 😮‍💨When I chat with people, a majority of them don’t know. It seems simple enough. Yet, I never learned about it anywhere.

👀 I start with my students looking at pictures and sorting based on the vowel. This allows them to apply this tip with more than just the words they can spell.

💻We love looking up words on etomology to see what the origin of the word is.

Find this pack at http://bit.ly/japgck .

How many days do you have left?

If you’d like the link LMK.

I’ve been doing one thing I loved or one sweet thing rather than using the word miss and each year, this craft/keepsake is a hit. Teachers notice the countdown on our door and so do the kids.

What do you do to celebrate all that your students have learned? I have 34 days left. I always do this countdown.

*if your students fear the end of the year-you can use the blank template and create something you learned this year. You know what’s best for your children.

If your students would enjoy this craft, find it for each grade level at http://bit.ly/endofyearcountdown

Do you teach your students the word phoneme? I used to think I needed to make terms easier. My kids LOVE being able to use the correct verbiage.

I work in the term phoneme anyplace I can. When our Heggerty lists what we’re manipulating, the teacher manual tells you, I tell the kids so they’re always hearing the term. If we are always using and hearing it, it will stick, eventually.

We have a song we sing to remind of about the difference between phoneme and grapheme🥰

Have you always known this term? I surely did not.

This is 43…🎂🎉🥳🎈🎊

Here’s a list no one asked for.

In my 43 years, the MOST beneficial thing I’ve learned is to stop apologizing.

This may sound harsh or snotty but hear me out.

I say no to sacrificing time that is my non contractual time. Unless I directly see a benefit or financial gain- no thank you.

I no longer start an uncomfortable conversation with, “I’m so sorry, but”… nope. If it’s how I feel, I’m not sorry. I’m done putting others feelings in front of my own.

I say no to extras. I don’t get paid enough to work for free at home. I no longer work at home. Home is home and work is work. If it doesn’t get done at work, it can wait a day. This may also seem snotty-🤷🏼‍♀️

I say no to work when I need a mental health day. I’ve been an inclusion classroom for 10+ years. I can’t constantly worry about the mental health of children while neglecting my own. I will be replaced in a day if something happens to me. I will take my sick days.

I no longer apologize for doing what’s right (and research based) for kids. Change doesn’t happen when you’re quiet. Squeaky wheels get grease.

I don’t apologize for fighting for my students or my own child. If you feel uncomfortable with my fight-maybe that’s a YOU problem.

I am unapologetically me. Im not everyone’s cup of tea. That’s ok. I like wine anyway.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I so badly wanted to read two more books to hit 16 this month but there were 2 less days in the month!!!

Did you read any of my books?

My entire store is 20% off today! This is my most used resource in my room currently.

:)

https://bit.ly/japgsoundwallb

These visits make the time in between bearable. So fortunate to have time with best friends that make you laugh until your stomach hurts and make you sad when your time is up. ❤️

Were any of these a surprise to you?

I’ll say no words end in i, u, and v shook me when I learned. I always said, English is just weird, memorize it. 🤦🏼‍♀️ -le also made me scratch my head.

I also thought, having kids memorize these rules would be too hard or stupid.

Y’all, my kids haven’t memorized a single word yet. I restructured our mandated list into phonetic patterns and magically they are reading all the phonetic patterns that they’ve been explicitly taught.

If this was helpful, let me know!

Are you allowed to copy on construction paper???? WE ARE NOT. 😒 where’s my ditto machine?!?!🤣😂 total bummer. I GET why, but it still makes me sad that all the cute templates that I make can’t be printed.

This is available (with the printable feathers that have writing lines printed on them) along with two cutie writing templates. http://bit.ly/japgturkey1 LMK if you need the link.

Are you allowed to copy on construction paper???? WE ARE NOT. 😒 where’s my ditto machine?!?!🤣😂 total bummer. I GET why, but it still makes me sad that all the cute templates that I make can’t be printed.

This is available (with the printable feathers that have writing lines printed on them) along with two cutie writing templates. Lmk if you need a link. http://bit.ly/japgturkey1

Do you celebrate Veteran’s Day at school? We didn’t the last few years because of covid, but this year we get to!!

These are precious for Veteran’s Day assembly. We have a huge assembly with speakers and students wear these and hand out the thank you drawings! It’s so special.

Dm for the link or put http://bit.ly/japgveteran in your browser.

Would you rather be off October 31st or November 1st?
Do you dress up for Halloween?
Book character parade?
Do you love it or hate it?
I like it more than field day.🤣
Tag a buddy you’ll suffer with on November 1st. 🥴
Very thankful we have two teacher workdays, today and tomorrow for conferences.

Confession🙈:

I’ve taught my students to use the picture. 🤦🏼‍♀️I’ve told them to skip the word. 😱I’ve told them to makes a guess.😬 Have you done this? Are you currently?

I understand doing this may be a part of your curriculum but research shows how harmful this is.

It’s ok if you’ve told students look at the picture to figure out a word in the past. I’ve done it too. 🫣But, let’s stop that in the future.

Skilled readers need to be able to read to learn. Most of those books will contain multi syllable words and the pictures (if there are any) will not be helpful. This leaves our students frustrated and stranded without any strategies to help them decode the words on the page. If they can’t read it, they can’t comprehend it.

So let’s teach our students HOW to work through a difficult word.

Look at the picture is great during read aloud to promote vocabulary and comprehension. If you’re teaching decoding- keep those eyes on the word. Cover the picture if you can.❤️

Once multisyllabic words are introduced, affixes are added and Greek and Latin root words are introduced, students won’t have strategies in their toolbox to decode these words.

This is an update to a pack that directed children away from the words. It has been updated for free. Redownload it. If you’d like this editable version, let me know and I’ll dm you.

It is a free update if you own it. If you don’t, you can find it here or lmk if you need the 🔗.

If you currently have strategies like these, PLEASE think twice about using them. Know better, do better.

http://bit.ly/japgstrategy .

What do you see?

What do you notice?

What can you teach or review with your students?

I love these so much.

Save for later, tag a buddy.

Anyone in full bts prep mode? I do a little each day so I’m not overwhelmed. Do you use a checklist?

What’s on your checklist to prep?

Is this helpful? Like, share, save and comment. ❤️See my previous c or k spelling tip.

I swear to you, each rule I learned, I was brought back to elementary school and the struggles I faced as a speller.

I was in the Robin group. It was the low group for reading. Not low enough for intervention, 😔but low enough that the other kids knew we were low.

It wasn’t until 4th grade when I had a teacher finally attempt to teach me in another way that I learned to read ❤️well.

I think 💭 about if I had had been taught these things, if school would have been different for me.

Do you love Spot It Friday as much as I do??

Do you see how easily this could be used in upper grades?

What do you notice? What similarities or differences? What stands out? This one had me thinking hard. I am sure our students (well, not my first graders, but your upper elementary students) could go into groups and work together to come up with their answers.

I’ll share in stories what the answer is later today.

Do your students have multiple logins?

Velcro is my jam! Added Velcro to the back of these log in sheets and students attached them to the lid of their 1:1 chromebook. (Yes, we are SO blessed that they have 1:1 devices)

You could also have students place inside desks or folders. I printed an extra half size set and kept with me in case a student lost theirs. Not a single kid lost their login sheet. These shrink down to 4 or 6 to a page easily, too.

You can also put them in a sheet protector on a command hook on the side of their desk.

This editable template is so versatile. Dm me if you need the link.

Put https://bit.ly/japglogins into your browser or click the link in my profile, shop my ig and this picture.

Do you like these?

How could you use these with your students?

This is maybe becoming a favorite thing to share with y’all. What do you see? Join me in stories this afternoon to hear the answer.

Did you know? I had ZERO clue what a stop sound or continuous sound was prior to 2020. I had no idea what voiced and unvoiced was. 🙈I also had no clue that there were pairs that were voiced and unvoiced.

Knowing this information is SO helpful for teachers to help pinpoint spelling errors. If a child writes pig for the word big, they have used the wrong sound, but it feels the same way in the mouth when produced.

I’ll be teaching my students with mirrors to help them see how the sound is formed and I’ll also teach them how to tell if a sound is voiced or unvoiced.

I hope you found this helpful. ❤️Remember, I’m learning along side you.

…🫣 what’s the silliest thing a child has interrupted a lesson to give you or tell you? 😆The found, random staple sends me.

We will spend SO much time with this lesson. Like weeks, months I’m sure.

students will need CLEAR and visual expectations. This gives YOU the ability to decide what YOU allow students to interrupt you with. (This isn’t my chart. Keep in mind every teacher a grade level has different expectations.)

There is an interactive scenario activity where students are taught HOW to solve a problem that may come up. Perfect bts activity.

I read Interrupting Chicken as my read aloud before. But also have a blog post with loads of great books to complement this lesson.

Dm me for the link to this resource. This photo is from 📸
This lesson is at: http://bit.ly/japginterrupt

Anyone else not know this? 🧐I learned this one after Wilson training. My students love to shout “/k/ - long spelling right after short vowel”.

I used to think that there were way too many rules for kids to memorize. That there was no way they’d apply them. You know what? They CAN remember them and they DO apply them.

When you explicitly teach, and review daily, they can remember and apply. If they can remember the names of bey blades, they can do this!

Was this helpful?

Can you spot the difference? Comment below with what it is and why. I’ll share in stories the answer.

Are these helpful? 📢Let me know below.

Did you realize this?! Was I the only one that was like wait-that can’t possibly be right. 🧐Then proceed to try to disprove by finding a word where y is a constant somewhere else😏????

This little tidbit was huge in my room. Seeing kids stop trying /y/ and trying ē or ī - 🤯 just shook me. I’ve tried to remember if I was taught this but I don’t remember. Prior to being trained, I didn’t explicitly teach this.

Know better, do better my friends.

Remember- I’m learning with you all. I still fully make mistakes. I’m learning in real time.

Could you image what would happen if every classroom used an explicit, systematic, direct, and multi-sensory approach to learning to read and write in k-2? (Or all grades) I always wonder if we HAD done this instead of “off you go to read alone for 45 min” (looking at you, Lucy🤢🤮)- how many children could we have prevented from “failing”? Failing so badly that it SEEMS they have a disability.

Don’t get me wrong, some kids do have disabilities in reading. However, what if those kids that ONLY have a specific disability in reading, didn’t actually have a disability? What if the problem was that those students didn’t get appropriate instruction? If they HAD explicitly been taught in k, 1 and 2, would they have failed or flourished?

What about the kids who have received tutoring their entire academic careers and are still behind? They are low, but not low enough to get help?

If we provided explicit and systematic lessons based in the science of how children learn to read- would we have a national crisis on our hands?

We need to be preventative instead of reactive. All of our children deserve to learn to read.

I will NEVER understand why we wait for kids to fail before they get what they need.

Did you have a trapper keeper???

I freaked out in the middle of target today. This is nostalgia in the best way.

What’s your fav childhood stationary. I know y’all all live stationary. Let’s be real.

Mine is colorful pen markers. Flair bold or zebra brand retractable.

Do you feel like you were trained enough in college for teaching children how to read? Did you district provide appropriate training and curriculum?

I certainly was NOT. Quick story- my coteacher is OG trained. Since 2019, ❤️I’ve been sponging in everything she knew. I was still left with holes- but wanting to understand. My district is VERY much a Lucy Caulkins school 🤢.

I listened to podcasts, wasted time googling, and watched FAR too many people share misinformation about the Science of Reading.

📣(Be careful who you decide are the experts on social media and tpt. Check their credentials- otherwise, it’s no better than what you didn’t get in college or what you were taught that was wrong).

started her journey- on her own, the right way.

These were the books that she shared. I started reading in all my free 🙄time.

I’ve learned SO much from Reading- but training BY TRAINED individuals was IT for me!

I now PROUDLY have my OGCE & AOGPE) through the Orton Gillingham Academy, in my Practicum for Certification & almost finished with LETRS Volume 1.

You can write donors choose proposals for training. You can reach out to Reed Charitable Foundation. Really good reading is free. Top Ten Schools also offers training.

What training do you have in the Science? Drop your favorite Reading P.D. book below. Share below who you KNOW is trained in the science. I’ll tag mine in my image-and they’re IN THE THICK WITH US!👏🏻

These (and way more) are all linked-in order of how I read them in my profile under SOR book list. If you want me to message you the link let me know.

explicitphonicsinstruction

Confession🙈:

I’ve taught my students to use the picture. 🤦🏼‍♀️I’ve told them to skip the word. 😱I’ve told them to makes a guess.😬 Have you done this? Are you currently?

I understand doing this may be a part of your curriculum but research shows how harmful this is.

Once pictures disappear and children are reading to learn- children that rely on them will quickly show signs of struggle.

Once multisyllabic words are introduced, affixes are added and Greek and Latin root words are introduced, students won’t have strategies in their toolbox to decode these words.

I’ve updated my reading strategy bookmarks to reflect the science of reading.

It is a free update if you own it. If you don’t, you can find it here or lmk if you need the 🔗.

If you currently have strategies like these, PLEASE think twice about using them. Know better, do better.

http://bit.ly/japgstrategy .

Another edition of “What level Wednesday”!

What level do you think this story is? When do you think it should be taught? What skills do you see? What problems do you see that could arise with your students?

The bottom 40% of readers cannot read texts at beginning levels because they have not been taught the foundational skills. The texts do not control for phonics patterns and do not follow a scope and sequence of decoding skill instruction. (Cunningham er Al., 2005)

Words and phonics patterns are introduced at too fast a rate for beginning readers. This forces students to memorize, use pictures and guess.

What are your thoughts?