Tess the Krafty Teacher

This.

Peace Out ✌🏼 Middle School
starting a new reading intervention program in the middle school was like flying a plane while building it. And while I knew in October when I accepted the position to go back to Elementary where I belong that it wasn’t for me. Nor was getting up at 5:30am woof! I made some good friends who are stuck with me even if we aren’t in the same building next year. Closes laptop 💻 until August. Be sure you’re following along for all the adventures of opening a new school!

So excited to be an owl 🦉 tonight was the ribbon cutting and open house of my new school 🏫 I get to do the job I love in a brand new school!

Today kicks off Teacher Appreciation Week 👩🏼‍🏫 and while there’s nothing that can possibly say thank you 🙏🏼 enough to teachers in my opinion I want to at least try. I get it I’ve been a teacher for over 20 years shhh 🤫 I started when I was 14 😉 and if you are not a teacher you simply don’t understand. I have so many giveaways and fun things planned but here’s the sitch you HAVE to be an email subscriber! Sorry those are the besties. But there’s still time to get in on all the fun. Just go to my profile or stories and click the link to join you won’t regret it!

It’s that time of year when teachers are announcing changes and while I’ve known since OCTOBER I thought I’d make it IG official. Ya girl is going back to elementary. Thank you Jesus (answered prayer for sure). I will be in the same district same role (reading specialist) but I get to open a brand new elementary! Im so excited! So be sure to be following for all of the fun! Let me know if you know what you’re doing next year!

Attended the Reading League of Missouri and Kansas conference my reading teacher cup was filled up! I needed it so much! Bring the only interventionist in a building is isolating. Getting PD on the Science of Reading is so affirming and being able to talk to others that feel the way you do is what professional development should be!!

The latest NAEP scores came out and it wasn’t good news. Many districts might think they should abandon the science of reading but I think we need to pause and reflect.
1️⃣ Have we given it the full effort it needs?
2️⃣Have we given it the time@it needs to work?
3️⃣Has your district actually fully embraced and implemented the science of Reading?
I believe now is the time to double down on the research based way to teach students to read which is more than just phonics but a true shift in how we approach reading. We also need to recognize that waiting until 4th grade isn’t a good idea either.
Early intervention is key 🔑
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After students learn letter sounds the next most import skill to teach is blending those sounds together! For a few students this happens naturally almost like magic 🪄 but for most that is not the case they need to be explicitly taught and need lots of practice to become automatic. That’s why I’m adding blending slides to my TPT store. Grab them and have your students blending words in no time. Comment blending and I’ll send you the link to download.

All the science of reading 📖 based instruction this year! Need to know how to do this? Be sure to follow me for all the tips!

Plans?

Celebrate the incredible achievements of Martin Luther King Jr and share his message with your students using the book Martin’s Big Words. You can find the book read aloud online if you can’t find a copy and you can get an entire unit of activities to go with the book when you comment MLK and click the link I send you! This is an amazing book and unit!