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Tools 4 Reading Empowering educators with the literacy resources and training to help every child achieve reading success. Presented by 95 Percent Group.

Mary Dahlgren, Ed.D., is president of MED Consulting and Tools 4 Reading. She has over twenty years of experience teaching children and training teachers. She has worked as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, teacher trainer and consultant to numerous state departments of education and local education agencies. The purpose of this page is to share research-based instructional practices as well as products developed by Dr. Dahlgren.

💚 October 5th was ! 💚 You inspire. You support. You make a difference. Thank you for helping every student become a rea...
10/07/2026

💚 October 5th was ! 💚

You inspire.
You support.
You make a difference.

Thank you for helping every student become a reader.

⭐️ Join Tools 4 Reading in Chicago as we celebrate 10 years of advancing the science of reading with ! ⭐️Stop by our par...
09/30/2026

⭐️ Join Tools 4 Reading in Chicago as we celebrate 10 years of advancing the science of reading with ! ⭐️

Stop by our parent company's booth, 95 Percent Group, and say hello! 👋🏽

Teachers at the Fort Dodge Early Childhood Center are being so intentional with their sound spelling wall during kinderg...
09/22/2026

Teachers at the Fort Dodge Early Childhood Center are being so intentional with their sound spelling wall during kindergarten beginning-of-the-year boot camp!

1️⃣ Before the lesson, the letters are covered.

2️⃣ During the lesson, the teacher modeled clear articulation of the /h/ sound and made sure students did not add a pesky extra sound after it. ✂️

3️⃣ She then hand-wrote an uppercase H and lowercase h on a sticky note so that information stays on the wall afterward. It's a ready resource for future decoding and spelling lessons.

This is how a sound spelling wall becomes a tool students actually use. 💛

💡 Did you know?This card is often a student’s first intro to etymology, the origin and history of a word. 📜The /f/ sound...
09/18/2026

💡 Did you know?

This card is often a student’s first intro to etymology, the origin and history of a word. 📜

The /f/ sound is spelled ph in words that come from Greek, like phone.

Yup…that means elephant is Greek too! 🐘✨

Perfect little “aha” moment for your sound-spelling wall or small group. Save it! 📚

Making it happen vs. letting it happen. 🤔Knowledge of the science of reading is the foundation. 🧠The art of instruction ...
09/14/2026

Making it happen vs. letting it happen. 🤔

Knowledge of the science of reading is the foundation. 🧠

The art of instruction is what brings it to life in the classroom. 🎨

Where they overlap is what actually moves the needle: effective resources. 🔗

This is what Tools 4 Reading has always been about, giving teachers practical, classroom-ready tools (sound walls, Kid Lips, phoneme-grapheme cards, Top 10 Tools, and more) so the science shows up in daily instruction.

Don’t wait for literacy to happen. ✨

Make it happen. ⭐️

💡Did you know?In an open syllable, the long /ī/ sound is spelled with a single letter i. vi-per • mi-grate • i-solate➡️ ...
09/10/2026

💡Did you know?

In an open syllable, the long /ī/ sound is spelled with a single letter i.
vi-per • mi-grate • i-solate

➡️ But sometimes i is followed by two consonants and still spells long /ī/… even though the syllable is closed.
kind • grind • child • wild

Those -ild / -ind words are sneaky ones. 😏

Save this for your syllable-type lesson! 📚✨

Teachers, this Labor Day, let’s honor your work and the word! We are grateful for the teachers who labor by planning, te...
09/07/2026

Teachers, this Labor Day, let’s honor your work and the word!

We are grateful for the teachers who labor by planning, teaching, and collaborating so students can understand how words work.

Save this web for a quick morphology mini-lesson when you return after the long weekend!

Happy Labor Day, teachers!

💡 Did you know?All 3 spelling patterns on the front of this Tools 4 Reading Sound-Spelling Card can spell the /k/ sound ...
09/04/2026

💡 Did you know?

All 3 spelling patterns on the front of this Tools 4 Reading Sound-Spelling Card can spell the /k/ sound at the end of a word. 🔤

✅ c → in the second syllable of a multisyllabic word after a short vowel
attic • panic • ethnic

✅ k → after a vowel team or a consonant
book • leak • milk • bank

✅ ck → after a short vowel
deck • black • slick

Save this for your next small-group or sound-spelling wall lesson! 📚✨

“Not one of us is as smart as all of us.”Wise words from Laura Stewart's session on The Power of Oral Language in Develo...
09/01/2026

“Not one of us is as smart as all of us.”

Wise words from Laura Stewart's session on The Power of Oral Language in Developing Strong Writers.

Her statement perfectly captured the spirit of the Big Sky Literacy Summit!

08/30/2026

Sunday is the last day of the Big Sky Literacy Summit. ⛰️

Still soaking up the learning, the language, and this community at the base of the mountain. 💙

Thank you for an unforgettable few days.🙏

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475 Half Day Road, Suite 350
Lincolnshire, IL
60069

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