Without these 7 skills, children will never (never, never, never) be amazingly strong readers. (WHAT!) That is quite a claim to make! But I stand behind it wholeheartedly. I know firsthand. I have seen students who rock at reading, and children who struggle every single day. Learning letters and their sounds are important for children….
Encouraging Learning with the Magic of the Season
That magical season has begun! It is my absolute favourite time of the year. The tree is decorated, the garlands are hung, those little eyes are sparkling, and imaginations are running wild. I love to use the magic of the season to encourage my little ones in their learning. Sam this year is beginning to…
A Space to Write
I decided it was time for a space to write. The littlest ones of mine have been busy lately sending secret messages via post-it notes, cards, and scrap paper (or paper deemed ‘scrap’ by them). With all that wonderful writing going on, I thought it best to really nurture this interest. Nothing fancy, really just…
Learn to Write with a Scavenger Hunt
We are in the middle of an exciting adventure right now – Sammy is completely taken with learning to write. He loves it! As you may know, I am a proponent for waiting to have little ones learn to write. There are SO many other things for those little hands to do! Playing in many…
Why Read Fairy Tales?
Today I am excited to bring you a post on a topic I love! Fairy Tales – and specifically: why should we read Fairy Tales to children? I am in the middle of taking my final additional qualification course to becoming a reading specialist. A big focus with this course is becoming a leader in…
Storytelling Social Stories
I have quite taken to this idea of storytelling. I have done it at home with my own little ones for quite some time, but since September I have bravely taken it outside my home and into the Kindergarten classroom. Storytelling captivates little ones like nothing else (Well, Quiet Bins are a very close second)….
The Art of Reading Aloud to Kids
When I started teaching Kindergarten, I was given this book called Reading Magic by Mem Fox. I read it before stepping foot in my classroom, thought it was good, and went about teaching Kindergarten with those skills in my teacher’s toolbox. It wasn’t until many years later that I truly and completely saw the value in that…
Super Sight Word Pencils!
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No … it’s a super-sight-word-pencil-to-help-little-ones-gain-confidence-with-their-writing-um, thing! I just love these super pencils and all of the confidence they give little writers. If you have a little one who is beginning to read and write pop on over to Hands on as we Grow to read all about these great…
“Learn to Read” Quiet Bins
Well – did you see the Super Blood Moon last night? We did – and it was awesome. And today we are celebrating little Ben’s third birthday! Good grief with all this excitement I can barely sit still to get this post out to you … but I really want to, so I will. Exciting…