You taught your students that re- means again, -ful means full of, or spect means to look or see. They can tell you the meaning when you ask. Great! But now what? Knowing how to teach morphology starts with explicit instruction. Students need to directly learn the meanings of prefixes, suffixes, and roots. But if…
If you have ever wondered, Wait…is this a sight word, a high-frequency word, or an irregular word? you are not alone. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they do not actually mean the same thing. And understanding the difference can change the way you teach them. Sight Words vs. High-Frequency Words vs. Irregular Words:…
Teaching the alphabet sounds pretty straightforward. Show a letter. Say its name. Teach its sound. Practice writing it. Move on to the next one. But once you start teaching real students, the questions come quickly. These are important questions because alphabet knowledge involves much more than being able to sing the ABCs. Research does not…
Struggling to plan reading centers that are differentiated? This phonics game changes everything. 💡 The Center Struggle Is Real… Let’s be honest—managing reading centers can feel like herding squirrels hopped up on Skittles! You want to meet every student where they are, but prepping five different activities for five different skill levels? Nope. Not sustainable….
Learn exactly how to teach word chains with teacher scripts, lesson progression, and practical tips that help students become stronger readers and spellers. Quick Answer Word chains are one of the most effective science of reading routines for teaching phonics because they strengthen phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, and orthographic mapping in one highly efficient activity….
If you have spent any time in science of reading circles, you have probably heard someone say that phonemic awareness should be done “in the dark.” Yet this message has created a tremendous amount of confusion for teachers. Some educators wonder whether they should avoid using letter tiles during phonemic awareness instruction. Others question whether…
Discover why students with dyslexia often struggle to transfer phonics skills independently—and how the science of learning and the Orton-Gillingham approach can help. Students often struggle to apply phonics skills independently because the skill has not yet become automatic, they have not practiced it across enough contexts, or the cognitive load of reading connected text…
Want to be certified in Orton Gillingham through OGA or ALTA? OG training, practicum, certification & dyslexia intervention options explained
Practical Fluency Activities that Actually Work Now that we understand the why from Part 1 of the Fluency blog post, let us talk about the how. The strongest fluency routines have three things in common: Below are classroom-ready reading fluency routines & structures grounded in research and real classrooms. 1. The 5-Read Fluency Cycle (Whole…
If you have ever planned an Orton Gillingham lesson, you know one thing is true: 👉 Students need repetition to become strong readers and spellers. But here is the challenge… How do you provide that repetition without: The answer is simple: The best phonics games do more than entertain students. Effective phonics games provide repeated…
What It Is, Why It Matters, and How We Build It If you want to understand fluency, sit next to a disfluent reader. You will hear the effort.You will see the stops and starts.You will feel the comprehension fall apart in real time. Fluency is not about racing through a passage. It is about reading…
Teachers hear it every day: “Why is English spelling so weird?” And honestly, students are not wrong—at least not at first glance. English spelling looks confusing when we treat it as a system based only on sound. But once we understand how English developed, everything starts to make sense. Even better?When students understand why spellings…