Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn. But reading is HARD for many kids! Our brains aren't wired to read, so it requires perseverance, grit, and determination to master this complex skill.

When teaching your child to read, make sure you're also helping your child develop a positive mindset about the process. One way to do this is by using positive affirmations.

Keep listening to see the affirmation I do with all of my students at the end of our reading classes (which I call "Reading Club"). It's a fun chant that includes sign language and helps my students see themselves as readers, writers, and good friends.

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Happy Learning!

-Erin

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***This podcast episode was originally a video where I show an example of how to correctly write the lowercase letters a, c, d, g, o, and q (what I like to call 2 o'clock letters). To watch the original video, click here.

Handwriting is a crucial skill to focus on in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. It is MUCH easier to teach this skill at home than for a teacher to teach this skill to a class of 20+ students.

Our goal as parents should be to teach our kids the correct pencil strokes to write each letter fluently. This will help writing become more automatic as well as ensure our kids are not "drawing" letters based on their own interpretation.

This episode explains how to use a clock to help teach those tricky circle letters (what I like to call 2 o'clock letters): a, c, d, g, o, and q.

For more handwriting information, please check out these links:

The Ultimate Guide to Handwriting

Pre-Writing & Writing Development Phases

Why I Teach Uppercase Letter Writing First

Tips for Teaching Name Writing

>>> Grab my FREE Animal Alphabet here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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When you're teaching your child to read, don't forget to also teach them how to spell. Reading and spelling go hand in hand, and BOTH are required for your child to have a strong literacy foundation.

Dictation is a strategy you can use to see how well your child is remembering their phonics concepts and high-frequency words (sometimes called "sight words") as well as evaluate how well they're doing with handwriting.

Keep listening to learn more about dictation, including what it is, how it works, and an example sentence you can give your kids.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• FREE Sound Mats
• Tapping Out Sounds Video
• Sound Mats Video
• Handwriting Playlist

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn. If they are not taught correctly from the start, it will cause a lot of struggles later on, which will require intervention to correct.

I always say that prevention is MUCH better than intervention. So let's teach your child correctly from Day 1!

Keep listening to learn what you should teach your child after they're able to read 2 sound (VC) and 3 sound (CVC) words.

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

>>> Grab my FREE Sound Mats here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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One of the most important steps when teaching your child to read is teaching them how to segment and blend sounds in words.

This starts with LOTS of oral segmenting and blending (phonemic awareness), and then we introduce how to segment and blend when reading printed words.

But sometimes, our child might get stuck reading printed words by saying each sound before saying the whole word, and we want to help them move past this stage in their development.

Keep listening for a quick tip to help your child move past sound-by-sound blending to get to more fluent reading.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• Two Ways to Tap Out Sounds
• Sound Mats Video
• Blending Video

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

>>> Grab my FREE Sound Mats here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the most important steps when teaching your child to read is teaching them how to segment and blend the sounds in words.

This starts with LOTS of oral segmenting and blending (phonemic awareness), and then we introduce how to segment and blend when reading printed words.

Keep listening to learn how to teach your child to tap out the sounds words in two different ways. This will help your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten child become a strong reader and speller.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• FREE Sound Mats
• Sound Mats Video
• 44 Speech Sounds Video

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn. If you're a parent who wants to teach your child to read at home, you might think you need a lot of supplies or a fancy curriculum.

But that just isn't true!

Keep listening for my recommendations for the top 5 tools you need to teach your child to read correctly. These are simple, inexpensive tools that will effectively teach your child to read based on the science of reading.

Check out the links mentioned in this video:

FREE Sound Mats

FREE Animal ABC Cards

FREE UFLI Scope and Sequence

Word Chains Video

Sound Mats Video

Magnetic Letters (*This is an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In order to become strong readers and spellers, kids need to be explicitly taught phonics skills in a systematic way to prepare them for the complexities of the English language.

Usually teachers are given a phonics scope and sequence that goes along with the program they're asked to teach.

But what if you're a teacher who has NOT been given a phonics program?

Or what if you're a parent at home and you don't know where to start?

Keep listening to learn about the best FREE phonics scope and sequence from the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) and how it can guide you on your journey to teach your child to read.

Click here for the FREE Scope and Sequence from UFLI.

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

>>> Grab my FREE Animal Alphabet here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn. If they are not taught correctly from the start, it will cause a lot of struggles later on, which will require intervention to correct.

I always say that prevention is MUCH better than intervention. So let's teach your child correctly from Day 1!

Keep listening to learn more about 6 important areas of reading development and how you can work on those skills with your child to help them develop into a strong, successful, and confident reader!

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

>>> Grab my FREE Animal Alphabet here!

>>>Grab my FREE Sound Mats here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As parents and teachers of young children, we know how important it is to work on literacy skills with our kids. We want to teach them according to the Science of Reading so they grow into strong readers and spellers.

But do you know how to give your child praise and feedback when teaching them to read?

This episode includes what you need to know to incorporate "Behavior-Specific Praise" and "Corrective Feedback" when teaching your child to read.

These tips will make the time you spend teaching your child more effective and purposeful, which will lead to them becoming a better reader.

>>> Would you rather watch this information as a video? Click here!

>>> Grab my FREE Animal Alphabet here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.