Do you know the difference between consonants and vowels?

While this may seem like an easy question, there's actually A LOT more to know about consonants and vowels than most of us were taught in school.

In today's podcast, I'm sharing with you:

• How many consonant sounds there are (hint: it's not 21)
• How many vowel sounds there are (hint: it's not 5)
• How to categorize these sounds
• How to use this information to teach reading and spelling to preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten littles

Looking for the book I shared in the podcast, Speech to Print? Check it out here. **This is an Amazon Affiliate Link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

>>> Want this information in a printable format? Click here for my Consonants & Vowels FREEBIE.

>>> 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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As a former 1st & 2nd grade teacher with my master's degree in Early Childhood Education, I thought I knew how to teach kids to read.

But I was wrong!

Today I'm sharing how I got started on my journey learning more about the Science of Reading, and I'm sharing helpful podcasts, books, and trainings for you to learn more and join this movement!

EMILY HANFORD ARTICLES:

1) Hard Words

2) At a Loss for Words

3) What the Words Say

BOOKS:

The following are Amazon Affiliate Links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

1) Shifting the Balance

2) Uncovering the Logic of English

3) Speech to Print

TRAININGS:

1) Really Great Reading

2) LETRS

3) Orton-Gillingham (Brainspring)

>>> 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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To theme or not to theme? That is the question!

There are many preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten teachers who love teaching using themes, and there are many who don't.

Which one are you?

I personally LOVE using themes to teach, and today's podcast shares my top 5 reasons why!

*Download the FREE Editable Themes printable on my website.

*You can see all of the theme resources from my shop here.

>>> 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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It's back-to-school time again, which means many kids will heading off to preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten for the first time. How exciting!

Whether your little one is new to school or not, check out these 5 tips to help them have a wonderful first day of school (which will lead to a wonderful first week & entire school year!)

*Looking for more tips for the First Day of School? Check out this blog post. (This post has the picture of Waffle Ice Cream, yum!)

*Sending your little one off to kindergarten? Check out this Kindergarten Readiness blog series to help prepare them AND you for school.

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

>>>Check out the End of the Year Literacy Goals for Pre-K and Kindergarten here!

>>> Grab my Kindergarten Readiness eBook here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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It's back-to-school time again, which means many kids will heading off to preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten for the first time. How exciting!

Whether your little one is new to school or not, you'll want to establish these 5 back-to-school routines BEFORE their first day. I promise these routines will help the first day (and the rest of the year) run more smoothly!

*Looking for more tips for the First Day of School? Check out this blog post.

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

>>> Grab my FREE End-of-the-Year Literacy Goals for Pre-K & Kindergarten here!

>>> Grab my Kindergarten Readiness eBook here!

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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Ready to help your little one become a strong reader? Then it's time to focus on Phonological Awareness.

Research shows that having strong Phonological Awareness skills at the end of pre-k predicts future reading success in kindergarten and beyond.

Keep watching to understand more about Phonological Awareness and how it can be broken up into two separate categories:

1) Phonological Sensitivity

2) Phonemic Awareness

*Need more information about Phonological Awareness? Check out my playlist on YouTube.

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

>>> Grab my FREE Phonological Awareness Cheat Sheet here.

>>> Check out my Phonological Awareness eBook for Parents here.

Let's Connect!

>>> Join my email list here!

>>> Reach out on Instagram @littleslovelearningblog

Happy Learning!

-Erin

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As a preschool / pre-k teacher and literacy specialist, I see so many parents and teachers VERY focused on having kids memorize "sight words" in order to help with reading.

But research is telling us that memorizing words as whole words is ineffective and NOT helpful to our kids.

Instead, we want to pull apart the sounds in words and map those sounds onto letters, which is called phoneme-grapheme mapping, which you can learn more in this video.

Once we do that, we want to find fun, hands-on, multisensory ways to practice these words. Keep listening for 10 great ideas to practice high-frequency words that your child will love!

*Looking for the items mentioned in the podcast? Click these affiliate links (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases):

1. Small Pencils

2. Notebook for Dictation

3. Pop-Its

4. Fidget Spinner

5. Magnetic Tiles

>>> 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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As a preschool / pre-k teacher and literacy specialist, I see so many parents and teachers VERY focused on having kids memorize "sight words" in order to help with reading.

But sight words are ANY word we can read by sight.

What most teachers are referring to as "sight words" are actually "high-frequency words," which can be broken up into two categories:

1) Flash Words

2) Heart Words

Keep listening to learn more about the differences between Flash Words & Heart Words and why these terms matter when teaching reading.

>>> 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.

As a preschool / pre-k teacher and literacy specialist, I see so many parents and teachers VERY focused on having kids memorize "sight words" in order to help with reading.

But research is telling us that memorizing words as whole words is ineffective and NOT helpful to our kids.

Instead, we want to pull apart the sounds in words and map those sounds onto letters, which is called phoneme-grapheme mapping.

Keep listening to learn more about phoneme-grapheme mapping using a specific method called the "Heart Word Method."

You can see more about this method from Really Great Reading here: https://www.reallygreatreading.com/heart-word-magic

I've also included an example of a 4 year old using the Heart Word Method for the word "from" so you can listen to this process in action.

>>> 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.

As a preschool / pre-k teacher and literacy specialist, I see so many parents and teachers VERY focused on having kids memorize "sight words" in order to help with reading.

But research is telling us that memorizing words as whole words is ineffective and NOT helpful to our kids.

Instead, we want to pull apart the sounds in words and map those sounds onto letters, which is called phoneme-grapheme mapping.

Keep listening to learn more about phoneme-grapheme mapping. I've also included an example of a 4 year old phoneme-grapheme mapping the word "this" so you can hear this process in action.

If you don't know the difference between "high-frequency words" and "sight words," check out this video first.

>>> 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.