Main Questions about Independent Reading:  (full show notes here)

Is there a place for independent reading in the classroom?  If so, what does it look like?

Independent Reading Is:

• Intentional, purposeful reading 
• Tailored to each specific student and their needs
• Looks different on each reader based upon their level
• Within a student’s range of skills
• Sitting with a decodable!
• Dinner with a little dessert (see below)

Independent Reading Is NOT:

• The age-old direction of “Drop Everything and Read”
• Reading alongside students and modeling reading for them at your desk
• Showing your students how much YOU love reading by reading a book yourself
• Sustained and silent
• Strictly timed
• A substitution for what we are doing in our small group time

Check out Christina Winter

• Instagram
• Mrs. Winter’s Bliss Website

The Alphabetic Principle: An Introduction (full show notes here)

The Alphabetic Principle

What is it?:  

• Having knowledge of letters and the sounds that make up those letters. 
•  Rollanda E. O’Connor states that the Alphabetic Principle is “how phonemic awareness and knowledge of letter/sound correspondences come together in the practical application of reading and spelling.”

Why is it important?:  

• With knowledge of the Alphabetic Principle, students are able to decode words they see into words they can read.  They are able to realize that any word that we say can be broken up into letters and groups of letters from the alphabet.  Therefore, when they have a full grasp of the alphabet, they have the ability to encode (write and spell) and decode (read).
• Through phonemic awareness, students break down sound orally and later on apply it to print.
• Teachers may assume that phonemic awareness, along with the alphabetic principle, would lead directly to reading and spelling.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always true.
• Students sometimes have a difficult time bridging the gap between the two.
• Students have difficulty understanding that letters and letter patterns represent spoken language.

The Scoop for Teachers:  

• Because of this struggle, we must establish the Alphabetic Principle as early as possible.
• Students do not in fact have to learn all the letter names and sounds before reading words.  They only need a handful of letters and sounds and they can begin to blend and segment these phonemes before instruction can begin.
• We begin this instruction through assessments.

Additional Resources & References:

FREE Resources: 

FREE Short Vowel Intensive

FREE Find It! Dot It!

FREE Spin It, Say It, Write It

Letter Sound Resources:

Letter Sound Bundle

Letter Name and Sound Sorts

Letter Name Recognition

References:

10 Simple Letter Sound Recognition Activities

Teacher Prerequisites for Teaching Letter Sounds

Making Letter Sounds Stick

**Want my most requested resources for FREE?? No problem, gift-giving is my love language! Head to this link and snag them!! 

Podcast Episode 6: Interview with Christina Winter (full show notes here)

What is Phonemic Awareness and What Does the Research Say?

Meet Christina Winter - a former first-grade teacher and science of reading rockstar who now creates resources for elementary school teachers and empowers them to lead their students to amazing heights.  Below, she dispels some commonly believed myths about phonemic awareness and sheds light on its importance.

Check her out!:

• Mrs. Winter’s Bliss website
• Mrs. Winter’s Bliss Instagram @mrswintersbliss
• Mrs. Winter’s Blog Post (on phonemic awareness? Or just blog in general?)
• Freebie from Christina!

Myth: We have to spend all of our time on rhyme, sentence segmenting, and syllables.

Myth: As teachers, we need to do the entire program that’s handed to us by our schools or reading specialist

Myth: Phonemic awareness can be done in the dark.

Myth: Phonemic awareness and phonics are two separate entities

Fact: Reading has a beautiful path

• Phonemic awareness → mapping → decoding and encoding words → sentences → reading a whole text!

Additional Resources & References:

• Resources:
• Phonemic Awareness Warm Ups
• Phonemic Awareness Bundle
• Roll, Segment, and Cover
• I Spy Blending Mats
• References:
• National Reading Panel Report (Amie, I think I found this report on my own, but wanted to be 100% sure so I’ll wait for your link)
• What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?
• Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness
• Does Phonemic Awareness Belong in Your Phonics Lesson?

**Don’t want to miss another podcast?  Sign up for my email sequence and opt-in to receive an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to the day’s podcast.**

Phonemic Awareness Five Fun Ways to Incorporate It!

• What is it?: Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words.

• Why is it important?: Well, actually, it’s one of the most important skills we can teach our early readers. Studies show that phonemic awareness is an indicator of future reading success.

• The Scoop:

  In fact, David Kilpatrick, author of numerous reading books and professor of psychology, states that, “The most common source of reading difficulties is poor phonemic awareness.”

  To boot, he also mentions that there’s no age limit on phonemic awareness - which stresses its importance.

Phonemic awareness needs to be incorporated daily with lots of modeling. It should be applied to print, but we also want to be sure students can be doing it like it’s second nature. 

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

Phonemic Awareness Warm Ups

Phonemic Awareness Bundle

Phoneme Segmentation Activities

References:

What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?

Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness

5 Ways to Incorporate Phonemic Awareness Every Day

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence?  When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Phonemic Awareness: An Introduction

Phonemic Awareness

• What is it?:  Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words.
• What is it not?:  Phonemic awareness is not phonics.  Phonics refers to how letters and sounds correspond and how we decode those words.
• Why is it important?:  Phonemic awareness is important for students to understand phonics.  Phonemic awareness helps kids make the leap from sounds →  letters → decoding.

A student’s ability to manipulate individual sounds in words is a strong predictor of later reading success.  Phonemic awareness also aids in vocabulary and fluency.  The National Reading Panel found that “students who had a solid foundation in phonemic awareness had improved ability to read and spell in the long run.”

• The Scoop:
  • Isolation
  • Blending
  • Segmenting
  • Manipulation (adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes)
• There are four main categories of phonemic awareness:

Full Show Notes Here

Additional Resources & References:

• Resources: 
• Phonemic Awareness Bundle
• Phoneme Grapheme Mapping Literacy Center
• Phonemic Awareness Bundle
• References:
• What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?
• Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness
• My Top 5 Phonemic Awareness Activities

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence?  When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Phonemic Awareness

• What is it?:  Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words.
• Why is it important?:  Well, actually, it’s one of the most important skills we can teach our early readers.  Studies show that phonemic awareness is an indicator of future reading success. 
• The Scoop:
•  In fact, David Kilpatrick, author of numerous reading books and professor of psychology, states that, “The most common source of reading difficulties is poor phonemic awareness.”  
• To boot, he also mentions that there’s no age limit on phonemic awareness - which stresses its importance.

Phonemic awareness needs to be incorporated daily with lots of modeling. It should be applied to print, but we also want to be sure students can be doing it like it’s second nature. 

Full Show Notes Here

Additional Resources & References:

• Resources:
• Phonemic Awareness Warm Ups
• Phonemic Awareness Bundle
• Phoneme Segmentation Activities
• References:
• What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?
• Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness
• 5 Ways to Incorporate Phonemic Awareness Every Day

**Don’t want to miss another podcast?  Sign up for my email sequence and opt-in to receive an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to the day’s podcast.**

Podcast Episode 3: Interview with Kristina Harrill 5 Hands-on Activities That Teach Phonological Awareness (Full Show Notes on Website)

Meet Kristina Harrill - founder and author of Sweet for Kindergarten, a Teachers Pay Teachers store and blog where you can find her hard at work giving tips on how to simplify phonics instruction without sacrificing engagement and effectiveness.

Check her out:

• Sweet for Kindergarten Website
• Sweet for Kindergarten Instagram @sweetforkindergarten

Additional Resources & References:

• Resources:
• Emergent Phonological Awareness Bundle
• Rhyming Bundle
• Freebie from Kristina
• References:
• 5 Engaging Phonics Activities
• 5 Tips for Teaching Phonological Awareness
• Phonological Awareness FAQ

**Don’t want to miss another podcast?  Sign up for my email sequence and opt-in to receive an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to the day’s podcast.**

Phonological Awareness: An Introduction

Phonological awareness is the beating heart of reading.  It’s where a reader’s journey first begins, and it’s of the utmost importance.  As educators, we are called to introduce phonological awareness as our readers set out on their reading adventures.

Full Show Notes HERE

Additional Resources & References:

• Resources:
• Emergent Phonological Awareness Bundle
• Rhyming Bundle
• References:
• 5 Tips for Teaching Phonological Awareness
• Phonological Awareness FAQ

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence?  When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Podcast Episode 1: Your Reader’s Journey

The path all readers take to become successful readers

The research all points in the same direction: all people learn to read in the same way.  But how? What are the steps to becoming a successful reader?  Which direction should they take? What are the foundational skills? Let’s look at the steps that every reader takes on his or her journey to become successful.

**Before we begin, sign up for my podcast email sequence!  When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

The Reader’s Journey (Full Show Notes Here)

Welcome!! I am so glad that you are here! The first podcast will go live on December 28th, 2022! Click the link below to join the waitlist.