Reading

There’s so much to reading, from fluency to comprehension, and vocabulary. Motivating readers isn’t always an easy task. Check out these tips and tricks, like using decodable text, to get your learners excited about reading!

explicit comprehension strategies for struggling readers

Explicit Instruction of Comprehension Strategies for Struggling Readers

There are a variety of reasons why students struggle to develop reading and writing skills, and many of these students need explicit instruction in foundational skills such as phonics for decoding and spelling, automatic fluent reading skills, and basic text structures. However, the ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend, which is why teachers can’t…

effective decoding strategies for decoding words
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Effective Decoding Strategies To Improve Reading

Many teachers are familiar with decoding strategies that may emphasize the use of picture clues, meaning, and self-monitoring. Sometimes these decoding activities are even given cute nicknames to help students remember.  While we want students to monitor our students and their reading for accuracy to make sure it makes sense, often these kinds of decoding…

Online Supplemental Resources To Support The Big Five In The National Reading Panel
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Online Supplemental Resources To Support The Big Five In The National Reading Panel

   Please welcome, Lorna Wooldridge as my guest blogger!    In a recent blog I wrote for the Orton-Gillingham Online Academy (OGOA) on “The National Reading Panel and The Big Five”, I explained what exactly “The Big Five” are, and why they are so important for reading. I plan to blog extensively about each one…

This is a featured image for a blog post about understanding homophones.
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Building an Understanding of Homophones

Soon after introducing the first vowel teams, the need to discuss homophones rears its head. This can be challenging for struggling readers during Orton-Gillingham lesson plans, especially English Language Learners. What’s the difference between a homonym and a homophone? Homonyms and homophones are frequently confused and the words are used interchangeably, but there is actually…

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How To Run A Successful Dyslexia Pilot Program

    Last Spring, I received an email from Mindy Bramer, an educational consultant for PaTTAN, (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network). The state of Pennsylvania had just become one of the first states to initiate a ground-breaking, dyslexia pilot program that was backed by state legislation.    “Act 69 of 2014, the Dyslexia and Early…