Change It Up

If you want to teach them, reach them, and make the school day meaningful for the entire class then differentiate the lesson.  Try it- you'll never go back.

http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/10-ways-to-differentiate-learning/

How Often Are Children Enjoying Stories We Read Aloud to Them?

Reading aloud to preschool and kindergarten aged children is essential.  It gives them an important and fresh opportunity to develop new vocabulary, connect to books, and just might become a "learning advantage" when they enter first grade.  


http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2012/03/22/did-your-child-have-1000-hours-of-one-on-one-reading-by-first-grade/?cxntfid=blogs_momania

The 1000 Most Commonly Used Words

FACT:  Fry's word list will help your child become familiar with the most common words in the English language. Learning them can enable readers to become more fluent; vocabulary is an important part of comprehension. 

http://www.mattolevalley.com/Frys.html

Graphic Organizers ---YES!

Developing recall of details and elements within a story can be enhanced with graphic organizers.
Why not include them in your lessons? 
http://www.sanchezclass.com/reading-graphic-organizers.htm
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
http://havefunteaching.com/worksheets/graphic-organizers/

100 Most Common Words in English

Teach a child these words to improve their fluency and comprehension.  Why?  "They are the most common words in English, ranked in frequency order.  The first 25 make up one-third of all printed material.  The first 100 make up about half of all written material."  (Fry and Kress, 2006) 

http://www.fishforwords.com/docs/fry_sight_word_list_100_by_5.pdf

Attention Poetry Lovers!

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/10/05/100-great-web-sites-for-poetry-lovers/
We recognize April as national poetry month.  However, why wait?  This collection of sites has something for everyone.  Explore and enjoy verse and share the passion, pure expression, and joy that poems can bring to us all.