K-6 Literacy Resources for Teachers & Parents
The vocabulary word valentine provides a natural opportunity for teaching the -ine word family. As I’ve said before, just one poem can teach a wide variety of language skills. This Valentine’s Day poem certainly targets some phonics with the -ine word family, but there are several other ways to stretch learning into other language arts …
Read moreTeach the -ine Word Family with Just One Valentine’s Day Poem
Halloween poems help teach phonics skills Who wants to teach dry or boring phonics lessons? No one, that’s who. That’s why short Halloween poems written especially for kids help make teaching phonics skills easier, more targeted, and definitely a whole lot more fun. Halloween poems are perfect for teaching mini-lessons in October It would be …
It’s October, so get ready for Halloween It’s officially October and the countdown to Halloween! I’ve always loved the creepy vibe of the autumn season, so I was mighty disappointed when our school opted out of the school-wide Halloween costume parade and classroom parties, in favor of a more PC autumn festival. Fortunately, there are …
Okay, so Piggie Pie! is not technically a “Halloween book,” but the main character is a witch…so it totally works! Summary Gritch the witch wants to make some Piggie Pie, but she doesn’t have any piggies. Problem! So she looks in the phone book to find some piggies and flies off on her broom to …
Read more8 Ways to Use Piggie Pie! as a Halloween Mentor Text
I love the fall, but I especially love the weeks just before Halloween when the wind takes the leaves, the days grow short, and there is a special quality to the autumn light. This is when I most enjoy reading one of my all-time favorite picture books, The Spider and the Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi, …
Read more6 Ways to Use The Spider and the Fly as a Halloween Mentor Text
I’ve collected plenty of autumn poems for kids over the years, but for teaching phonics, I could never find exactly what I needed. That’s when I first started writing poems with a teaching target in mind. When it came time to write a poem for the au vowel digraph (vowel team), it was a no …
Did you know there are actually three different kinds of compound words? Yup, there are. The Three Kinds of Compound Words: 1. Closed form compound words: Two (or more) individual words combined together that make a new word. (Examples: firefly, football, childhood, schoolhouse, firefighter) Usually, when people are talking about compound words, they are referring …
Going back to school isn’t easy for a lot of kids, but it’s particularly hard for kids who are attending a brand new school for the first time. Being the new kid is just plain hard. Most of the time, I prefer to write lighthearted or funny poems, but I wrote this back-to-school poem because …