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Author: Emily

St. Patrick’s Day Fluency Mini Lessons

We are absolutely delighted to release our newest set of seasonal Fluency in a Flash digital mini lessons! But first… What is Fluency in a Flash? Fluency in a Flash is a brief, targeted routine for practicing reading fluency daily. Each day of the week focuses on a specific fluency

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Valentine’s Day Fluency in a Flash Mini-Lessons

We’re so excited for these Valentine’s Day digital fluency mini-lessons we just released! But first… What is Fluency in a Flash? Fluency in a Flash is a brief, targeted routine for practicing reading fluency daily. Each day of the week focuses on a specific fluency skill and can be completed

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Reading Fluency in a Flash

Over the last year and a half we’ve talked to countless teachers about fluency instruction in the classroom. When we help students recognize words effortlessly and teach them to read with appropriate expression and phrasing, we’re allowing them to access texts in a more meaningful way. Reading fluency is the key

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BTS Success: A Free Back-To-School E-mail Course

Back-to-school is the worst of times. It’s so stressful and exhausting (seriously it’s so, so tiring!). It’s also the best of times! The feeling of a new beginning is absolutely exhilarating. I love that fresh start, where everything is possible and I haven’t screwed up…yet! After 17+ first days of

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My 2nd Grade Morning Routine

The way we begin each day in our classroom sets the tone for learning and speaks volumes about what and whom we value, about our expectations for the way we will treat each other, and about the way we believe learning occurs. –Roxann Kriete How do you start your school

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20 Awesome Books for the First Week of School

When I’m creating my first week of school plans, I always make time for several read aloud books every day. Reading aloud picture books is a great way to: take a break from procedures and routines introduce ideas of friendship, community, rules, and more model fluent reading bond as a

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Why I Don’t Use Words Their Way for Spelling

Why don’t I use Words Their Way for my sole phonics and spelling curriculum? And why don’t I use Words Their Way for my weekly spelling lists and spelling test? I get this question often. You know that I love Words Their Way. (We now use our own comprehensive phonics

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5 Teacher Books I Read Every Year

There are a few professional development books that I pull out to reference (and sometimes reread) every single year. The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton, Roxann Kriete, Responsive Classroom – Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones The First Days of School by Harry Wong The Joyful Classroom

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More Halloween Books We Love

Try as we may, we just can’t get enough of seasonal books. Do you have the same seasonal-book-buying affliction? One of the ways I love using seasonal books is in a daily countdown to the holiday. Here’s how we count down to Halloween with a spooky read every day! We

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Differentiated Word Study Made Easy

When Heidi and I were both teaching 2nd grade, we had a dream. We had a dream of THE IDEAL WORD STUDY PROGRAM. We both feel like we had some really solid practices in place for teaching phonics and spelling. But we had complaints about our cobbled together word study

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Unlocking the Power of Fluency Webinar

Hi teacher friends! We wanted to alert you of some upcoming free professional development opportunities that we’re hosting in the coming weeks. You’re invited to join us to learn about Unlocking the Power of Fluency for your students. This is a free, live training we will be offering on a

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