Teaching Tips & Strategies

Learn how to integrate multisensory explicit instructions when teaching kindergarten sight words!

As children develop a bank of known sight words, they can begin reading early texts. The focus of these passages is recalling high-frequency words and sounding out CVC words.

A precursor to reading is learning the sounds that letters make. Without this solid recall, reading CVC words is difficult. Find more about blending sounds together to form a word (bonus: Reading CVC words lesson example).

Learning how to write lowercase letters is actually a more complex process than writing uppercase letters. Are there certain letters that are more difficult?

Learning how to write uppercase letters is important for young writers. Using the correct starting point, following the right path, and using the proper letter formation are essential skills.

Sound it out is often the go-to prompt when children are trying to solve unfamiliar words. Sounding out words is a reading strategy that requires modeling and instruction before children can use it successfully.

Blending and segmenting are essential skills to teach young readers. The ability to blend sounds together and break sounds apart supports both reading and writing development.

Decoding words is an essential skill that children need to develop in order to become proficient readers. There are a variety of strategies readers employ to successfully decode texts.

Teaching telling the time help children understand elapsed time and how to calculate the passage of minutes and hours. And it supports learning fractions, such as quarters and halves.

Making a ten strategy allows children to explore the different combinations of numbers that create ten and employ mental math strategies to find answers.

A ten frame is an instructional tool used to support learning in math. They provide children with opportunities to learn about numbers both visually and kinesthetically.

Number bonds are used to help children see the relationship between numbers. They can be introduced using three steps, with each building on the previous step’s understandings.

During the second grade, children can continue increasing their knowledge of sight words and learn more complex spelling rules and word families.

Children in the first grade are beginning to develop a larger bank of words they can spell independently. Their growing confidence with letter sounds also supports their spelling skills.