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pick a vowel color

If you have a student who struggles with selecting the correct short vowel when spelling, one technique that might help is to use a different color marker for each vowel. You’ll need your drill cards with the short vowel on them, and 5 different color markers. Set the vowel cards … Continue reading >

pick a vowel color

quick tip

review words quick tip

In the review words section, consider including words that the student will encounter in their reading later in the lesson. You don’t want any of the lesson’s new concepts to appear here, but it may be helpful when they get to the reading if they’ve had a chance to already practice some of the words.


thumbs down for the bed

So many of our students have problems telling “b” from “d”, but the commonly used “checking the bed” may not be the best way to remediate the problem. There are several reasons I don’t like this approach: students have to stop sounding out the word they are reading and look … Continue reading >

two thumbs down

blending drill with pennies

blending drill with pennies

Are your students reluctant to point to the cards during the blending drill, or get tired of doing the drill the same way every time? I sometimes get a pile of pennies (or flat marbles work well too) and have the student take one from the pile (or if it’s too tempting … Continue reading >


keyword object spelling

Add a tactile component to spelling by incorporating actual objects that represent vowel sound keywords. Hopefully when you introduce a new sound, you provide your student with a keyword picture to associate a visual cue with the sound. You can take this one step further and also incorporate a tactile component … Continue reading >

r-ctrl-keyword-objects

file folder viewer

file folder window reader

Create this window reader with slider to help students focus their attention on the text. Limiting the amount of text a student sees at one time can help them focus on the words without getting distracted or overwhelmed by other text on the page. The slider can also be positioned … Continue reading >