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Author: Audrey Mwanza

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Can you relate?! 🙋‍♀️ If your literacy centers and small groups feel chaotic and stressful, you’ve gotta’ join me for Sunday’s free training so you can get your hands on the game changing classroom management tweaks that will finally turn things around.

And just in case you’re thinking, “I don’t have time to learn something new! I’m already stretched too thin…”

This isn’t about adding “another thing” to your to do list-

It’s about adding the ONE THING that will finally help your small groups & centers run smoothly so you can stop feeling stretched thin in the first place.

There’s so much calm and peace waiting for you on the other side of this training.

(And it’s FREE!)

👉 Comment CALM below and I’ll send you an invite!

#iteachk #iteachprimary #iteachfirst #iteachsecondgrade #phonicsfun #classroommanagement

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With the right system in place, you can plan, prep, and teach powerful, differentiated small reading groups... without spending 20,000 hours at school. 👏

I promise.

I’m doing a FREE training on Sunday that’ll walk you through the rinse-and-repeat ACED system that’s helped thousands of teachers meet their students’ needs and strengths - even in VERY diverse classes and I’d love for you to join me!

👉Comment HOURS below and I'll send you an invite!#iteachk #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #literacycenters #scienceofreading

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When your class is filled with a huge range of reading levels, it can feel like you’re being pulled in 100 different directions 😵‍💫…

Beginning readers need to practice beginning reading skills and advanced readers need to work on skills that are more challenging…

But how can you do that without spending 25,000 hours planning and prepping individual lessons??😮‍💨

The answer is having a simple rinse-and-repeat system like the one we use inside The Reading Roadmap called ACED. It saves you hooooours of lesson planning and prep time.

I’m giving a FREE one-hour training walking you through the rinse-and-repeat system from start to finish next Sunday and I’d love for you to join me.

(You’ll get an awesome show up live bonus when you do! 🎁)

👉 Comment ACED down below and I’ll send you an invite!

#scienceofreading #elementaryteacher #primaryteacher #iteachprek #iteachk #iteachfirst

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Need a simple but fun way to practice a specific phonics skill? You’re going to love these Post-it magic squares!

1️⃣ Write your focus skill on a Post-it and stick it on the table. For instance, if you’re working on short A words, write an A. If you’re practicing vowel teams, write EE or OA, etc.

2️⃣ Write one beginning or ending sound on each post it you stick around it.

3️⃣ Have students create words! They can be real or nonsense words – the goal here is to give them practice sounding out and then blending together phonemes.

💡 Bonus tip for students who are struggling: Have them pick up the Post-its they’re using and stick them down below the magic square so all of the letters are in one straight line. That makes it easier to read.

👉 Be sure to save this so you can quickly find it again!

#phonemicawareness #ortongillingham #ortongillinghaminstruction #scienceofreading #elementaryteacher

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By popular demand! 👏 This alphabet chant is pure teaching gold because it helps kids quickly connect each letter to its sound, a word it starts with, and a corresponding action…

“A is for apple. /a/ /a/ /a/.” (Hold your hand to your mouth as if you are biting into an apple.)

“B is for baby. /b/ /b/ /b/.” (Pretend to rub your eyes with your fists as if you are crying.)

“C is for cat. /c/ /c/ /c/.” (Draw imaginary whiskers on your face.)

I can’t wait for you to see the magic for yourself!

👉Comment CHANT below and our friendly Plato-Bot will send over the alphabet chant & alphabet flashcards so you can start implementing it right away.

#scienceofreading #phonics #learningtoread #alphabet #weareteachers

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Question from a community member: When do we spell a word with PH versus F? 🤔

Here’s the scoop…

If a word is Greek in origin, it’s spelled with PH. For example, photo means light so words like photograph, photocopy, and photosynthesis all have that shared Greek root so they’re spelled with PH.

The word graph means writing so words like autograph, paragraph, and biography also have a shared Greek root and are spelled with PH…

And sphere means ball so words like stratosphere and atmosphere have Greek origins and use PH too…

But all of those non-Greek words including fish, family, and fun use F instead!

👉 Be sure to save this…

👉 And tag a friend who would love it too!

#scienceofreading #thescienceofreading #phonics #phonicsfun #spelling

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Every child, in every zip code deserves the chance to learn to read.

Unfortunately, only 25% of teacher training programs currently cover all the core elements of science-based reading instruction.

And that means most teachers (including me when I graduated back in 2003) are disempowered from effectively teaching reading.

But it doesn't have to be this way!

We have 70 years of research pinpointing the most effective ways to unlock learning for ALL children.

We know what best practice looks like...

We just have to consistently use it.

I'm opening up the doors to my 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap in a couple weeks and I'll be handing over the step-by-step system that makes it a cinch to teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

👉 Comment INVITE below to join the priority list!

�#scienceofreading #socialjustice #readingteacher

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You probably already know that ED makes three different sounds when it’s added to the end of a word, but do you know why?

The answer is in the root!

🍎 If the root word ends in a T or D, the ED ending will say /ed/.

🍎 If the root word ends with a voiced sound like /l/ or /m/ or /v/, the ED ending will say /d/.

(Bonus tip: You can actually feel voiced sounds by putting your fingers on your voice box! If it vibrates, that sound is voiced. If it does not, it is UNvoiced.)

🍎 If the root ends in an unvoiced sound like /p/ or /k/ or /sh/, then ED says /t/.

There you go! Mystery solved.

👉 I’ll be handing over my complete step-by-step system for teaching reading the easier, brain-friendly way inside my four week course called The Reading Roadmap. The next round of enrollment kicks off on April 21st! Comment ROADMAP below if you’d like an invite. 💕

#jollyphonics #phonicsisfun #phonicsfun #scienceofreading #thereadingroadmap #structuredliteracy

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School leaders who make literacy curriculum decisions and are responsible for evaluating teachers' performance absolutely *must* be trained in the science of reading so that they can reinforce best practice.

It's the only way we can move the needle forward together.

That's why I created a free 30-minute training called "Science of Reading for Administrators".

Comment ADMIN down below and I'll have our friendly Plato-Bot send you the link so you can forward it to your leadership team.❤️

#schoolleadership #schoolleaders #schoolprincipal #scienceofreading

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DIY vowel team flip books for the win! 🏆 Those tricky vowel digraphs and diphthongs can be hard to click for kids but this is a simple way to make them a little easier.

Here are some of my favorite combinations to help get you started:

1️⃣ AY ending + P, S, W, H, R, L, B, D

2️⃣ OE ending + T, H, F, D, W

3️⃣ EA ending + S, T, P

4️⃣ AW ending + S, P, CL, DR

5️⃣ OY ending + B, T, S, J, C

6️⃣ OW ending + C, N, B, H, W

7️⃣ IE ending + T, D, L, P

👉 What other combinations would you add to the list? Share them with our community below.

👉 Be sure to save this so you can find it again quickly when you need it later!

#phonics #phonicsfun #phonicsforkids #jollyphonics #phonicsteacher

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Songs are so helpful for making things stick for kids! And this one's a simple way to teach the hard and soft C sounds.

👉 Be sure to save this so you can quickly find it again when you need it later!

#phonicsfun #iteachk #iteachfirst #scienceofreading

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Humans have a superpower for spoken language and that’s great news for us because we can use that superpower to teach students how to read an easier, brain-friendly way…

For instance, instead of having children drill sight word flash cards that rely on VISUAL memory, we can help them memorize words 10 times faster by focusing on the words’ SOUNDS.

Sound maps like this one make it really easy because they move students through five different steps. Students:

1️⃣ Tap the sounds to hear each individual part of the word

2️⃣ Map the sounds so their brains understand that we are going to connect each of those sounds to something else

3️⃣ Write the letters used to spell the sounds to make the letter-sound connections

4️⃣ Write the complete word

5️⃣ Read the word

Repeat those same steps 4 more times, and many students will have memorized the word forever.

Pretty cool, huh?!😆

👉 Comment MAP down below if you’d like a FREE bubble gum themed sound map!

👉 And let me know if you’d like help sound mapping any other words!

#scienceofreading #learningtoread #iteachkinder #iteachfirst #iteachsecond

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Do you know about Gentle Cindy yet?! 😍 This phonics hack makes it soooo much easier to learn the soft G and C sound! When C or G come before the letters E, I, or Y, they say soft /s/ or /j/. For example…

Cent
Giraffe
Cycle
Gentlemen
Circle
Gym

👉 Be sure to save this so you can remember the trick when it’s time to teach it!

👉 And follow @playdough2plato for more phonics hacks you’ll love.

#phonicsfun #phonicsforkids #teachingreading #primaryteacher #scienceofreading

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By special request, here are the three sounds of the letter Y. (Because one sound would just be too easy for our young readers!🤣)

1️⃣ Y says /y/ at the beginning of words like in YES & YELLOW.

2️⃣ Y says /i/ in one syllable words that don’t have any other vowels as in MY & FLY.

3️⃣ Y says /e/ in unaccented syllables like in the words HAPPY & CANDY.

Focus on sound #1 to start and add in the next two when students are ready to be stretched.

👉 Be sure to save this, so you can quickly find it again later!

👉 And follow @playdough2plato for more reading teacher tips!

#phonics #phonicsforkids #phonicsfun #readingteacher

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Let’s be real….

It’s a whole lot easier to just keep teaching the same way we’ve always been teaching.

In fact, when it comes to teaching reading, there are lots of reasons NOT to make the switch to brain-friendly, research-based teaching strategies and tools...

1️⃣ Learning new things can feel hard…

2️⃣ Discovering that some of our favorite teaching strategies are actually ineffective for kids feels icky…

3️⃣ Hunting down trustworthy, research-based lesson plans and activities takes time…

The list goes on and on. But here’s the thing:

The longer we wait, the more kids will slip through the cracks. And that’s just unacceptable.

So I created a shortcut called The Reading Roadmap that makes it easy for you to go all-in on the science of reading in your Pre-K, Kinder, or 1st Grade classroom right away.

(You can literally cross off tons of the things on the “hard stuff” list!)

👉 Comment INVITE below and I’ll have our friendly Plato-Bot send you the info.

#kinderchat #earlylearning #kindergartenteacher #prekteacher #firstgradeteacher

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Teaching just 8 letters makes it possible for students to read HUNDREDS of words!🔥

There are so many little tweaks like this one that make it easier for students to learn how to read…

And once you learn them, teaching reading can become a whole lot easier for YOU too.

You just need an easy-to-follow system!

It’s the difference between inventing a cake from scratch versus following a proven, step-by-step recipe.

Done-for-you systems = Easier teaching for you & bigger reading growth for your students

I’ll be giving you my complete reading teacher system inside my 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap.

Enrollment only opens twice a year and this round is kicking off on April 14.

👉 Comment INVITE below to join the waitlist! (Waitlisters get first access.)

#phonicsforkids #earlyliteracy #learntoread #learningtoread

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How many of these reading myths have you heard before?

But now that we know better, we have an opportunity to teach better.

And the great news is that it doesn't have to be hard! With the right support, switching to brain-friendly teaching can actually be FUN.

I’ll be diving deeply into ALL of these truths (plus a ton more!) inside of my 4-week PD called The Reading Roadmap.

And to make it quick and easy for you to actually implement them in your classroom right away, you'll get all of the teaching tools and strategies you need too.

KNOWLEDGE + TOOLS = EASY SUCCESS

Enrollment only opens twice a year and this round is kicking off on April 14.

Comment INVITE below to join the waitlist!

#teachingreading #scienceofreading #thereadingroadmap #learningtoread

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This post has been a looooong time coming! It feels like I’ve been looking for a good rule of thumb we could pass along to students to help them figure out if the /er/ sound was spelled with ER, IR or UR f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

There are still some exceptions to this rundown, so be warned - it’s not 100% full proof - but it’s a solid start…

Introducing the /er/ girls!

🧒 ER is almost always the spelling if the sound comes at the end of a word like in PAPER & HELPER.

🧒 IR is typically the sound if it’s in the middle of a word that ends with /d/ /m/ /t/ or /th/ like in the words BIRD & FIRM.

🧒 UR is a more common spelling for those middle /er/ sounds because it’s typically used in all of the other words including SURF & BURN.

As I mentioned before, there are exceptions, so have fun hunting them down with kids. (You can even share them below if you’d like!)

👉 Be sure to save this so you can quickly find it again.

👉 Follow @playdough2plato for more reading teacher tips and tricks!

#phonics #phonicsfun #ortongillingham #readingteacher

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Playdough to Plato

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I used to group my students based on their DRA level and then teach them harmful strategies like 3-cueing because I thought it helped them actually learn to read.

But year after year, many of my students continued to struggle…

Sounding out even simple words like CAT and DOG felt overwhelming to them.

It was heart breaking to watch, but what made it even worse is that I didn’t actually know how to help.

Thankfully, now I know better. And when we know better, we can teach better.

That’s what tomorrow’s training is all about! Giving you simple tweaks you can make right away that will help your small reading groups more successful.

👉 Comment SUCCESS and I’ll send you an invite to the free training!

#readingfoundations #teachersoftiktok #structuredliteracy #teachersofinstagram ... See MoreSee Less