Reaching Struggling Learners

Teaching students to identify rhyming words is a piece of what goes on in lower elementary grades, but do any of us really know why that is an important skill to learn? Today, let’s talk about that, as well as why we bother teaching alliteration….both are skills I questioned teaching myself as a teacher...but I am glad that I did! 

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Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

This year has been harsh...and I need a break. If you need a break, take a listen while I tell a story about my favorite restaurant and an unfortunate Publix trip....

Warning...this episode includes discussion of food poisoning and I didn't figure out how to bleep out the one curse word....  

But, I hope you listen and take a break from the weight of this year for a while!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

When students read in class, do they struggle with pronouncing words correctly? I don’t mean articulation errors….as in the students have a really hard time saying s specific sound….I mean when they read words, do you know what word they mean, but they are putting too much or too little emphasis on certain pieces of the words? This can really mess with the fluidity of reading, and make a good story or piece of text terrible to listen to. 

The first few months of hearing my older son read were such a mixture of pride and wanting to stick earplugs in while he read….seriously….there is a fluidity with the way that we pronounce words and sentences….without the fluidity, listening to someone reading is so ugh! 

But, there is a way to help solve this problem...which enhances the listening experience for everyone….including the person reading...which directly impacts their comprehension...We will talk about this today!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

5 Steps to Progress Monitoring Guide

FCCR Website

How many times have you read a student’s writing and wondered where all the other words were? As in, connecting words were missing, or things like that. What about when looking at their writing and all the words are smooshed together with no spaces between words. Yes, part of these things could be due to other issues, such as a language impairment or poor handwriting. But another issue could be that the student is struggling with phonological awareness. 

In today’s podcast, we are going to start talking about what may be the most basic part of phonological awareness: discriminating between words in sentences. It sounds so simple, but this really basic skill can make a big difference in later learning. 

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

5 Steps to Beginning Progress Monitoring Free Ebook

Many students who are struggling in school have weak phonological awareness skills. Phonological awareness is a big concept that includes many skills that kids need before they get into phonics and reading. In this first episode of the phonological awareness series, we talk about what exactly is phonological awareness, and why teachers should teach it, even in upper grades to see some big educational impact!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

Kindergarten and first grade teachers know the pain with this skill set. If you aren’t a lower grades teacher, just know that one of the skills that these teachers have to teach is asking students to take a word and change a particular sound in the word to make a different word. The processing that this takes is huge...and struggling learners can really struggle with this skill! Today, we are going to talk about how this skill impacts more advanced skills, and what we can do to help this not be a nightmare skill to teach!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

Ok, so disclaimer...we aren’t just going to be talking about beginning sounds...but so many of us just focus on that skill, that I figured I’d use it to grab your attention.

The fact is, being able to identify the beginning, middle, and ending sound in words is super important when building phonemic and eventually phonics skills….even if we sometimes don’t want to admit it. That is exactly what we’re going to talk about on this week's episode.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

A few months ago, this student was unable to sound out words. He was completely reliant on a word bank to communicate through writing anything other than basic sight words he had memorized. But not now! We’ve been working on segmenting phonemes in words, and it has made a world of difference for him and his ability to write! 

It really is the little things that make teaching fun, isn’t it?

On the podcast this week, we are keeping on with the phonemic awareness series, and you guessed it, we are talking about segmenting phonemes. This skill is super helpful in a lot of ways, and I'm excited to share some ideas to teach it today! 

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

Phonemic Awareness Growing Bundle

Two years ago, I sat in an MTSS meeting with a wonderful kindergarten teacher who was working her tail off to teach her students how to read. Her class overall was pretty low coming into kindergarten, and a small group of these students, even after months of work, just could not seem to blend the letter sounds to make words. This poor teacher was in tears trying to figure out what else to do.

Have you ever had students who just seemed to struggle forever on a seemingly basic phonics skill? I know that I have. It seems like you’re beating your head against the wall every time that group of students comes around.

But, what if we are looking at the wrong skill? 

Do your students have difficulty blending sounds in words? We know that a lot of students struggle with phonemic awareness, but what do we do about this? This week on the Reaching Struggling Learners Podcast, we are going to talk about blending sounds to form words, and how this skill impacts reading in a big way!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/

Do you think of phonemic awareness as baby skills? Or skills that are too easy for your students, who REALLY need to focus on real reading skills like phonics? 

So many schools put their main focus on phonics and completely ignore phonemic awareness skills...but what if I told you that these skills really DO make a big impact on student learning? What if I told you a shocking number of students come in to schools without strong phonemic awareness skills and it impacts their entire educational career??? 

Today, on the Reaching Struggling Learners Podcast, we are talking about what phonemic awareness is and why we need to dig deep into student skill deficits and often times that means starting right here. 

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. 

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

https://teachingstrugglinglearners.com/