The Blog

Want to know how the Science of Reading applies to your classroom? Keep reading to discover what the research suggests, and how we should teach phonics and phonemic awareness to help all students learn to read.

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  • Phonics

What the National Reading Panel Says About: Phonics

Synthetic phonics is more effective than embedded phonics. Phonics is ubiquitous. You honestly can’t read an education article or listen to a podcast without hearing about the importance of phonics. But what does the research actually suggest concerning phonics instruction? I believe that knowledge is power, and today I want to give you key points about the effects of phonics
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  • Phonics

My 5 Phonics Must-Haves

   I am the queen of simplicity and anti-hoarding.  If I haven’t used it in the past year or two, it’s going in the trash or the recycling bin.  I don’t get attached to objects in my classroom just because money has been spent on them, especially if they are not aligned with best practices.  I don’t keep stinky books, outdated
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  • Phonics

The Power of Decodable Folders

This is one of the decodable texts I use from The Literacy Nest.                Do you want your students to become more proficient, automatic readers?  We all do, right?  This may sound like an oversimplification, but the one thing I suggest we all need a lot more of is practice.  If we want our children to become more automatic word
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  • Reading Research, Science of Reading

What the National Reading Panel Says About: Phonemic Awareness

               In 1997, the National Reading Panel was convened at the behest of Congress and the Secretary of Education.  It was gathered in order to “assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read”(National Reading Panel, 2000, p.1-1).  In 2000, the National Reading Panel (NRP) released their report, a document free to
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  • Book Reviews

Book Review: Speech to Print

Definitely the kind of book you’ll need to take notes on. I may or may not have had to blur out coffee stains on this picture. It’s one of those books you know you should read, but it takes all of us forever to actually sit down and read it.  So is it worth all the hype?  In my opinion,
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