Our end goal as educators should be to create life-long learners. In order to accomplish this we must value the ability to read and write, because a persons ability to read and write define literacy. It is impossible to separate the two! As an educator I've pursued a literacy-based learning approach in all subject areas. Whether it's science, math, history, and even the arts, the possibilities are endless when reading and writing are at the core of the learning process. This

My teaching certification is in secondary English/Language Arts. Reading and writing is my specialty, especially with the 7-12 grade crowd. My favorite resources (for mom and teacher alike) will be offered in today's posts. I'm hopeful you get as much out of them as I do. I believe that individuals have the responsibility to learn as much as they can in their chosen field. This requires a library card, a budget for the material the library does not have, and time set aside ev

I'm going to approach this post as a Q&A session while giving the tools of my writer's (homeschool and tutoring students) favorite writing tools. These questions were asked by moms who needed help with their students writing and each of these products were successfully used to inspire early readers to write what they were learning! Should students learn to write while learning to read? Yes! Writing is proven to boost memory, therefore anyone under my tutelage must write their

When it comes to little minds we are to build a solid foundation in reading and writing. That is our primary goal. Otherwise, the sciences, history, math, and all other subject areas cannot thrive. You may be shaking your head, because you've had success with numbers but reading has been met with difficulty. Here is why I argue this case: in every subject, in every textbook there are text features and writing processes that enable a scientist (for example) to thrive as a self

What are you reading? I am thoroughly enjoying Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I knew I would learn from him, but it is above and beyond my expectations. If you want to be a writer, or if you want to teach or tutor writing (as I do) I recommend reading this book. Not only will you learn some valuable tools of the trade, but I think it'll be a book you'll enjoy as well. After reading it, I would encourage any aspiring author to pick it up and learn. The reaso

I spent years developing fluency lessons for junior high students struggling to read out loud. I applied those same principles to my tutoring sessions and in teaching my own little people to read. One of the ways I applied it was through the use of this notebook. I've spent the last year using it for my 1st grader and on multiple volunteers. All were successful, which is why I feel confident sharing this product with you. I believe in the following reading and writing process

First off I want to thank you for your patience during this time of our life! We've been in flux and limbo land for the month of July, moved to Kearney the second week of August, spent a week with no WiFi (which is always a blessing in disguise, but is also super frustrating when you're attempting to run an online business) and we are back to business as usual. A better way to say that might be, we are finding our new norm. One of the areas that I'm prepping for is our homesc