The Power of Text Sets
In this 2-page handout from Achieve the Core, you will learn all about text sets: what they are, why they are important, where to source some, and how to build your own.
Reading Comprehension Development and Difficulties: An Overview
In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, Kate Cain explores the topic of reading comprehension and how language skills develop. The article explains how vocabulary acquisition, understanding of sentence structure and how sentences work together, the ability to infer and integrate information, and building a mental model of the text’s meaning while you are reading…
Supporting Reading Comprehension Development
In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, authors Jane Oakhill and Kate Cain explore the factors supporting reading comprehension beyond basic decoding and suggest critical skills that should form the core of literacy instruction and interventions to support poor reading comprehension. The article outlines which skills are critical, such as teaching specific vocabulary words, how to…
Knowledge and Practice: The Real Keys to Critical Thinking
In this Knowledge Matters Campaign article, Daniel Willingham explores the factors that lead to critical thinking skills, noting that background, or domain knowledge, plays a key factor. Willingham notes, “background knowledge is absolutely integral to effectively deploying important cognitive processes,” suggesting that facts that are taught need to be meaningful, can be learned incidentally and…
Ask the Cognitive Scientist: How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking?
In this column for American Educator, cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham defines critical thinking and provides strategies for fostering thinking in the everyday classroom. Willingham defines critical thinking in three ways stating it must be: novel, self-directed and effective and that it is the third attribute that makes it difficult as what constitutes effective thinking varies…
Adversmarts: Introduction to Food Advertising Online
In this lesson, students grasp online advertising’s essence and marketers’ creation of captivating virtual spaces for children. After learning advertising techniques, students partake in an online game, practically simulating a website promoting the fictional cereal Co-Co Crunch. This hands-on exercise applies learned strategies, showcasing comprehension of advertising methods. Through active participation, students gain insights into…
Break the Fake Lesson Plan: What’s in the Frame?
This instructional content is tailored for educators guiding students through the lesson. It introduces students to the concept that media can be misleading and encourages exploration of how creators intentionally frame media presentations, prompting contemplation of what remains beyond the scope. The objectives of this session encompass acquainting students with the unreliability of certain online…
Phoneme-Grapheme Frequency Chart – Vowels
Curious about how sounds are represented in print? Not sure about what the most common spelling is for a phoneme? This handout provides the most frequent spellings for the vowel phonemes in English.
Read Aloud Routine for Improving Vocabulary and Comprehension
Wanting to up your read aloud game? This lesson plan from Dr. Stephanie Stollar will support you in maximizing vocabulary and comprehension in your read alouds.
Introduction to the Science of Reading
Dr. Stephanie Stollar developed a free set of presentation slides outlining basic findings in the science of reading. Slides, speaker notes, and handouts are provided.
Printable Cards for Irregular “Heart” Words
Contrary to popular belief, students should not be taught to memorize irregular words by sight. In most irregular words, only one or two letters do not conform to their usual sound correspondence. This means that most irregular words are at least partially decodable. This is a printable collection of irregular word cards.
A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words
Often, high-frequency words are called “sight words” with the expectation that these words are irregular and must be memorized. Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. To do this, high-frequency words need to be categorized according to whether they are spelled entirely regularly or not….
