Paragraph writing can feel like a BIG skill - both to teach & to learn! That’s why today, we are breaking down how we can use a research-based framework to make paragraph writing & paragraph writing instruction easier! There’s even a free resource further down for you to use in your paragraph writing instruction!

Discover the key steps to teaching sentence-level writing effectively! Explore the research-based approach, systematic instruction, multisensory techniques, and targeted differentiation for enhanced learning outcomes. Elevate your students' writing skills effortlessly!

One of the most common questions we get is “how do I teach writing?”

In EVERY lesson that we teach students, we work through the 5-Core Components of Literacy for reading and then go back through each of them for writing. Keep reading to learn the actual strategies we use to seamlessly weave explicit, systematic writing instruction into our lessons.

Graphic organizers are visual displays and incredible tools to help your students with writing and comprehension. Graphic organizers can also be called mind maps, concept maps, or concept webs, but they all have the same wonderful purpose - to solidify comprehension. Graphic organizers explicitly teach students how to connect and organize information. They visually show what information to prioritize as well as help students with brainstorming and connecting any background information.

Today, we’re diving right into a pretty loaded topic! We wanted to start the conversation around what students need in order to effectively comprehend lessons in the classroom and what they need to be able to write effectively to demonstrate their knowledge.

Now obviously, this isn’t something we can fully communicate/solve in a single blog post. But … we do have a really good starting point! And, don’t worry, we also have some really good follow-up coming your way!

The problem for many of our students is that they don’t know how to format paragraphs or more complex written pieces effectively. So just like we do with all other aspects of literacy, we put together a framework for students to follow.

Dysgraphia is another term that is used synonymously with Disorder of Written Expression.

Basically, it can be used to describe a student or adult who struggles producing written content for a number of specific reasons.

When we consider dysgraphia, we have to think about all the requirements of writing. Writing is an incredibly complex task that requires multiple connections in the brain to come together quickly.

We all know that this can be such a sticking point for our dyslexic kiddos. It's important to note that many students display difficulty with b/d until the end of second grade or about the age of 8. By the time a child is 8 years old the dreaded b/d reversal should be pretty much gone.

Writing can be one of the most difficult skills for students to master.

Especially students who struggle with reading such as students with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities like dysgraphia.

Read on for some of our favorite tips to supporting students in writing!

Visual motor skills, also called visual motor integration, refers to the skills that combine visual skills, visual perception skills, and motor skills. These are skills that use our eyes and hands in a coordinated way. For example, if I was looking at a picture of a square and wanted to replicate the shape onto a new sheet of paper, having strong visual motor skills will allow me to do this task easily and correctly. Poor visual motor skills will make this task more challenging. Essentially, we want our brain, eyes, and hands all to work together in an efficient way!

Discover how to nurture visual-motor skills in students effectively! Learn the signs of poor visual-motor skills, from handwriting issues to challenges with hand-eye coordination. Explore practical strategies for the classroom, including handwriting tasks, visual scanning activities, and more. Early intervention is key—empower your students with strong foundational skills!