Science-based literacy resources and articles

for families, educators and schools

Search by Category:

Lesson Planning Mikayla Storey Lesson Planning Mikayla Storey

How To Use Your Students’ Interests to Improve Their Literacy Skills

Raise your hand if you've ever been told that your literacy instruction is boring. 🙋‍♀️ If you're raising your hand - you're definitely not alone.

It can be difficult to teach these skills to students in a way that feels engaging and exciting because let's face it - the skills that we have to teach aren't very exciting. Luckily, there is a solution.

By putting lessons together in a way that focuses on students' interests, you can absolutely change the game in your literacy instruction. Keep reading to learn our step-by-step process for putting these lessons together.

Read More
Lesson Planning Mikayla Storey Lesson Planning Mikayla Storey

How Do I Fit It All In? Organizing Your Literacy Block to Align with the Science of Reading

Following the Science of Reading requires many lesson components we should be including in our literacy instruction.

Between explicitly teaching the 5 Core Components of Literacy, targeting student needs, tracking data, and pulling review activities - it can definitely feel like a lot!

But here’s the thing, research-based instruction that aligns with the Science of Reading does not have to be hard. All you need is a clear framework you can use to plan your lessons in alignment with research-based principles so that you know you are covering everything you need without it feeling super overwhelming!

Read More
Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey

Should We Be Using Decodable or Non-controlled Texts For Our Fluency and Comprehension Instruction?

When we think about reading instruction, there are a few different style texts that we can use to support fluency and comprehension. Often, we hear about things like decodable texts, predictable readers, controlled vocabulary readers, language experience stories, authentic literature, and noncontrolled texts.

With so many different styles, it can be challenging to know which to use when. There are champions for many different styles and you may have heard pros and cons for one style versus another. Today, we are going to take a look at two of the styles we hear about most often - decodable vs. non-controlled text.

Read More
Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey

How to Build Fluency & Comprehension at the Passage Level

When working with students, our end goal is always that they can functionally read and write. A big part of this is the ability to read at the passage level and derive meaning from the text.

Luckily - building fluency and comprehension at the passage level doesn’t have to be hard. Keep reading to learn how you can incorporate this instruction into your reading lessons!

Read More
Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey Reading Fluency Mikayla Storey

How to Build Fluency & Comprehension with Sentence Reading

There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to reading fluency and comprehension, including the fact that it is difficult to support, means that students need to be reading faster, and is reserved for when they can read at the passage level. Today - we are breaking down these misconceptions and discussing how you can use sentence-reading to help build your students’ fluency & comprehension skills!

Read More
Research Mikayla Storey Research Mikayla Storey

How to Get the Most Out of Your Literacy Lessons

Have you ever thought to yourself - “How in the world am I EVER going to fit everything into my lessons?!” or maybe, “How can I better support my students?”

We certainly have!

The great news - we can actually make our interventions lessons MORE effective WITHOUT adding a ton of additional time. Keep reading to learn how!

Read More
Phonics Mikayla Storey Phonics Mikayla Storey

How To Explicitly Teach Phonics Rules

It’s no secret that research tells us we need to teach rules explicitly - but what exactly does that mean?

Today, we are going to break down exactly what “teaching rules explicitly” means as well as walk you through how you can use this approach in your lessons!

Read More
Comprehension Corey Pollard Comprehension Corey Pollard

5 Core Components of Reading - Comprehension

We are wrapping up the 5 Core Components of Literacy this week with the final component, arguably the most important component, comprehension!

The end goal of reading is obviously…

Reading Comprehension

So how do we make sure that students are able to effectively comprehend what they read?

Read More