Most of us read Island of the Blue Dolphins somewhere around fourth or fifth grade. What a lot of us never heard back then is that Karana was based on a real woman. Once you know her story, teaching Island of the Blue Dolphins looks a little different. When students find that out, something shifts. […]
The problem with reading comprehension prep Reading comprehension prep can eat up a weekend fast. Finding a passage that’s actually grade appropriate, writing questions for it, printing it, and then doing that same thing again next month, it’s a cycle a lot of teachers know well. That’s exactly why the Full Year Monthly Bundle 1
Some people ask me how I put together nonfiction reading passages for the year without running out of ideas or repeating myself. I didn’t write all sixty passages in one sitting. Series 3 came together one month at a time, over more than a year, and that’s actually why it holds up as a full
How To Rotate Fall Reading Passages Without Reinventing Lesson Plans Fall sneaks up fast every year. One week teachers are riding out summer break. The next, they’re scrambling to find reading material that fits the season. That’s exactly why I built this set of fall nonfiction reading passages. This bundle pulls together 11 short nonfiction
Most kids can define a simile by October and still can’t spot one in a paragraph by March. That gap is the whole problem with teaching figurative language. We hand out the definition, do a worksheet, move on, and wonder why it doesn’t transfer to actual reading. Here’s why that gap matters more than it
