Is my child on track with his reading skills? It is natural that parents and teachers want to measure student literacy. You may have heard your student’s teacher use the term “dibels” before. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and is pronounced, ironically, “dibbles.” (I say “ironically” because it is a […]
Handwriting
Within the first week of school in my classroom, I begin teaching the first and second graders how to hold their pencils correctly and how to form their letters properly. Why do I begin so early? Because many of them enter my classroom putting their index and middle fingers on their pencils. The longer they […]
The Adventure of Reading Alone
Congratulations! Your child can read. He has mastered the first stage of reading: decoding and recoding. Now that he can sound words out, he has even started reading chapter books on his own. Supporting your child in this next big step is a little bit like un-babyproofing the house. Once the baby gate is stowed […]