Ahh…winter! There’s just so much to love—the stillness of the night after a blanket of snow has covered the ground; the crunch of snow underfoot; and curling up in front of a crackling fire with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a wonderful picture book for winter! And speaking of books, the books below will bring warmth to even the chilliest winter day!

When making words plural, why do you add S to some words but ES to others? And when a word ends with Y, how do you know whether to change the Y to I before adding the plural suffix? And why on earth does the word knife become knives?

Perfectionism is a challenge that many students face, and not only does it take the enjoyment out of learning to read, but it can severely block a student’s progress. Take a look at some effective strategies for helping kids deal with perfectionism while learning how to read.

If you’ve been hanging around our blog for any length of time, you have probably heard me talk about multisensory learning and how important it is. When kids learn with all their senses, they are far more likely to remember what they learn.

Short vowel sounds are the most common vowel sounds in the English language. Thankfully, these sounds are fairly easy to spell. Let’s dive in!

You know that dogs bark and cats meow—but have you ever wondered how these words came to be? Say bark and meow out loud—do you notice anything interesting? That’s right—they sound like what they mean!

When a word sounds like or imitates the thing it describes, it is called onomatopoeia (ŏn–ō–mah–tō–pē–uh).

Once upon a time, the people of Iceland developed a wonderful holiday tradition. And then, thanks to the power of the Internet, the rest of the world learned of this delightful holiday activity and adopted it wholeheartedly. If you haven’t already joined the fun of Jólabókaflód, you’re about to discover a jolly holiday treat!

When you read, you probably don’t spend much time decoding the individual words. You just read, and as you get to each word, you instantly recognize it. But beginning readers don’t have that kind of instant recall yet, so it is important to teach them how to sound out words.

Do spelling lessons make your child want to throw her pencil across the room? Do tears seem to go hand-in-hand with learning to read? Are you walking on eggshells, wondering how the “dreaded” subject will go today?

When kids struggle, moms tend to blame themselves …

If you’re always on the lookout for ways to make practicing reading more fun for your children, then you’re going to love our new “Go Dance!” activity! This free printable Thanksgiving activity is perfect for getting in the holiday spirit, but we think these dancing turkeys are so cute that you’ll want to enjoy them all year long.

These days, audio books are becoming more and more available. Their increase in popularity shouldn’t come as a surprise — they provide a range of benefits that many people are only now discovering. Aside from being enjoyable, audio books are great for teaching reading and spelling.

Continue reading…

Have you seen our Word Flippers?

Word Flippers are a super popular part of the All About Reading program. They are fun and motivating for kids, and a simple-yet-effective tool for you as the teacher.