ELA & Social Studies Articles - Page 5

For kids, learning to read can be a stressful task, but sometimes teaching kids to read can be just as big of an undertaking for parents and teachers alike! If you’re struggling with supporting your little learners as they learn to read independently, you’re not alone! This article will help you to discover how to use reading levels to choose the right texts for your child. Then, learn how to create your own home or classroom library to support kids no matter their current reading level! 

As teachers or even parents, when we think about utilizing games in learning, most of us think of objective subjects with clear answers, like math or science. In preschool and kindergarten, kids might play games using sight words or phonics. But for older children who already know the basics of reading, how can games possibly enrich reading comprehension when questions are text-dependent? The answer requires a bit of creative thinking, but we’re here to tell you that it can be done! Read this article to discover the benefits of using games for reading, how to use them effectively, and to try out the best reading games to play in class!

When children are born, any pediatrician will tell parents to begin reading aloud to infants and toddlers. Some parents will even play music or read to babies while still in the womb! But what about older kids who are gaining literacy skills, and those that have started reading independently? You might be surprised to find out that reading aloud can help kids throughout childhood, and even until middle school! Check out this article to learn how this can bolster early reading skills and to discover the best read aloud books for kids of all ages!

Nursery rhymes have been around for ages, but have you ever thought about what gives them the staying power to stick around preschool classrooms? The answer is because of the rhymes! Learning to rhyme is fun for kids, but it’s also an important pre-reading skill. This article explores the importance of teaching children to isolate and listen for phonemes and letter sounds and offers easy and fun activities to teach rhyming words! 

As parents, most of us remember learning to write in cursive, most likely in the 2nd grade. But if you didn’t already know, most school districts around the country removed this skill from the curriculum from around the time the Common Core Initiative came to the fore. Thanks to advances in technology, handwriting has been all but replaced by typing, with keyboarding classes becoming the norm. Even so, learning how to write in cursive can still offer a plethora of learning benefits that shouldn’t be ignored. Keep reading to discover the importance of cursive writing and a find a few activities to start!

Whether we realize it or not, literacy learning takes place before babies can even talk! Before kids ever step foot into school, they are absorbing communication skills and forming the foundations for reading and writing. That’s why it’s so important to start early to reinforce the skills your child is already taking in. This article hones in on the literacy skills to work on in each age or stage and offers you 15 fabulous alphabet games for kids! 

Sometimes despite our best efforts as parents, our children face difficulty when it comes to learning. While no parent wants to learn that their child has a reading difficulty or disability, it’s critical to seek intervention as early as possible to maximize opportunities for success. This article discusses the signs of common reading problems, and offers you concrete ways to help struggling readers grow! 

Teaching kids is a huge job, since reading is one of the most critical skills students must learn in the early elementary years. Though the idea of such a big task might seem daunting, a guided reading program can be the ticket to literacy success in your school or at-home classroom. This article takes an in-depth look at guided reading and gives any teacher or parent ways to implement and support such a system effectively. 

Does your early learner seem to have sharp language and thinking skills that far outpace their age? With such advanced skills, you might be wondering to yourself exactly when do kids learn to read? If so, you might have a gifted reader on your hands! Even if you suspect your child is gifted, it’s important to keep these young minds engaged and stimulated to foster a healthy love for reading and learning. This article will help you identify whether your child is a gifted reader, and what strategies to use to enrich your child’s reading and language skills!

On your last road trip, did your family use a map? If you’re like most families today, chances are you used an app like Google Maps. With today’s high-tech GPS technology, it’s tempting to think that kids no longer need to learn how to read a map. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! Because kids develop important spatial reasoning skills while learning to read maps, map skills for elementary kids is just as important as ever. This article shares all you need to know about map skills, including 5 fun activities and games to share with your child!