The On-Ramp to Reading
By Russell Samora. Design & Illustration by Shelly Tan.: Similes are all around us. But, if you haven’t considered this figure of speech since grade school, here’s a refresher: similes compare a shared quality of two things, often using “like” or “as.”…
Continue reading →Samantha Erstad: Director of Teaching and Learning Katie Grundahl presented findings from early childhood literacy screening data for 4K through 3rd grade students to the School District of Jefferson Board of Education. “This is the required assessment by the state of Wisconsin…
Continue reading →Jenny Peek: The gravity of Madison’s literacy crisis didn’t come into focus for Patterson until she became a literacy teacher leader with the Madison Metropolitan School District; before that she had been teaching fourth and fifth grade for 15 years. “You kind…
Continue reading →Liana Loewus: But to Seidenberg, that’s way too many. He’s working on a somewhat radical idea: a program that teaches just 100 words, which are carefully selected for particular phonics properties to help students crack the code on their own. “The goal…
Continue reading →We’ve begun to roll out Fast Lane Literacy ESL tools. The word pit:
Continue reading →The USA 250 Freedom Truck is scheduled to stop in Van Wert, OH (census) on April 20 and the 21st, 2026. Visitors may enjoy exploring the elegant Brumback Library. Explore j, names such as John Chapman, first sounds and rhymes with our…
Continue reading →Lliana Loewus: The tide has turned on reading instruction. Nearly all states have passed “science of reading” laws, and most researchers and educators now agree students need to learn letters and sounds explicitly and systematically to become proficient readers. The Washington Post’s…
Continue reading →Diane Ravitch: Given the fact that about half the states have now mandated that teachers teach “the science of reading,” it seems to be a good time to repost what I wrote on November 1, 2023. Some things never change. I wrote:…
Continue reading →Sarah Schwartz: Recently, there’s been some conversation in the broader science of reading movement about the potential that schools are overteaching foundational skills. Reading researcher Mark Seidenberg, for example, has argued that while all students need to be taught phonics, students without…
Continue reading →Sarah Schwartz: One of the most influential names in the “science of reading” movement has issued a surprising warning: After years of neglecting to systematically teach students foundational reading skills, he says, some schools may now have moved too far in the…
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