Zip to Success This School Year!!

It's back to school and here we go again!

Most adults would say that the goal of a reading program is to produce a student that can competantly read written material, comprehend the material, integrate the material into his or her own knowledge base and then communicate clearly in a response. And yet we adults can't seem to agree on the methods to achieve that goal. Last school year we watched as the kids in our homework tutoring program (most of whom are bi-lingual) were rushed through the basic phonics decoding skills, leaving them confused about all the long vowel patterns. They read endless "fluency" passages in one minute but could not answer a question about what they had just read.  Finally, in what seemed like a desperate measure, the second and third graders were told to read a story every day and write the beginning, the middle and the end - apparently in three sentences. Common Core wants kids to say "I Can"; these kids were saying "I Can't".

This year start using the Tutor Quick Pocket Slider with the Phonics and Spelling Zip Strips. You can build a successful program, achieving all the Common Core goals, with this product. The word lists are organized by phonetic patterns. Start the week by reviewing the words before they go in the pocket. The picture provides comprehension. Put the strip in the pocket and practice both reading and spelling the words for morning work or in a center. Use the words to have the children brainstorm and create three or more sentences using the words on the list for fluency practice. During the week, use some of the eleven extension activities to teach rhyming, grammer, syllables, antonyms, synonyms alphabet order and sentence writing. Make an extra pocket with the parents at back to school night and explain that homework will be to practice reading and spelling  the words for the week with the pocket. Homework planning done!!

I am posting pictures of some of the extension activities. You will see that they are simple and use the word lists that the kids cut and paste to create their own "worksheets". The file folder games use colorful cut outs, but I have not colored the pictures. Lost pieces are easy to replace by just making another copy of the words and cutting it up.

FREE samples of the pocket slider, zip strips, instuctions and extensions are available on my web site http://www.wendysbookworks.com or at my store at
Teachers Pay Teachers.

Zip to Success this school year!!

Reading is Power!

Our tutoring center serves children from Kindergarten through 4th grade - all subjects. All of our students are bi-lingual and as any teacher will tell you, some years the kids seem to be moving ahead faster than others. This year our kindergarteners seem to be struggling with the concept of the written word as a combination of the letters and sounds. Most of them know the names of the letters, and can tell you the beginning sound of an object in a picture, but to add two more letters to make a simple word is beyond their scope. Several weeks ago a student and I were struggling through a simple cvc - 5 page book - and I finally said "watch while I read" and as I read, I realized no one had ever read TO him one on one before. He had never had a close up experience of reading with someone who was pointing at the words and engaging him with even a simple story. We have started reading TO our students on a one to one basis and they are responding by wanting to figure out how the words go together and read back to us. We are fortunate to have high school volunteers getting community service credit, but consider asking the teachers of the higher grades if they have accelerated students or fast finishers who would like to become "reading buddies" to kids whose only experience of listening to a story may have been from the TV or a smart pad. The Little Rabbit" books by Alan Baker are 4 of my favorite books to start with kindergarteners. The language and the art are engaging and great for building visual acuity and vocabulary. Amelia Bedelia books are great for 1st and second graders because they don't always get the jokes without some prompting by a "reading buddy"; and then they enjoy the books even more. The 3rd and 4th graders like to "tandem read" books that they really want to read like "Harry Potter" but are a little too difficult. After a "tandem read" they are often able to read more books in a series on their own. Happy Reading, Everyone!!

Special Valentine's Teacher's Tip !!!

Do you still have some of that red and white Christmas ribbon? I cut it up and recycle for Valentine collages. I also provide some stickers, Do A Dot, stampers and what is a valentine without glitter?!

Happy Valentine's Day from Wendy Bookworks! 📚💕

Ps. Don't forget to check our products on Teacher Pay Teacher ! :)
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