I just attended and made a presentation at the 25th Learning & the Brain conference in San Francisco—USING BRAIN RESEARCH TO RAISE IQ AND ACHIEVEMENT.  My presentation was in a section titled How Will New Brain Technologies for Cognition and Memory Change Education, Learning and Aging? I talked...

In my last post I wrote about the fact that this generation is spending 7.5 hours/day or 53 hours/week on TV, video games, music, and Internet socializing. The number of hours has increased dramatically since 2004 (then it was 4 hours/day) largely because of mobile devices that can play movies or games...

A new study put out by Kaiser Family Services tells us that children are using media like TV, music, and internet social media more than 7.5 hours a day—that comes to an average of 53 hours a week of mostly passive experience! Yes, they text, but what kind of thought goes into texting or tweeting? ...

While Jeannine takes a break from blogging this holiday week, here are some good blog posts to check out: SchoolFamily.com has some great articles, like these: “Is my child reading at grade-level?” “Holiday traditions that improve reading and writing skills” The ASCD...

At this time of gift-giving, when money is tight, why not give your child a gift that won’t cost you anything but time and love, and will last a lifetime.  Here is a recipe for getting started: There are 18 FREE decodable booklets in pdf form on our website. Print out the first booklet “IS IT A...

“One of the most fundamental flaws found in almost all phonics programs, including traditional ones, is that they teach the code backwards.  That is, they go from letter to sound instead of from sound to letter.” Louisa Moats, 1998 What do you think about this quote from Louisa Moats? How...

Writing is a system humans have invented to make speech visible. Our English alphabet is a way of drawing sounds. Words must be written before they can be read. Why not start with writing?

I was recently sent an article by Jan Hasbrouck in which she discusses reading fluency and the pervasive use of Sustained Silent Reading and Round Robin Reading. These are strategies that teachers are using to develop fluency in struggling readers. She says, “Developing fluency among struggling...

Susan Maguire is a retired kindergarten teacher and blogs at “Together Time 4 Families“. This post titled “4 Sound Awareness Activities for Your Preschooler” has some good ideas for developing a young child’s awareness of the sounds in words.  Rhyming and listening for...

This blog post from Imagination Soup suggests as the first of 5 ideas for kids who hate to read: “1. MODEL. Read the page or sentences first.  Have your child repeat.” This strategy may help a child memorize the appearance of the words.  It does not give a child tools to decipher words on his own. Research...