by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
It is that time of year again for most of us. Freshly bought supplies are loaded up into backpacks and students nervously ponder all that may be in their new year. Here are some things to keep in mind as we all begin a new school year. If you have the opportunity,...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
Fix-up strategies are used during reading. When you begin to lose understanding of what you are reading, you do certain things to make sure that you understand before you continue reading. Some fix-up strategies are: Re-reading portions of text Reading ahead Sounding...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
Making inferences with your child is one reading strategy that carries into all subject areas and other areas of life in general. It is very powerful and yet easy to find opportunities to do it throughout your day. With regards to reading, making an inference is also...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
I have been a literacy coach. I can talk to you about reading, writing, and everything in between. I recently found a website for a parenting coach. What a great idea! There have been many-a-time where I needed a little input on my parenting practice. So, this week I...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Literacy Friends, Tips for Reading
We are pleased with our new found friendship with Reach-Out-And-Read! Their tireless effort to raise awareness about early literacy has a ripple effect on each and every generation to come. Their website is so comprehensive and includes some very novel ways to reach...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
There is a lot of research that highlights the fact that during the summer students quite often regress in reading skills. Our schedules change, kids are more active, stay up later and spend a larger portion of their day outside. At least that is how it happens in...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
Do you remember when I said last week that it wasn’t all about the destination, but the journey? Yea, well I can know speak from experience that those words were never so true. Everyone said that the museum would be crowded during community days when admission is...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
“Background knowledge is like VELCRO! It helps new knowledge adhere. The more background knowledge you develop and use, the more you can make sense of and remember new information.” ...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
Ice cream, check. Sprinkles, check. Bananas, check. Candy toppings, check. Today is the last day of school for my girls so we are
celebrating! I borrowed this idea from my mom. Growing up, the last day of
school for my siblings and I included the same celebration....
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
We received a Be There Bedtime Story from Aunt Ali last night. She read a book called Meet the Planets by John McGranaghan. After her cheery greeting she asked the girls “What do you think this story will be about?”. This one simple question immediately engaged my...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
It is springtime! We are thawing out from a cold winter here in the midwest. We are approaching our frost-free date which is May 15th. This is the day we wait for before planting any annuals or vegetable gardens. It is advised to hold off on planting anything outdoors...
by Laura Gorrity | General, Tips for Reading
Recently, I learned that the brain is more of a ‘pattern identifier’ and not so much a ‘rule follower’. It made me think of how my daughters come home with math homework at the beginning of the year dealing with identifying patterns. This pattern identification work...
