This summer I took on the task of preparing and presenting a webinar through IDA Ontario on structured literacy in the kindergarten classroom, and I shared 5 key changes that I made to my program that resulted in all kids leaving kindergarten as readers. The webinar video is available here. The slideshow, full of […] Read more…
Summer is here and today I was back on Global’s The Morning Show with hosts Carolyn MacKenzie and Jeff McArthur outlining easy ways to keep learning going over the holidays. Read more…
Updated February 2023 Over the last few years as I’ve learned about evidence-based reading instruction, something I’ve seen over and over is the importance of vocabulary and content knowledge. With kindergarten kids, this isn’t something they can independently get from their reading material (while “The cat sits” is fantastic for decoding practice it’s a teeny […] Read more…
I was thrilled to be invited to chat with Kathryn Garforth from Right To Read Initiative not once, but twice this past week. In the first video, A Journey to the Science of Reading, I talk about my teaching background, the ineffective practices I was using before, my deep dive into the science of reading, […] Read more…
In my latest segment on Global’s The Morning Show (video below), I debunked six common reading myths and misconceptions with hosts Jeff McArthur and Carolyn MacKenzie: Reading is natural All kids learn to read differently Reading to your kids teaches them to read If your child doesn’t know a word they should guess Your child’s […] Read more…
I was back on The Morning Show today chatting with hosts Jeff McArthur and Carolyn MacKenzie all about report cards: how important they really are, what I look at first as a parent, whether to expect differences due to COVID, how to approach the teacher with concerns, and whether or not I recommend paying for […] Read more…
I was back on Global’s The Morning Show today with Carolyn MacKenzie and Cheryl Hickey to share educator-approved holiday gifts for kids. To prepare for this segment, I did a social media callout to my fellow educators and they had some great recommendations which I have incorporated here with my own. We ran out of […] Read more…
I am so proud of the package of articles all about reading that I was part of for the fall 2021 issue of Today’s Parent magazine. My editor was Claire Gagné, and addition to my individual pieces Claire and I worked together on a couple, and she also shared her own personal story […] Read more…
I was back on Global’s The Morning Show today (before dashing off to my classroom) chatting about the importance of parental involvement with education, and how busy families can make that happen. We discussed ways to streamline school communication, how to get your kids to share more about what they do at school (and what […] Read more…
I made my post-cancer return to The Morning Show today to share some teacher tips for another COVID back to school! Jeff and Carolyn greeted me back so warmly and it seems like one more meaningful recovery milestone. In this segment we chat about the importance of managing expectations this year (your kids’ and […] Read more…