Navigation Notes

Happy November!

I am profoundly grateful for the incredible educators across our region center. Thank you for guiding our youngest learners as they discover their voices as writers!

As you plan your writing blocks this month, here is a high-leverage takeaway on Foundational Writing:

• Oracy Before Literacy: Young children can speak in far more complex sentences than they can transcribe. Spending 2–3 minutes practicing a sentence orally before writing dramatically reduces cognitive overload and improves sentence structure.

• Try This: Use "Talk, Stretch, Write." Have students say their sentence aloud to a partner, stretch out the sounds together, and then write it down. This simple routine bridges oral language, phonics, and writing composition!

I am so grateful for your passion and commitment to student success. Have a wonderful November!

Kelli Allen

K-2 Consultant

I have been teaching in the primary grades for 37 years, the bulk of that in 1st grade but the last 12 years have been as an ELAR only teacher in 2nd and 3rd grades. I retired in 2020 from Arkansas and moved to Breckenridge, where I was promptly asked to apply, and I'm so glad I did!

I've been doing what I call our class creed, rules, and character quotes with my classes for probably 20 years now. It all started when I found myself using these quotes while dealing with behavior issues. I thought that if I taught these quotes to my students maybe they would internalize them and carry those lessons with them throughout their lives...you know, like that little voice you hear in your head sometimes!

As far as my biggest concern these days, it's that parents aren't reading to children in their early years as much as they used to and its showing up in the classroom. The lack of printed letter formation instruction despite now teaching 3 and 4 year olds to write, along with all the tablet/phone use instead of reading to and with children is a huge factor in our literacy crisis. In my opinion that is! My goal as a teacher is to introduce good characters and authors to my students to help them fall in love with reading. And it works! This is year 38 for me, and I still love reading to children everyday.