Dear Educators,
This bimonthly newsletter (every two months) is designed with you in mind—a space to celebrate literacy achievements, explore fresh ideas, share best literacy practices, and connect with resources to support our shared mission of fostering a love for reading and building quality, researched-based literacy skills for all students.
Each month, you’ll find:
A Featured Literacy Topic: Dive into timely and impactful literacy strategies and research. A new topic featured each month.
District/Teacher/School Spotlight: We want to celebrate all the incredible literacy work happening across our schools!
Resources for the Featured Topic: Ready-to-use tools and materials to support your literacy instruction geared towards the monthly topic.
Professional Development Opportunities: Workshops, webinars, and events to grow your literacy expertise.
Fun Monthly Trivia: A monthly literacy question with a prize for one selected winner!
This edition is for January & February; the next issue will be released in early March. Thank you for your dedication to empowering students through literacy. Together, we’re building a community where every reader and writer can thrive!
Happy Reading,
Joy Kamp
Literacy Instructional Coach
K-5: Florida Center for Reading Research
The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) offers a wide range of student-centered activities designed to enhance literacy skills across all grade levels. These research-based, interactive resources provide engaging exercises in areas like phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension to support effective reading instruction.
K-2: UFLI
This resource is suitable for any student in need of phonics intervention. The University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) offers a variety of interactive apps, games, lessons, decodables and resources designed to support foundational reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency. These evidence-based resources aim to engage students through fun, effective practice to strengthen their literacy development.
K-12: Magic School
Magic School AI offers personalized, AI-powered* learning tools that help students develop essential literacy (and math skills). The platform can generate lessons, choice boards, and decodables, unpack standards, and more!
*As with any AI platform ALWAYS check for accuracy and never include student information. Teachers are still the best resource for the content provided to students.
K-3: Project Read
Good for any phonics-level reader, Project Read allows teachers to create customized decodable passages based on mastered and targeted skills. This platform does require a paid subscription.
4-12: Morpheme Magic
Published by 95 Percent Group, this resource provides samples of symatic morpheme instruction to help students build the connection between sounds, histories, and word meanings. The site provides free samples, but the full sequence is available for purchase.
6-12: Sadlier Connect
Vocabulary workshops tailored by level, Sadlier Connect provides free quizzes, flashcards, games, Greek & Latin roots, graphic organizers, pronunciation keys, and more.
Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide
Do you know a student who is good at math or science but struggles with reading or spelling?
Has a student ever asked you a question about English spelling to which you replied, "That's an exception"?
Have you ever abandoned a word while writing because spell check didn't recognize it?
Discover this revolutionary method Dr. Temple Grandin called "really helpful for teaching reading to children who are mathematical pattern thinkers..."
By revealing the logical patterns underlying 98% of English words, Uncovering the Logic of English eliminates the need to guess and provides a logical solution to English spelling.
Simple answers are given for questions such as:
Why is there a silent final E in have?
Why don't we drop the E in noticeable?
Why is discussion spelled with -sion rather than -tion?
This slim volume is easy to read and accessible to parents and classroom teachers. A thorough appendix summarizes the most important concepts for quick reference.
Click on the picture to link you to Amazon.
From Speech to Print by Louisa Cook Moats
From Speech to Print, by Louisa Moats that examines the crucial relationship between oral language skills and literacy development. Moats, a renowned expert in literacy and education, highlights how children’s ability to understand spoken language is directly linked to their success in learning to read and write. Key highlights from the book include: The Speech-Print Connection: Moats explains how speech serves as the foundation for print literacy. Without a strong grasp of spoken language—such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and sentence structure—children may struggle with reading and writing. Language Development and Dyslexia: The book also sheds light on the challenges faced by children with language-based learning disabilities like dyslexia, offering strategies for educators and parents to support these students effectively. Effective Teaching Practices: Moates outlines instructional strategies that build on oral language to enhance literacy, stressing the importance of phonics, explicit teaching of language structures, and practice in connecting sounds with symbols. Implications for Education: The book emphasizes the need for a shift in how we teach reading, arguing that a deeper understanding of the speech-to-print continuum can lead to more effective literacy instruction in schools.
Click on the picture to link you to Amazon.
Do you know a teacher, school, or district that’s doing amazing work to promote literacy? We want to celebrate and recognize those who are making a difference with reading and writing!
Whether it’s innovative classroom strategies, a literacy event, creative student engagement, or data-driven results, we’re looking for inspiring examples to feature in our next issue.
Submit your nominations to Joy Kamp (jkamp@willroe.org) by February 24th to be featured in the March issue. Be sure to include the nominee's name*, role, school, district, and a brief description of their outstanding literacy work. Let’s shine a light on the incredible efforts happening across our community!
*Don’t worry, we will always ask for your permission before being featured.
Test Your Knowledge!
Put your literacy smarts to the test (or Google 😃) with our monthly trivia question. Each month, we’ll feature a fun and challenging question related to books, authors, or the wonders of language. Participants will be entered into a random drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card (sent to the winner's email)!
Submit the Google Form below by February 24th to be entered into this issue's drawing:
Here’s this month’s question:
Q: What popular children’s book only uses 50 different words throughout the entire story?
Good luck!