Since ancient times, architects have used geometric principles to plan the shapes and spatial forms of buildings. In 300 B.C., the Greek mathematician Euclid defined a mathematical law of nature called the Golden Ratio. For more than two thousand years, architects have used this formula to design proportions in buildings that look pleasing to the human eye and feel balanced. It is also known as the Golden Constant because it manifests literally everywhere.
The Golden Ratio still serves as a basic geometric principle in architecture. You could even call it a timeless archetype, as it evokes in human beings a universal sense of harmony when they see or stand in a building designed with this principle. And perhaps not surprisingly, we see the Golden Ratio demonstrated throughout “architectures” of the natural world.
Calculating ratio is essential, as well, when it’s time to construct a building from the architectural blueprints. For example, it’s important to get the proportions right between the height and length of a roof. To do that, building professionals divide the length by the height to get the correct ratio.
Lincolnshire, Ill. – Today 95 Percent Group LLC, the trusted source for comprehensive, proven literacy solutions, announced the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education approved its 95 Phonics Core Program®, 95 Literacy Intervention System™, and Sound Wall Classroom Kit™ as recommended English Language Arts Supplemental Resources. Missouri is one of more than 40 states nationwide to support evidence-based literacy instruction focused on the science of reading. The state’s Missouri Read, Lead, Exceed initiative provides a framework for action to align state, district, and local literacy efforts, with the goal of ensuring every student develops the strong literacy skills they need for the future.
“I am thrilled to see the accelerating, national momentum behind using evidence-based, science of reading aligned instruction to help young learners build literacy skills,” said Brad Lindaas, CEO, 95 Percent Group. “We have already seen our school and district clients in Missouri experience significant literacy success with their students and are excited to participate in the state’s broader goal of supporting every student in growing into a strong reader.”
After an extensive review process of submitted materials, Missouri state education officials selected 95 Percent Group’s programs for inclusion on its recommended supplemental materials list for grades K-5, determining that they meet state curriculum standards and are aligned to the science of reading.
95 Percent Group has a strong track record in Missouri. According to an independent study of 16 Missouri schools conducted over two years by LXD Research, more students were reading on grade level when they used the company’s flagship product, 95 Phonics Core Program, as compared to their peers who were learning with a different program. Based on this study, 95 Phonics Core Program earned the Strong rating on the Evidence for ESSA website for Tier 1, Whole-Class Instruction. The Strong rating confirms that the program’s research meets federal standards under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for demonstrating the highest level of evidence. School partners call the program essential to their students’ literacy progress.
Joplin School District Assistant Superintendent of Learning Services Sarah Mwangi said, “What we have learned on our journey is that 95 Phonics Core Program is a great centerpiece for our literacy instruction. It is the program that we are dedicated to ensuring happens for our kids each day. It’s intensive, explicit and straightforward, offering exactly what you need to do with students instead of being one piece of an overwhelming ‘big box’ curriculum. If you are a district that has struggled with inconsistent foundational literacy instruction and you need to get schools back on the same page, 95 Phonics Core Program is a great, direct, explicit way to do that.”
95 Percent Group products approved by the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education are:
95 Phonics Core Program:a Tier 1 structured literacy solution that supports meaningful and effective literacy progress linked across grades, grounded in the science of reading and for the critical K-5 years. The program adds an explicit phonics strand to the daily reading block to ensure that all students receive consistent evidence-based and research-aligned phonics instruction to improve outcomes.
95 Literacy Intervention System™: a new digital platform that puts the tools for diagnosing skill gaps, digitally grouping students with similar needs, and assigning targeted reading instruction at teachers’ fingertips. Linking to 95 Phonics Core Program™ and 95 Phonics Lesson Library™, the 95 Literacy Intervention System allows teachers to ensure all students receive the targeted instruction they need to quickly graduate from intervention.
Sound Wall Classroom Kit for Grades K-2: provides teachers with everything they need to create a Sound Wall to help students build phonological and phonemic awareness. The kit includes Kid Lips® cards, a Kid Lips® teacher’s instructional guide, phoneme/grapheme cards – teacher’s instructional set, phoneme/grapheme mini cards, Student Sound Wall folder, and many other resources.
About 95 Percent Group
95 Percent Group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources, and support they need—to develop strong readers. Using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s One95™ Literacy Ecosystem™ integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 Percent Group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly. For more information, visit www.95percentgroup.com.
About LXD Research
LXD Research is an independent evaluation, research, and consulting division within Charles River Media Group focusing on educational programs. They design rigorous research studies, multifaceted data analytic reporting, and dynamic content to disseminate insights. Visit www.LXDResearch.com.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
When I was a kid, my dad never let me shop the Scholastic Book Fair. The avid reader in me didn’t really care that he saw the Book Fair as competition to our family business and an unnecessary purchase. I just wanted the new Baby-Sitters Club book! Yet, this is hardly a ‘woe is me’ story. Growing up, I had more than my fair share of books in my home library and my mom took us to the public library regularly. And just because my family didn’t support the book fair fundraiser, they found different ways to contribute to my elementary school.
A generation later, I know I won’t force my son Holden into a book fair boycott because I know how important it is for schools to supplement their funding through fundraisers. In a recent market study, librarians shared that they get approximately $10 per student to spend on books. To better meet the needs of their school communities, they run fundraisers and partner with nonprofit organizations with the goal of adding as much as an additional $5 per student. From that study, an anonymous librarian in Michigan said, “We lost our budget during COVID because we were remote for a long time. The workaround I’ve found is that now a big part of my job is fundraising.”
Headlines since 2020 have highlighted the federal investment of ESSER Funding in schools. In a nation where an unprecedented amount of funding was bestowed upon public schools across the country, why is fundraising still necessary?
Many districts initially used pandemic relief dollars on PPE to get students back into the classroom, and then they transitioned to large capital projects like HVAC and improved school security. A second unnamed librarian, this time in New Jersey, explained, “My school got a significant amount of funding from ESSER, but funds earmarked [by my district] for libraries ended up being used for other purposes like air purifiers and other infrastructure and tech.”
When I asked William Schaller, an Information Literacy Specialist in Houston, how he used ESSER dollars to replace print books lost when schools shut down during the pandemic and students went home, he said, “Many of our materials were misplaced when students were at home learning or moved away from our school.” He added, “We will continue to advocate for school libraries to be included in our school district’s budgets, sharing the positive impact libraries have on our students. We will continue to write grants to hopefully be funded by literacy supporters in the community, and advocate and promote all the powerful literacy events taking place in the heart of our school, the library! You can never have too many relevant, new, and inclusive books in the library.”
As ESSER Funds face expiration later this year, districts like Schaller’s that previously used pandemic relief funds on book purchases are finding new ways to ensure a continued investment in reading materials, because given the reading scores reported in the nation’s report card, no principal or superintendent wants to be seen as investing less in books.
But as with any operation, the expiration of ESSER Funding will force districts to do more with less. John Chrastka, the Executive Director of Every Library explains, “The costs of running and maintaining a library have risen since the pandemic and show no signs of slowing down. Post-ESSER, schools will have to rethink how they operate, but administrators and principals should not be allowed to balance the budget by cutting libraries and librarians given the value they bring to the community.”
Meredith Hill, with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, encourages district leadership to take a hard look at how they allocate their budget dollars post-pandemic and continue to make reading materials a priority. “The criticality of funding school libraries during the upcoming expiration of ESSER funding cannot be understated,” said Hill. “District-level decision makers must prioritize ongoing, annual funding of school libraries to maximize the impact certified school librarians can have on every student and teacher in the district. Not providing that reliable annual budget and asking school librarians to seek their own funding through grants, book fairs, or other funding sources leads to increased inequities in the services and resources available to staff and students at different schools within the same district. This is antithetical to the philosophy of equitable access that underlies the foundation of library service.”
Yet, school librarians recognize fundraising is now simply part of their job description and it’s never been more important to demonstrate and advocate for the value libraries and librarians bring to the education system. “Schools with well-funded school library media centers, updated collections, and certified school library media coordinators are able to spark student learning in high-impact ways,” said Hill. “These include providing curriculum-aligned resources, collaborating on research and tech-rich projects with teachers, sparking student curiosity and problem-solving with Makerspace, guiding the ethical implementation of AI, and creating a school-wide culture and lifelong love of reading.”
Being well-funded can take work and creativity on behalf of the librarian, but can be accomplished through effective community partnerships–a cornerstone of the Future Ready Library Framework. Schaller relies on various funding sources outside of district allocations. “Grant writing is another wonderful way for libraries to collect diverse titles,” said Schaller. “Our school has received grants from author James Patterson and Scholastic Book Clubs to help get more books into our schools, granting literacy to our readers. DonorsChoose is a fast way our library has been able to write specific projects for materials. Donors can select projects that inspire them by searching keywords, such as ‘library books’ or ‘STEM’ and donate to schools across the country. Through DonorsChoose, our library has received grants for books in November about voting and the importance of elections, many Spanish translations of popular titles for our Libros en Español section of the library, and even Young Sheldon from CBS has funded STEM and makerspace projects for our library’s hands-on learning area!”
Johnna Gregory, the Librarian at Trinity Lakes Elementary School in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD in Texas, recently put community partnerships to work to put the “fair” in her book fair. Each of the 650 students on campus had the opportunity to choose TWO books to take home, for free. To make the book fair “fair,” Gregory solicited donations from the community, PTA, and board members; took advantage of vendor book sales; and used the rewards from her for-profit book fair to purchase the books so every student left with a book in each hand.
Whether the funding comes from municipal tax dollars, state or federal allocations, grants, physical book fairs, eFairs, bake sales, DonorsChoose, corporate partnerships, or combination of them all, access to books changes lives–and that’s an investment each of us can’t afford not to make.
A fifth-generation family member, Britten Follett is CEO at Follett Content Solutions, which has long been the No. 1 provider of content and technology solutions to school libraries at more than 70,000 schools and school districts. She has led Follett’s PreK-12 business since September 2019 and is responsible for providing leadership, strategic direction, and business development. In September 2020, Publishers Weekly named her a “PW Star Watch” honoree, one of 40 professionals singled out from the North American publishing industry.
The Discovery Education blog is a free resource for educators to find time-saving teaching strategies and compelling content for their daily lessons.
Full of timely tips, high-quality DE resources, and advice from our DEN community, these posts are meant to entertain and inform our users while supporting educators everywhere with new ways to engage their students in and out of the classroom.
Comprehension means making meaning from text, but how to get to comprehension can be more complex and requires three processing systems: phonological (recognize familiar words or be able to decode unfamiliar words; meaning (understand the meaning of each word), and context (understand the meaning of sentences and entire texts).
One simple strategy to support your students’ reading comprehension is to incorporate read alouds into your instruction, using turn and talk, open-ended questions, discussion protocols in small groups, and student-student discourse to ensure 100% student engagement.
Another strategy, or resource, to support the development of comprehension skills is an online literacy program like Reading Plus that offers personalized scaffolding to build independent reading skills. The Reading Plus program automatically customizes lesson features including content level (based on an initial assessment), reading rate, opportunities to reread texts, and questions interspersed throughout each lesson. The program also allows students to self-select reading texts that are engaging and further build content knowledge and vocabulary.
A 2019 research study found that young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to. For those children who were not read to, vocabulary acquisition is essential to improving reading comprehension and raising reading achievement.
Read alouds, a great strategy for improving reading comprehension, can also help build students’ vocabulary. In addition to vocabulary acquisition that can be formally taught before and during a read aloud, a combination of turn and talks, small group discussions, and student-student discourse can further grow students’ vocabulary.
Additionally, an adaptive reading program with built-in vocabulary support can supplement whole and small group instruction, providing a personalized path to vocabulary development and improvised reading comprehension. For example, the vocabulary component in Reading Plus teaches students a research-based compilation of highly valuable, cross-curriculum, general academic vocabulary. Students master words through activities such as matching a vocabulary word with its synonym, selecting sentences where it is used properly, and completing sentences with members of its word family.
Definitions of oral reading fluency, the focus of grades K-2, often include speed, accuracy, and expression. Silent reading fluency, which becomes increasingly important beginning in grade 3, is the ability to read silently with sustained attention and concentration, ease and comfort, at grade-appropriate reading rates and with good understanding.
A few key ideas about fluency, in relation to literacy instruction:
Strong fluency is created by automaticity, language comprehension and a solid vocabulary, and is necessary to become a proficient reader.
Students can’t have fluency without the ability to immediately recognize and understand words, and decode unfamiliar words.
Fluency allows for better text comprehension, which allows us to build our vocabularies, which allows for greater comprehension of more complex texts.
Want a fun way to strengthen literacy skills, create a positive reading culture, and make some money for your school all at once? Try a read-a-thon fundraiser! Here’s what you need to know to set up and run one, plus ideas for creative activities to engage every student.
In a read-a-thon fundraiser, students challenge themselves to read as much as possible in a set amount of time. Sponsors pledge money based on a variety of goals: reading a certain number of books, money per book or page read, or hours spent reading. They can support an individual student, a class, or the school as a whole.
Many schools combine read-a-thon fundraisers with lots of other fun literacy activities. They offer prizes to students, bring in guest speakers like authors or illustrators, and hold big group reading events.
The benefits to this kind of fundraiser go far beyond the money schools raise. It helps make reading fun and exciting, encouraging students to value it as more than just a school activity. And of course, the more kids read, the more they build and polish their skills.
General purpose: Do you want to raise a little money while mostly encouraging reading? Or would you like to raise as much money as possible, with reading as a side benefit? You can also choose to leave the fundraiser portion out of it; instead, kids read to meet a goal like seeing the principal get slimed, or earning a pizza party for everyone.
Participants: Who will participate? All students in a school, only students in a specific grade or class, or even an entire school district?
Individuals or teams: Will kids set individual goals or work to achieve bigger goals as part of a team, class, or school? (You can even do a combination of both.)
Reading goals: How will readers earn money? Will they pledge to read a certain number of books, pages, or hours, and receive money if they meet their goal? Or will sponsors pledge a small amount per page, book, or hour?
Rewards: Providing small rewards to students as they progress can keep them involved and motivated. You can also give prizes at the end for students who smash their goals!
Length: How long is your fundraiser? Most schools hold events for a week or two, with time for reading at school and at home, along with other reading events and activities.
Theme: Choosing a theme can help drum up excitement, allowing you to create decorations and do activities and events that fit the concept. (See below for ideas.)
2. Set individual reading goals
Now it’s time for students or teams to set their reading goals. If sponsors will pay for each page, book, or hour they read, encourage participants to aim high! Even if they don’t completely meet their goal, they’ll still earn money for your school.
You can also have kids set personal goals (X number of pages, hours, or books) and have sponsors pledge a flat amount if they meet their goal. In this case, try to set goals that will invite students to stretch a bit but still be achievable.
Not using your read-a-thon as a fundraiser? Kids can set goals to earn prizes or rewards instead.
3. Find sponsors
Think carefully about this one, because this is how you’ll make money from this event. Here are some options:
Individual sponsors: Kids ask family and friends to sign up to sponsor them. (Just remember that not all students have a supportive home life, so consider how you can make this an equitable activity for all.)
Team sponsors: Students work in teams or classes to build up sponsors. (This can make things a little more equitable for all students.)
School sponsors: Schools ask families and community members to support the school generally by pledging for the total number of pages, books, or hours read by all students.
Community sponsors: Local businesses and organizations sponsor teams or the school as a whole.
It’s up to you to decide how you’ll register sponsors, but since paper forms are likely to get lost, consider using something like Google Forms instead.
4. Build excitement
In the lead-up to your read-a-thon, get students excited to participate! Try some of these ideas:
Decorate the halls using your theme.
Put up posters throughout your school.
Send home flyers (paper or digital).
Create a series of fun morning announcements.
Post videos and reminders on social media.
5. Hold a kickoff event
This is optional, but it really turns your read-a-thon into something special. Give one of these ideas a try:
Curl Up and Read Day: Invite students and staff to wear pajamas and bring blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals to school. Then, spend a morning or afternoon reading together in a big space like the gym or playground. You can even provide yummy snacks.
Celebrity read-aloud: Invite one or more local celebrities to come to your school and do read-alouds. If you get several, you can rotate classes between them so all kids get a more personal experience.
Book carnival: Hold a reading-themed carnival, with games and prizes based on your students’ favorite books.
6. Track progress
Now that your read-a-thon is underway, you’ll need a way to track student progress like these:
Paper charts: Hang a chart in each classroom where students can mark their progress each day. Or make one big chart for the school and have teachers report and tally daily progress.
Online forms: Use an online system where students and families can enter their information at school or at home.
Personal tracking forms: Each student has their own form, whether paper or digital. (This can be a benefit to kids who feel shy about sharing their progress with everyone.)
Also consider how you’ll verify student progress. During reading time at school, teachers can monitor student engagement, but how will you confirm the reading kids do at home or on their own time? Many schools ask families to initial a form documenting their child’s progress at home, so give some thought to this in advance.
7. Reward participants
Keep the enthusiasm going throughout your fundraiser by offering small prizes to students. Here are some of the achievements you can reward:
Individual goals: Ask students to set a few intermediate goals in addition to their overall goal, and give rewards like stickers or treats as they meet them.
Raffle tickets: Award tickets for meeting certain goals, like finishing a book or reading a certain number of pages in a day. The more tickets kids earn, the greater the chance to win prizes.
Daily participation: How long can kids keep their reading streak going? Reward those who read consistently, even if it’s only for a few minutes each day.
Achievement tiers: Create goals like “100 pages read” or “5 books read” and post lists of students who meet those goals. Give them special stickers to wear to show off their achievements too.
Rewards can be anything from stickers, treats, and bookmarks to extra recess time, reading-related toys or gifts, or, of course, books!
8. Celebrate final results
When your fundraiser is over, be sure to celebrate everyone’s success. Hold a book-themed party where you announce prizewinners and recognize everyone who met their goals. Don’t forget to announce the total amount of money you raised for your school!
9. Collect pledges
Now that it’s all over, you’ll need a way to collect all those read-a-thon pledges. This can be the most challenging part of any fundraiser, so enlist help from parent organizations and give your sponsors easy ways to make their donations. Feeling overwhelmed by the administrative side of things? Consider working with a company like Read-A-Thon to coordinate your fundraiser.
This is the time to celebrate everything wonderful about books and reading! Themes and activities can engage even the most reluctant readers, making it worth the extra time and effort.
General Activities
Author visits: Arrange for an author to visit in person or virtually.
Read-alouds: Bring in special guest readers, like parents or older students.
Literary trivia contest: Hold a contest to see who really knows their books.
Book swap event: People bring in books they no longer want and trade with others for new books to read.
Reading sprints: Set a specific amount of time, like 30 minutes after lunch, where everyone reads as much as they can.
Lunchtime book clubs: Choose a few books and invite kids to join a club to read and discuss one that interests them.
Reading challenges: Challenge students with daily goals like “Read a book by a BIPOC author” or “Choose a story in a genre you don’t usually read.”
Theme Ideas and Activities
Under the Sea: Decorate your hallways with blue paper streamers and hanging fish and sea creatures, each holding their own “favorite” book. Let kids read while wearing swim goggles or even snorkels.
Day at the Beach: Sun, sand, and books are a perfect match! Kids can lounge around in beach chairs, wear sunglasses to school, or even read in kiddie pools full of colored balls.
Reading Superheroes: Kids love a superhero theme. Have a superhero dress-up day, then read comic books and try creating your own.
Author Spotlight: Pick an author and celebrate their books during your event.
Diverse Reads: Honor authors and illustrators from a wide array of backgrounds. Invite authors from BIPOC or LGBTQ+ communities to speak, and set aside a section in your school library that highlights diverse books.
Seasonal Stories: Theme your fundraiser around a season or holiday: Think Snowy Days (have a Hot Chocolate Reading Party), Spooky Reads (turn off the lights and read by flashlight), or Spring Into Reading (bring a picnic lunch and read outside).
Literary Genres: Pick a genre to highlight, such as mystery, biography, or science fiction/fantasy. Offer extra rewards for those who read books that fit your theme.
Around the World: Travel the globe with books! Give kids maps and track the books they read from different world authors and cultures. Hold a “tourist” dress-up day, or pair a country’s snacks and books for a yummy cultural activity.
Books-to-Screens: Theme your read-a-thon around books that have been made into movies or TV shows. Host the classic debate: “Which is better—the movie or the book?”
Great Outdoors: Give your fundraiser a camping or nature spin. Let kids read in tents, head outside for a reading sprint, and hold a big cookout as your kickoff or final celebration.
What tips do you have for running a read-a-thon fundraiser? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group!
Chief Deputy Warden (A) Delinia Lewis and GP Executive Director Sylvia Beanes Present on the Value of Children’s Libraries in Correctional Facilities
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 25, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– California Institution for Women Chief Deputy Warden (A) Delinia Lewis and Gordon Philanthropies Executive Director Sylvia Beanes spoke at the 2024 National Children of Incarcerated Parents Conference on the importance of Children’s Libraries in correctional facilities. Their presentation, The California Institution for Women, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and Gordon Philanthropies Put Children First,spoke to how positive visitation experiences are widely recognized as incredibly beneficial for both incarcerated parents and their children, the role that libraries can play in enhancing these experiences, and how correctional facilities in other states can replicate this work.
“We know that consistent, meaningful visitation reduces recidivism rates and helps nurture healthy bonds between children and their incarcerated parents. This means that correctional facilities must provide safe, inviting spaces to help nurture those relationships. The California Institution for Women has seen firsthand the benefit our Children’s Library has had on these visitations,” CIW Chief Deputy Warden (A) Delinia Lewis shared with attendees.
Lewis and Beanes spoke about how the installation of CIW’s Children’s Library (with funding from GP) has provided children with a safe, clean environment to read and play as they visit their parents. Families are allowed to visit the library as they await the arrival of their incarcerated family member. This is critical, they noted, as it can take one to two hours before a family can visit their incarcerated family member — with no outside items allowed due to security issues. Now, children have access to the latest books, board games, and other educational materials to help make their visit that much more meaningful.
“Libraries, like the one we helped establish at CIW, are so desperately needed. The incarceration of a parent can severely harm a child’s education and overall quality of life. If Gordon Philanthropies can help children in need by providing educational materials and other resources, including the installation of a Children’s Library in a correctional facility, then that is exactly what we will do,” said GP Executive Director Sylvia Beanes during her presentation.
There are an estimated 2.7 million children across the United States who have at least one parent who is incarcerated. According to the National Institute of Justice, “Without support, children of incarcerated parents have poor educational outcomes, are vulnerable to developing behavioral health challenges, and shorter life expectancies.” This is why the NIJ recognizes children as the “hidden victims” of incarceration. Fortunately, research also suggests that healthy parent-child bonds combined with strong social support systems can help children overcome the challenges and stigmas of having an incarcerated parent.
Lewis and Beanes delivered this information to an audience of over 100 professionals from numerous states across the nation and Canada on the second day of the 6th National Children of Incarcerated Parents Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference brings together professionals working in child welfare, state and federal correctional facilities, education, social work, behavioral health and human services, judicial affairs, and more. Conference panels and presentations provide attendees with an opportunity to gather, share effective practices, and engage in planning. The conference was hosted by Arizona State University’s Center for Child Well-Being.
Around grade 3, there’s a dramatic shift in the reading journey. Around this time, the expectation is that students will be ready to use reading to learn grade-level content. This is the reading-to-learn phase. Students will continue to hone and sharpen these skills as they move through school and will read and understand increasingly complex texts. This ongoing phase will continue throughout each student’s academic career and beyond. This work is mostly executed through silent reading.
What is silent reading fluency?
Silent reading fluency is the ability to comfortably read silently with concentration, at appropriate reading rates and with clear understanding. This skill bridges the gap between word recognition and comprehension. Silent reading is a combination of three types of skills that actively work in concert as a student reads. It is:
Physical: When students read, their eyes move across each word of a sentence in a specific order and an efficient manner.
Cognitive: Once students have moved their eyes across the text, they identify the vocabulary of each word and string the sentence together to comprehend the meaning.
Emotional: When students finish reading their feelings contribute to the outcomes. If students feel confident about reading and have interest in the content, they are more likely to continue to read.
What does strong reading fluency look like?
Students cannot achieve fluency without the ability to recognize and understand words immediately and decode unfamiliar words. Strong fluency is created by automaticity, language comprehension and a solid vocabulary. It allows for improved text comprehension and empowers readers to build their vocabularies, which enables greater comprehension of more complex texts.
When fluent readers read silently, they:
Recognize words automatically
Group words quickly
Gain meaning from text
Students must continually master all these skills while engaged with reading to become proficient silent readers. However, unlike oral reading fluency, effective silent reading fluency is difficult for teachers to monitor and intervene if students need support. Silent reading fluency is an unseen and unheard skill, and it is undeniably necessary to become a proficient reader.
BETHESDA, Md./PRNewswire-PRWeb/ —EPS Learning, the leading provider of PreK-12 literacy solutions, announced that four of its programs have been recommended by the Virginia Board of Education for evidence-based literacy instruction that’s aligned to science-based reading research. The recognition supports Virginia schools in a multi-year effort to improve early learning outcomes for students who are below proficiency levels in reading.
According to the 2022–2023 Virginia Assessment Results, which demonstrate significant and persistent learning loss in reading and math, more than half of students in grades 3-8 either failed or were at risk of failing their reading SOL exam. To remedy reading proficiency beginning in the 2024–2025 school year, the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) will mandate core literacy and research-grounded instruction for K–5 students. The enacted legislation provides tools, resources, technical assistance and funding to schools within the state.
EPS Learning programs meet the required parameters to be recommended as top literacy intervention solutions, including alignment with evidence-based literacy instruction, comprehensive and intensive intervention, support that is accessible and can be easily implemented into any curriculum, inclusivity and representation. The EPS Learning programs included in the recommendation are:
SPIRE Family (Specialized Program Individualizing Reading Excellence): Provides explicit, systematic, multisensory instruction through an easy-to-implement intensive program.
Reading Assistant for SPIRE: Offers assessment, including a dyslexia screener, highly personalized reading practice for students and real time performance data for teachers through an AI-powered virtual “tutor.”
Megawords: Teaches the reading, spelling and contextual uses of multisyllabic words through multisensory instruction and a systematic progression of skills.
Wordly Wise 3000: Provides direct academic vocabulary instruction to develop the critical link between vocabulary and reading comprehension.
SPIRE Next™: Provides skills-based, genre-specific instruction and practice that uses close reading to build comprehension.
Additionally, EPS Learning offers several sets of decodable readers and other materials not subject to VLA approval that complement these programs:
Readfetti – full-color fiction and non-fiction decodable readers and read aloud cards that align with many popular phonics programs
Mac & Tab – decodable readers featuring an adorable cat and rat, made popular through the Primary Phonics program
Alphabet Series – decodable readers including charming stories, made popular through the Recipe for Reading program
“The recognition of EPS Learning solutions by the Virginia Department of Education further validates our framework for literacy instruction that’s backed by nearly 70 years of experience,” said Steven Guttentag, Chief Executive Officer at EPS Learning. “We champion Virginia’s significant efforts to ensure that all students in the state can access literacy as the springboard to lifelong learning and opportunity.”
About EPS Learning EPS Learning has partnered with educators for more than 70 years to advance literacy as the springboard for lifelong learning and opportunity. The 20+ literacy solutions included in the EPS Literacy Framework are based on the science of reading and support grades PreK through 12, all tiers of instruction, and every pillar of reading. EPS Learning offers evidence-based intervention and customized professional learning to help move students toward growth, mastery, and success. Visit http://www.epslearning.com to learn more.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
Background: Who determined the five components of reading? Congress asked the National Reading Panel NRP to determine the best approaches to help children read. As a result of their research and evaluation, the organization issued an evidence-based, nearly 500-page report of their findings. Teaching Children to Read divided reading instruction into five components and summarized available research. […]
This podcast, Sold a Story, was produced by APM Reports and reprinted with permission.
There’s an idea about how children learn to read that’s held sway in schools for more than a generation – even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this new American Public Media podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It’s an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn’t true and are now reckoning with the consequences – children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.
Episode 9: The Aftermath
Schools around the country are changing the way they teach reading. And that is having major consequences for people who sold the flawed theory we investigated in Sold a Story. But Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell are fighting back — and fighting to stay relevant. And so are organizations that promoted their work: The Reading Recovery Council of North America and the publisher, Heinemann.
This podcast, Sold a Story, was produced by APM Reports and reprinted with permission.
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The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–( BUSINESS WIRE)–A new survey published today found that 85% of US high school students are interested in learning about financial topics in school. To close the gap in financial literacy, Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, today launched Intuit for Education, a new financial literacy program that provides high school teachers and students with free personal and entrepreneurial finance courses. The company also launched the Intuit Hour of Finance Challenge to challenge schools to spend one hour on financial education during Financial Literacy Month in April.
“Without personal finance knowledge, students struggle to make informed financial decisions, jeopardizing their long-term financial success after graduating,” said Dave Zasada, vice president of Education and Corporate Responsibility at Intuit. “We know that financial education works. Our survey shows that 95% of students who receive financial curriculum at school find it helpful. As an organization that has been powering prosperity globally for 40 years, Intuit recognizes our unique opportunity and set a goal to help 50 million students become more financially literate, capable, and confident by 2030.”
Intuit for Education
Available now, Intuit for Education is a free financial literacy program for US high school educators that offers a flexible, interactive curriculum leveraging real-world tools. Intuit for Education includes comprehensive personal and entrepreneurial finance courses, and features interactive lessons and simulations powered by Intuit products such as TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp. By providing educators with easy-to-use resources to teach essential skills like budgeting, saving, managing credit, and understanding basic finances, the company aims to prepare students to make smart financial choices. Intuit has set a goal to help 50 million students become financially literate, empowered, and confident through their use of Intuit for Education content by 2030. Intuit for Education includes more than 150 hours of curriculum that is customizable and supports educators by offering free live and on-demand professional development for educators, including webinars and podcasts.
Hour of Finance Challenge
As part of Intuit for Education, Intuit today announced its first-ever Intuit Hour of Finance Challenge to encourage all schools to spend one hour on financial education during Financial Literacy Month in April. The challenge includes plug-and-play lesson plans based on Intuit for Education curriculum, and an online game designed to teach critical financial concepts such as taxes, credit, and investments. Intuit Prosperity Quest is an interactive online game that makes financial education fun and relevant for students. This nationwide challenge gives schools a chance to compete against each other to win a celebration worth up to $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000, depending on the school size.
For more information on these free nationwide programs, visit Intuit.com/education. To learn more and sign up your school for the Intuit Hour of Finance Challenge, visit intuit.com/houroffinance.
Intuit Financial Education Survey
To better understand the experiences of high school students and their relationship with personal finances, Intuit surveyed 2,000 U.S. high school students between March 15 and March 25, 2024. The survey revealed that 95% of students who receive financial education at school find it helpful, and 85% of all high school students surveyed want financial education at school. To learn more about the insights from Intuit’s Financial Education survey and Intuit for Education, visit the Intuit blog.
About Intuit
Intuit is the global financial technology platform that powers prosperity for the people and communities we serve. With approximately 100 million customers worldwide using products such as TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit us at Intuit.com and find us on social for the latest information about Intuit and our products and services.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Teacher Yasmin Kudrolli sat on a low chair and lit a candle to start the morning meeting in her prekindergarten classroom in Oakland. Speaking quietly to her 4-year-old students, she picked one boy from the group to count his classmates: 22.
California mandates one adult for every 12 students in what it calls “transitional kindergarten,” so there’s an aide standing by the door, ready to take any child who needs to use the bathroom into the main building. Families from Oakland’s higher-income neighborhoods have been drawn to the transitional kindergarten program in her school, which had a waiting list at the beginning of the school year.
Across town, but in the same school district, teacher Alicia Simba leads 13 students, all 4-year-olds, in a breathing exercise in her classroom. Her 14th student is crying in the reading nook. She wants to go home.
“You’re going to be okay, sweetheart,” Simba says soothingly. She brings out a basket of percussion instruments and the crying child smiles broadly.
When a boy says he has to use the bathroom, Simba asks him to hold it until lunch, which is 30 minutes away. She should have an aide to take him, but she doesn’t. The school where she works can’t afford to hire extra staff due to very low enrollment.
It’s the second year of California’s uneven four-year rollout of universal transitional kindergarten, an ambitious, multi-billion dollar initiative to make high-quality education available to each of the state’s 4-year-olds, an estimated 400,000 children.
The plan is that the $2.7 billion program will be fully implemented by the 2025-26 school year across the nearly 900 districts in the state that include elementary grades. It will be the largest universal prekindergarten program in the country.
But like the children in these two classrooms — some of whom are ready for school and others who aren’t even potty-trained — some districts are on schedule and some are not.
Theodore Ling, left, and Makena Kinoti play in the transitional kindergarten at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland, Calif. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
There are teachers who should have aides, but don’t. There are districts, like rural Mendocino, where some transitional kindergarten classrooms don’t have attached bathrooms and where school playgrounds aren’t designed for 4-year-olds. Many districts can’t hire enough staff for afterschool programs to accommodate the new transitional kindergarten students, forcing working families to scramble for care. The state has not provided learning expectations for this new grade. Handling toileting issues for young pupils is a headache.
Some, but not all, of these kinks might be worked out by the time the program is fully implemented in 2025. The state is slowly increasing the number of children who are eligible based on birth month, an approach that has been confusing for parents but which buys districts time to set up appropriate spaces to meet demand. In the 2023-24 school year, children who will turn 5 by April 2, 2024, were able to enroll. This coming fall, children who have a fifth birthday by June 2, 2025, can enroll. By the 2025-26 school year, all children who are 4 years old by the beginning of the school year in September will be eligible. That year classroom ratios will also go down, requiring one adult for every 10 students.
By offering free, high-quality transitional kindergarten in public schools, California will go a long way to help level the playing field for children entering kindergarten, officials say. Regardless of income, families will have access to top-notch early schooling. Additionally, officials say the state’s massive investment will shine a light on the earliest years of education and make it more likely that districts will align curriculum from preschool through third grade.
That’s the hope. In the meantime, districts are figuring out how to serve this new, and quite different, age group without a unifying roadmap.
“There’s a new grade out there and no clear guidance yet from the state as to what should be covered in it,” said Alix Gallagher, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), based at Stanford University.
Wateen Khawaj attends prekindergarten — or what California calls “transitional kindergarten,” at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland. California plans to make transitional kindergarten available to all 4-year-olds in the state by the 2025-26 school year. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
On the one hand, Gallagher said, the state could be criticized for not having clear guidance about what transitional kindergarten should look like when it started the expansion, especially since some districts had been offering transitional kindergarten for a decade before the statewide mandate.
“On the other hand,” Gallagher said, “making a new grade and requiring universal access is not something that is always politically available.”
In this case, politics favor early childhood advocates. They have a powerful ally in Gov. Gavin Newsom, who campaigned on his support for early learning and announced his intention to propose universal preschool, which includes transitional kindergarten, in a 2020 legislative master plan.
So ready or not, California’s transitional kindergarten classrooms are open for business.
Students in a California transitional kindergarten classroom wait to go to the bathroom with an aide. Because there are no bathrooms in the classroom at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland, the aide takes groups to a school restroom during designated breaks. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
There is little disagreement among early childhood advocates that California’s investment in early childhood education is good policy. High-quality transitional kindergarten is seen as a bridge between preschool and kindergarten. Done right, it gives children time to develop the emergent literacy, social-emotional and fine motor skills needed to succeed in kindergarten.
The bill Gov. Newsom signed in 2021 to expand transitional kindergarten to all districts calls specifically for high-quality programs. A 2017 study of California’s pre-expansion transitional kindergarten programs found that children who attended were better prepared for kindergarten than those who didn’t. But another, more recent, report found that early benefits did not lead to improved test scores in grades three and four.
That’s why it’s critical that districts ensure that their early-grade teachers collaborate to develop a vision for the grades from pre-kindergarten to third grade, so instruction and assessments are linked, said Steven Kellner, director of program sustainability and growth at California Education Partners. A 2021 report by the educational law firm Foresight Law and Policy notes that California schools are only held accountable for student learning outcomes, in the form of standardized test scores, from grades three and up.
“The statewide incentive system doesn’t promote districts to focus on the early grades,” Kellner said. “They’re untested on the state dashboard, and under No Child Left Behind, but they’re the most essential.”
It’s significant, he said, that the state’s initiative requires that transitional kindergarten teachers be fully credentialed and have at least 24 units in early childhood education, childhood development or both. Essentially, California has added a new grade: Teachers working with 4-year-olds are now part of an elementary school’s teaching staff. Keller said that the presence of these new teachers, and students, in schools, may have the effect of linking high-quality early education to success at higher grades — a perspective that isn’t front-of-mind for many administrators.
“If you want kids to be reading at grade level in third grade, you can’t start that work in third grade,” Kellner said. “But if students reach third grade at grade level, they have an outstanding chance of maintaining that [rate of progress] all the way to graduation.”
The state has yet to release an update to its Preschool Learning Foundations, which will spell out what students are expected learn in transitional kindergarten classrooms. Experts say the best curriculum should be play-based. Districts are deciding for themselves which curriculum to use.
Drawing and cutting are a prekindergarten activity intended to strengthen fine motor skills. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
“Can students in TK learn their letters? Absolutely,” said Noemi Valdez, director of early childhood education in Oxnard School District. “But not necessarily by writing. They can tear tissue and use glue to paste the letters to paper.”
Oxnard, a district of about 14,000 students 60 miles from Los Angeles, began offering transitional kindergarten in 2017 when it became clear that most of the district’s kindergarteners weren’t ready for school. When the district’s first transitional kindergarten classrooms opened, some 60 percent of its kindergarteners had not been to preschool. Today, the district has more than 700 transitional kindergarten students.
Many transitional kindergarten activities are designed to help children develop their fine motor skills so they will be able to hold a pencil steady for writing, Valdez said. Stations where children can play with dough and sort through buckets of rice to find scattered paper clips will help students attain these skills and meet the goals of cutting with scissors on their own and drawing a straight line, she said.
“All of our centers are manipulated by the teacher for a certain goal or learning experience,” Valdez said. “Play-based is not a free-for-all. It is a context for learning.”
Students Makena Kinoti, left, and Temma McCord practice writing with Yasmin Kudrolli, a transitional kindergarten teacher in Oakland, Calif. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
So, what does high-quality transitional kindergarten look like? California requires a transitional kindergarten classroom to have no more than 12 students with one teacher, or up to 24 students with one teacher and an aide. It shouldn’t be a combo class with kindergarten.
The room should have space for children to rotate through learning centers that might include tables with puzzles and manipulative toys, drawing and painting, musical instruments and building blocks. Objects should be labeled with their names in every language spoken by children in the class. Bathrooms used by kids in preschool, transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, the state says, should be accessible only to those students.
But for 4-year-olds, using bathrooms independently is often a major milestone.
Before Sara LaPietra’s son Theodore started transitional kindergarten in San Diego in 2022, LaPietra was worried he might not be completely ready to use the bathroom on his own. It turned out that he was ready, but the bathrooms themselves weren’t.
“It just seems like the state overlooked some details that seem obvious as a parent,” she said. “A 4-year-old needs to be able to reach the toilet and the paper towels.”
Toileting, it turns out, is a big issue in transitional kindergarten classrooms. Coming out of the social isolation many children experienced during the height of the pandemic, some 4-year-olds are developmentally behind. Some kids in transitional kindergarten aren’t fully potty trained, which leads to staffing issues. Kirstin Hills, director of early learning and care for the Mendocino County Office of Education, would like to see bathroom assistance added to the job description for transitional kindergarten teachers.
“When you work in a licensed child care center, you have to supervise the kids every minute they are in your care, including when they use the restroom,” Hills said. “In a TK-12 system, it’s not in the job description to assist with toileting. Same kids, but totally different approach.”
A teacher aide helps a prekindergarten student wash up during a designated bathroom break at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland, Calif. Bathroom breaks have been one complicated aspect of expanding prekindergarten statewide, teachers say. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
In transitional kindergarten classrooms where there is an aide, they can help, but whether the aide actually goes into the bathroom with children depends on district guidelines. The state has not weighed in. Simba, one of the Oakland teachers, had to hold a class meeting with her students recently to talk about how much toilet paper they are using, because the toilet was getting clogged. Without an aide, Simba has to let the children use the bathroom on their own. She can’t leave the classroom unattended.
“If they are toilet trained, who can take them to the bathroom?” said Simba, who has her master’s degree and is fully credentialed. “Who should take them?”
Access to care outside of school hours is another barrier to family participation in transitional kindergarten. In Fresno, for example, nearly 2,000 children attend transitional kindergarten and the district offers afterschool care at all school sites. But the district can’t keep up with demand, even after more than doubling staff.
“Addressing students on the waitlist [for afterschool programs] is ongoing work,” said Jeremy Ward, assistant superintendent of college and career readiness for Fresno Unified Schools. “As soon as we’re able to provide more staffing for an elementary school to take students off the waitlist, more step forward wanting access.”
Offering after-school care is a big priority in Fresno, because so many students come from working families where a full day of care is a necessity. The district has focused on reaching families of English-language learners to inform them about transitional kindergarten and to support their attendance, said Maria Ceballos Tapia, executive officer of the district’s Early Learning Department.
Students Neek Nasiri, left, and Yuv Desai, right, play outside before lunch at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland, Calif. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
But there’s a staffing shortage for after-school programs. Although districts have money to pay for staff — in 2021 California allocated $4.6 billion for expanded learning opportunities, including afterschool and summer learning programs — in many communities there simply aren’t enough people applying for the jobs.
Willits Unified School District, in rural Mendocino County, puts transitional kindergarten students who need after care on a bus and takes them to a private daycare center for the last half of the day.
“Fast food restaurants are paying $20 an hour and we’re paying $17 or $18 an hour to work with kids,” said Kim McDougal, executive director of the YMCA’s child resource service in San Diego. “[The staffing shortage has] been severe post-Covid and it’s become even more challenging.”
In San Diego, the YMCA operates after-school programs at nearly 30 elementary schools. One site has the capacity to serve 150 students, McDougal said, but is only serving 85 because they can’t hire enough staff.
“After care is the real sticking point,” said Kellner, of California Education Partners. “If we’re looking for the kind of enrollment that Newsom and the legislature predicted, the key is after care. The good news is the funds were appropriated. Now it’s really about marshaling human capital.”
Teacher aide Inti Farwell takes students in groups of six and uses a buddy system on their designated bathroom breaks at Kaiser Early Childhood Center in Oakland, Calif. Credit: Alison Yin for The Hechinger Report
Universal transitional kindergarten will be a success, experts say, if classroom instruction is high-quality and if after-school programs are available to all families who need it. But other early childhood education advocates worry that successful transitional kindergarten programs will come at the expense of private child care and preschool.
California child care providers are operating at 50 to 80 percent of their enrollment capacity because families have taken their 4-year-olds out, said Dave Esbin, executive director of Californians for Quality Early Learning, a nonprofit that supports child care educators.
For years, child care providers have struggled to maintain staffing levels in daycare centers and preschools, Esbin said. Now, low enrollment of 4-year-olds is a bigger problem than retaining staff.
“The child care ecosystem was already very fragile coming out of Covid, and even before that,” Esbin said. “It’s a challenging business model. Now it’s really tipping the scale toward becoming a non-viable business model.”
By the 2025-26 school year, California plans to have transitional kindergarten programs available to all 400,000 of the state’s 4-year-olds.
Caring for infants requires one caregiver for every three babies, he said, while preschools have a 1-12 ratio of adults to children. Caring for preschoolers helps subsidize the more expensive infant care, so losing 4-year-olds could have a major impact.
School districts are also struggling to predict where 4-year-olds will go. While officials in districts like Oakland and Fresno study birth rates to anticipate which schools will have full transitional kindergarten classrooms, parents may be unaware that transitional kindergarten exists or are confused by the age requirement.
“It’s quite complicated for parents to know if their 4-year-olds are eligible,” said Kellner, “and for districts to know how many 4-year-olds will come. That’s why progress has been so uneven.”
Messaging about the program isn’t reaching everyone, or every group, equally. A recent survey conducted by Stanford University’s Center on Early Childhood found that most California families with young children are aware of free transitional kindergarten and plan on enrolling their children. But there are discrepancies: While just over 90 percent of surveyed middle- to upper-income families had heard of transitional kindergarten, only about 60 percent of lower-income parents knew about it.
“By 2025-26, when every 4-year-old is welcome,” said Kellner, “we’ll get a much better sense of how this will play out.”
Teachers of students who are enrolled in transitional kindergarten now say that it is making a positive difference, even amid the statewide challenges.
“You can tell the children who haven’t been to preschool. They aren’t used to the socializing and the routines,” said Kudrolli, one of the Oakland teachers. “Last year there was one boy who stood in the middle of the room for the first month and just soaked it all in, like ‘What happened? Where am I?’ By the end of the year he was completely adjusted.”
The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.
Despite being published over 50 years ago, Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar still resonates with kids today. It is so beloved that there is even a special day dedicated to this favorite book: March 20 is known as Very Hungry Caterpillar Day around the world. Some even celebrate author Eric Carle’s birthday on June 25. Whether you are in the mood for a good art project, science lesson, or even a healthy snack, the possibilities for classroom activities, art projects, and crafts based on this beloved tale are endless. Check out our favorite Very Hungry Caterpillar activities that celebrate this classic children’s book.
Being able to recognize the similarities and differences between letters is an important skill for early readers and writers. With this fun activity, kids build caterpillars letter by letter by sorting them into curves and straights.
This activity is a fun way to work on another important literacy skill: sequencing. After reading the story together, students can retell it in order by clipping the story sequence circles (download here) onto the caterpillar body.
These simple, colorful word puzzles are a novel way to practice letter sounds, shape recognition, word building, and fine motor skills. Download templates here.
Speaking of fine motor skills, kids will love this activity. They will chomp and munch through the fruit shapes using a caterpillar hole punch. Have them retell the story as they munch so you can check for comprehension.
Get your hands dirty and give a little nature lesson while celebrating The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This blog gives you step-by-step directions (scroll down to Thursday’s entry) for creating your own project.
Read the story to your students, then create the life cycle of a butterfly. We love Very Hungry Caterpillar activities that can be re-created using items you likely already have at home or can gather during a nature walk.
Looking for Very Hungry Caterpillar activities that combine art and math? These free fingerprint counting printables make learning number sense fun while giving your kids a chance to get their hands messy. Also, check out Totschooling’s free dot-paint packet, which includes tons of activities to help kids work on fine motor skills, counting skills, prereading and prewriting skills, and more.
Use this fun basket when reading the story with your class, then have it available afterward for kids to enjoy in a choice center. Include the book, a caterpillar, a butterfly, and plastic foods for the caterpillar to munch on.
Have each student paint a green circle on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of white card stock. If you have time to take and print photos of each child, have them glue their photo inside of their circle. If not, ask each student to draw a self-portrait. Join the children’s pages together with staples or tape and add the caterpillar’s head (see photo for sample). Hang your class caterpillar in the hall outside your classroom or on your door to share with your school.
Use the Very Hungry Caterpillar story as a jumping-off point for a discussion about healthy eating, then have your students create this adorable snack. Be sure to check for allergies before creating this tasty little guy with your little chefs.
Use this free printable to create fruit, caterpillar, leaf, and butterfly pieces, then spread them out on a large white sheet on the floor. Test your students’ recollection skills as they act out the events in the story.
Sensory bins are a great way for young kids to learn through tactile play. This adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar–inspired sensory bin is made up of dried chickpeas, dried peas, dried lentils, and some liquid watercolors. Kids will have fun creating the main character of this beloved children’s classic.
If you’re short on time, a store-bought activity might just be the way to go. With nearly five stars and over 1,500 reviews on Amazon, we think this game is a real winner!
This video starring a puppet of none other than the Very Hungry Caterpillar will be sure to captivate your students. It may even inspire your students to act out their new favorite story!
Amazon
17. Hatch Butterflies
Growing and hatching actual butterflies is a magical experience even for adults. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the perfect book to tie together ELA and STEM lessons. The sweet story is a good introduction to the life cycle of a caterpillar. We love that this kit comes with a journal to record student observations during the process. Finally, release those beautiful butterflies outside as a class.
These adorable handmade story stones make the perfect addition to any classroom. Students can follow along with the story as they string together these discs. They can also lay them out on a rug or floor and work together to find the right stone for each part of the story.
This caterpillar necklace is a fantastic way to get kids’ imaginations going and support fine motor skills. This simple activity involves threading dyed penne noodles and paper discs cut from construction paper onto a piece of yarn. Tie off the ends, and your kids will have a fancy necklace to share with their families.
This colorful craft is as fun as it is pretty! Children tear squares from thick sheets of tissue paper and glue them onto a pre-cut card-stock butterfly to replicate the one at the end of the book.
This activity will be sure to delight your students since young kids love to play with play dough. Provide them with a rainbow of colors, then watch as they re-create scenes from the beloved story.
Kids (and adults) love painting rocks so what better way to bring this famous story to life? It’s hard to get details with paintbrushes so grab some paint markers before working on this project.
This simple craft works on fine motor skills since kids will have to work on bending pipe cleaners around Popsicle sticks. The end product will be an oh-so adorable new caterpillar that can double as a desk buddy!
No activity roundup for The Very Hungry Caterpillar would be complete without the classic egg carton caterpillar. Yes, it’s been done before, but it’s one of those memorable activities (and keepsakes) that every kid loves.
We love how simple this project is, since all you will need are some pipe cleaners and beads and maybe some green card stock. Kids will be working on their fine motor control while getting creative.
Printmaking but for the pre-K crowd! This is so easy to do: Just put some green, yellow, and red paint on a paper plate, hand the kiddos some balloons, and watch them create. Just be warned, however, things could get messy!
What better way to bring The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to life than by dressing the part? This adorable mask can be made using art materials you probably already have lying around. You may just need to buy a pack of sturdy paper plates and a roll of elastic.
In the Playroom
29. Cupcake Liner Caterpillars
Flatten some green and red cupcake liners, add googly eyes and sequins, then create this adorable caterpillar. You can get other colored cupcake liners as well so you can create the butterfly at the end of the book too!
This adorable book features a little caterpillar lying on a leaf on the cover, his cozy cocoon on the back, and the butterfly he becomes in the middle. Hang these books from your classroom ceiling for a colorful display.
While crafts are great for working our little ones’ creative minds, we love that this project works on letter recognition, name building, and pattern creation as well.
Download the free printable or create your own puppets based on the story. Regardless of whether kids want to re-create the story from memory or create their own, fun is sure to be had!
Use pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes to create these adorable caterpillars. Cut out some fresh green leaves, pop them into a mason jar, and give your students their very own lovable pet.
This project might be too detailed to do with little students, but you can create it yourself for use in your classroom. You could also have the kids help with some of the easier parts. Then, when working on some Very Hungry Caterpillar activities, your students can store their markers inside their new favorite character.
The snow is melting, the temperatures are rising, the birds are chirping, and the sound of children at play are filling the air. Springtime is right around the corner, and with it, the hopes and plans of many. Spirits rise in spring, and your students are certainly not immune. Perhaps you want to incorporate a writing prompt about spring into your next ELA lesson. Or maybe you need an inspirational message to share at the start of class. Bookmark this page for sharing some of our favorite spring quotes in the classroom!
Spring Quotes by Poets
No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring. – Samuel Johnson
There are no ordinary feelings. Just as there are no ordinary spring days or kicked-over cans of paint. – Dean Young
And as he came he saw that it was spring, A time abhorrent to the nihilist Or searcher for the fecund minimum. – Wallace Stevens
A little Madness in the Spring Is wholesome even for the King. – Emily Dickinson
In California in the early Spring, There are pale yellow mornings, when the mist burns slowly into day, The air stings like Autumn, clarifies like pain – Well, I have dreamed this coast myself. – Robert Hass
One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring. – Aldo Leopold
Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers. – Thomas Tusser
Spring’s greatest joy beyond a doubt is when it brings the children out. – Edgar Guest
But the true nature of the human heart is as whimsical as spring weather. All signals may aim toward a fall of rain when suddenly the skies will clear. – Maya Angelou
Spring has come back again. The Earth is like a child that’s got poems by heart. – Rainer Maria Rilke
The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. When the sun is out and the wind is still, You’re one month on in the middle of May. – Robert Frost
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. – Anne Bradstreet
It is about five o’clock in an evening that the first hour of spring strikes—autumn arrives in the early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day. – Elizabeth Bowen
What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow. What are brief? today and tomorrow. What are frail? spring blossoms and youth. What are deep? the ocean and truth. – Christina Rossetti
If spring came but once a century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Dead my old fine hopes And dry my dreaming but still … Iris, blue each spring – Shushiki
Quotes About Spring by Songwriters and Musicians
It’s spring again. I can hear the birds sing again. See the flowers start to bud. See young people fall in love. – Lou Rawls
Spring is here, there’s no mistaking Robins building nests from coast to coast My heart tries to sing so they won’t hear it breaking Spring can really hang you up the most – Ella Fitzgerald
The spring, summer, is quite a hectic time for people in their lives, but then it comes to autumn, and to winter, and you can’t but help think back to the year that was, and then hopefully looking forward to the year that is approaching. – Enya
Spring fever, spring is here at last. Spring fever, my heart’s beating fast. Get up, get out. Spring is everywhere. – Elvis Presley
You make me feel so young, you make me feel so spring has sprung. – Frank Sinatra
There will be children with robins and flowers; sunshine caresses each new waking hour. – Rascal Flatts
Spring time. As the view from the window is getting greener and greener, my heart is getting stronger and stronger. – Yoko Ono
Spring Quotes by Philosophers and Mathematicians
For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors. – Walter Benjamin
I return to the newborn world, and the soft-soil fields, What their first birthing lifted to the shores Of light, and trusted to the wayward winds. First the Earth gave the shimmer of greenery And grasses to deck the hills; then over the meadows The flowering fields are bright with the color of springtime, And for all the trees that shoot into the air. – Lucretius
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Cicero
In these minute creatures [insects], so nearly akin as they are to non-entity, how surpassing the intelligence, how vast the resources, and how ineffable the perfection which she [Nature] has displayed. – Pliny the Elder
A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love. – Max Muller
It seems to be true that many things have as it were, an epoch in which they are discovered in several places simultaneously, just as the violets appear on all sides in springtime. – Farkas Bolyai
Mathematical discoveries, like springtime violets in the woods, have their season which no human can hasten or retard. – Carl Friedrich Gauss
Quotes About Spring by Actors
The spring in Boston is like being in love: bad days slip in among the good ones, and the whole world is at a standstill, then the sun shines, the tears dry up, and we forget that yesterday was stormy. – Louise Closser Hale
Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying. – George Carlin
Gardening is the greatest tonic and therapy a human being can have. Even if you have only a tiny piece of earth, you can create something beautiful, which we all have a great need for. If we begin by respecting plants, it’s inevitable we’ll respect people. – Audrey Hepburn
It’s a wonderful opportunity to be part of a child’s growing up, which is always an endless springtime. You see the blossoming and the growing and the nurturing and the payoff. – Harrison Ford
I like to run in the springtime or in the fall … if I’m outside, I could just run for ages. – AnnaSophia Robb
I realize there’s nothing quite as satisfying as eating food that you’ve pulled up from the ground, and that’s why, at the height of the planting season, I bury cans of tomato soup in my backyard and dig them up in late spring. – Ellen DeGeneres
Quotes About Spring by Writers
From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April, dress’d in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in everything. – William Shakespeare
Beauty is a form of Genius—is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. – Oscar Wilde
Youth has its romance, and maturity its wisdom, as morning and spring have their freshness, noon and summer their power, night and winter their repose. Each attribute is good in its own season. – Charlotte Brontë
It is better to remember our love as it was in the springtime. – Bess Streeter Aldrich, Spring Came On Forever
In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours. – Mark Twain
There’s a word in Japanese for being sad in the springtime—a whole word for just being sad—about how pretty the flowers are and how soon they’re going to die. – Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House and Other Plays
It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what. – John Galsworthy
Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring. – Vladimir Nabokov, Mary
I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now. One does, I think, as one gets older. – Virginia Woolf
“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?” … “It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own. – Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Revolution is as unpredictable as an earthquake and as beautiful as spring. Its coming is always a surprise, but its nature should not be. – Rebecca Solnit, The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness
I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather God has to offer. – Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle
The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world. – Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden
You need friends who think you’re fabulous, an angel in human shape, and a breath of springtime. – Cynthia Heimel
The only thing that could spoil a day was people. … People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself. – Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. – Harriet Jacobs
Every intoxicating delight of early spring was in the air. The breeze that fanned her cheek was laden with subtle perfume and the crisp, fresh odor of unfolding leaves. – Gene Stratton-Porter, The Song of the Cardinal
Gardening is not a rational act. In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. – Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard’s Egg
The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts. – Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
Spring was running in a thin green flame over the Valley. – Ellen Glasgow, Vein of Iron
Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat. – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Stronger than iron crueler than death sweeter than springtime it lives beyond breath – Juliet Marillier, Cybele’s Secret
Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower. – Albert Camus, The Misunderstanding
Spring Quotes by Political and Religious Figures
When Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil. – Reginald Heber
Middle age is the way you would feel about summer if you knew there would never be another spring. – Clare Boothe Luce, The Women
Satan knows that youth is the springtime of life when all things are new and young people are most vulnerable. – Ezra Taft Benson
This [Ireland] is not the land of my birth, but it is the land for which I hold the greatest affection, and I certainly will come back in the springtime – John F. Kennedy
If there is any danger in the present weather, in the name of God, Monsieur, wait until spring. – Vincent de Paul
In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America’s is. – Ronald Reagan
All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring and the crop in summer. – Marcus Aurelius
DERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — On a bright fall morning last year, a shimmering, human-sized Hershey’s Kiss with bright blue eyes greeted delighted children and their parents outside of the first early childhood education center launched by the Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning.
Inside the new nearly 51,000-square-foot facility, built to accommodate 150 students, children funneled into their bright, well-stocked classrooms. They were welcomed by teachers who had spent 12 months in paid professional development, unusual in a field where teacher training varies greatly. The young students, ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years, went about their day in well-stocked, spacious classrooms, playing and learning in small groups. The ample staff provided low student-to-teacher ratios and allowed for large amounts of individual attention.
The day featured visits to the center’s “STEM Garden,” where children could learn about gardening, nature and animals from several interactive displays that offer child-appropriate introduction to science, technology, engineering and math. The kids had abundant time to run, climb and pedal bikes in one of several outdoor play spaces. And they gathered with their classmates to enjoy several family-style meals and snacks, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, Southwest turkey chili and tuna casserole.
On paper, this child care program seems like it would cost parents tens of thousands of dollars a year, rivaling college tuition, as many early learning programs do. But here in picturesque Hershey, Derry Township’s best known community, it’s all free: the first brick and mortar of a new initiative cooked up by stewards of the Hershey billions.
The early learning center, located in a town that engenders Willy Wonka vibes with street names like “Chocolate Avenue,” street lights shaped like Hershey’s Kisses and a faint scent of sweetness that wafts through the air, is one of the most recent examples of billionaires launching child care programs.
Similar efforts to provide free early care and learning are sprinkled throughout the country, including “Montessori-inspired” preschools in six states funded by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, as well as several programs sponsored by hotel magnate Harris Rosen in Orlando, Florida. In Pennsylvania, the Hershey early learning program is one of what will ultimately be six free early childhood education centers around Pennsylvania, at a cost of $350 million, funded by the Milton Hershey School Trust. (Catherine Hershey Schools are a subsidiary of the Hershey-based residential Milton Hershey School.)
In a country with exorbitantly priced child care and a lack of available, high-quality options, initiatives like these provide a new opportunity to see the effect that free or heavily subsidized high-quality child care — something that is already the norm in many other wealthy, developed nations — could have in America. The fact that robust federal child care funding legislation has repeatedly been killed by legislators means that foundation funding may be among the few — and the fastest — ways to launch and test certain programs or approaches to the early years.
The hope is that ultimately, private investment will help a community “invest in something and push it forward and … help it move to the point where it gets public attention,” as well as public funds, said Rena Large, program manager at the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC), an organization that helps philanthropists invest in the early years.
Allyson Anderson’s daughter, Lilah, shows her class an “alligator breath” that she made up. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
In the past few years, private foundations have taken on an outsized role in early learning programs and systems, funding initiatives that raise staff compensation, support existing or new programs and provide emergency funds. Nationwide, the amount of grants aimed at early childhood has increased significantly, from $720.8 million between 2013 and 2015, to $1 billion between 2021 and 2023, according to data compiled by the collaborative from the nonprofit Candid’s philanthropy database. (Data is self-reported and categorized by funders.)
Within the early childhood collaborative, membership numbers have tripled since 2016. “The pandemic brought more people to the table,” said Shannon Rudisill, executive director of the funders collaborative. “There’s been a real blossoming of innovation.” Many of those funders are hopeful that their efforts will lead to federal investment, as well as “policy and systems change,” she added.
At the same time, philanthropic involvement in education overall, including in early learning, raises questions around best practices. Are philanthropists adequately considering the needs of communities? How can and should a philanthropy involve community and existing efforts in the field? Are philanthropies listening to research and experts as they go forth and create? Should philanthropies reinvent the wheel or invest in what already exists?
Supplies sit on a shelf at the Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning in the community of Hershey, Pa. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
Some in the early childhood community have criticized Bezos’ efforts, for example, arguing the billionaire should have supported existing, research-backed early learning programs and systems rather than creating “Montessori-inspired” schools based on what he thought children needed. And there could be unintended downstream effects of philanthropic programming or influence. For example, Hershey’s salary and benefits package is comparable to that offered by local school district, which may draw child care employees away from local programs that pay less.
Hershey’s latest endeavor came from a clear community need identified by officials at the early childhood center. In Hershey — a community about 95 miles west of Philadelphia — and surrounding areas, child care is scarce and poverty is high. Over the past decade, teachers at the nearby Milton Hershey School, a private K-12 boarding school, noticed their youngest students were coming in markedly behind previous cohorts.
“The needs of the children enrolling at 4 and 5 and 6 were more pronounced than they ever were before,” said Pete Gurt, president of the Milton Hershey School and Catherine Hershey Schools. They needed more support with social and emotional, academic, language and even life skills, like potty training.
“When you look at the landscape [of child care] in Pennsylvania, it’s no different than anywhere else. You’ve got high demand, short supply, and of the supply, not as many organizations would be identified as high quality,” he added.
The Hershey, Pa., location of the Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning is the first of what will eventually be six early childhood education centers across Pennsylvania. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
When I visited the Hershey school in October, friends and colleagues delighted in the idea of chocolate billionaires funding child care:
“Do they give them chocolate all day long?” (No, they do not.)
“I hope they give them dental screenings, ha.” (They do, for free.)
“Is it secretly a training pipeline for future Hershey employees?” (Not that I could tell, although officials from Hershey’s hospitality division were in the school’s lobby one morning to provide career information for parents.)
In addition to the trained educators, low ratios and research-based curricula, the Catherine Hershey Schools offer free transportation to its building, free diapers and wipes in classrooms, occupational and speech therapy, an in-house nurse, community partnerships, a parent resource center with individual parent coaches, external evaluators and an in-house researcher from the University of Pittsburgh who is tracking the school’s outcomes to see if all of this is working.
I was mostly curious to see if free child care is as life-changing as many early childhood experts think it could be in America, especially for low-income families — Hershey sets income limits for families at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $77,460 for a family of three.
The Family Success Center at the Catherine Hershey School, where parents receive individual coaching toward goals and can access resources like books and educational materials. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
Nearly two weeks after the first center launched, I met with Tracey Orellana, the mother of two toddlers at the school. Orellana was delivering packages for Amazon one day when she saw the early learning center, then under construction. She had been considering putting her two youngest children in child care so her husband, who works nights, could rest during the day while she was out working. The potential to get free child care made the decision a no-brainer.
“We were juggling. We were juggling so much,” said Orellana, who also has two school-age daughters. At the time, the family had incurred a mountain of debt and was struggling to afford basic needs like groceries. Now that the toddlers are in child care at no cost to their family, Orellana has been able to increase her work hours to full time, adding to her income and stability. The family is now able to afford food and has almost caught up with bills.
The school “provides the opportunity to build a life for our kids and keep them out of whatever the situation may be, streets, poverty, keep them clothed, keep them fed, keep the electric on, the heat on,” she said. Her daughters also have opportunities they wouldn’t have at home, Orellana added, such as getting to ride bikes, play games and make new friends.
Other parents say they’ve been able to access a higher quality of care for their children now that money isn’t a factor. Allyson Anderson, the single mother of a preschooler, had to return to her job as a therapist at a rehabilitation center a year after giving birth to her daughter, Lilah. When Anderson went back to work, she chose child care using a method familiar to many American parents: “Honestly, just an open space.”
The programs her daughter ended up in were mediocre, Anderson said. While caregivers generally kept Lilah safe, classrooms lacked structure and Anderson was disappointed with the low level of attention Lilah received during the day.
Tracey Orellana watches one of her daughters from outside an observation window. Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning provide free child care for children from age 6 weeks to 5-years-old. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
But she had few other options. During Lilah’s first few years, money was tight and Anderson was struggling to cover her mortgage, bills and child care, which cost “the same as a mortgage payment” each month.
At Hershey, Anderson is most impressed by the experience and training of teachers, as well as by the fact that there are three teachers in a classroom capped at 17 children, far lower than the state mandated ratio. “They have more teachers in the classroom. They can pay more individual attention to each kid,” Anderson said. She is no longer concerned about the level of care Lilah receives. “I don’t really have to worry. I know she’s in good hands.”
Downstairs in a classroom for preschoolers, I watched 3-year-old Lilah, who was hard to miss in a bright red jumpsuit featuring one of her favorite characters (at that moment), the Grinch.
“Did you hear what happened to me this morning?” one of the teachers asked the children who sat, riveted, in front of her for morning circle time. “I woke up and I came downstairs and guess what?”
“What?” a child asked.
“My dog had chewed one of my shoes!”
Several children gasped.
“I was so upset because they’re my favorite shoes. So, I started crying. Then I was so mad at my dog, and I started yelling. Do you think I made a very good choice?”
“No,” the children said in low, disappointed voices.
“What do you think I should have done?”
“Take a deep breath,” one child suggested. The teacher nodded.
While philanthropically-funded programs can benefit those lucky enough to access them, without receiving public funds or partnering with others to expand, experts caution that the reach of these programs will be limited and exist only in areas with willing funders.
Some philanthropically funded early childhood programs, like Educare, have developed a model of launching centers using philanthropic dollars, then pulling in public funding later, a more sustainable model for allowing replication, said Rudisill from the early childhood funders collaborative. Funding sources need to “fit together to solve the problem,” she said. “You could scoop up all the private philanthropy in America … and you cannot make up for the fact that in our country, we don’t fund an early care and education system.”
Books sit in a library inside the Family Success Center at the Hershey-based Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning. Inside the center, caregivers can access coaching and other resources. Credit: Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report
Senate Alexander, executive director of Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning, said he hopes the centers will ultimately become a model that can be replicated — once the program has the data to show it’s working to improve kindergarten readiness skills and outcomes for families.
“We thought about not wanting to fan out too far and too fast, we’re just starting this,” he said. “We want to get it right … we want to perfect the model.” In the meantime, the program’s first school has invited other local child care programs to attend training with Hershey staff in an effort to share resources and possibly expand their reach.
While Hershey’s funding is limited in scope to programs within the state of Pennsylvania, Alexander said replicating the model in its entirety in other parts of the country is not out of the question. That could bring free childcare and extensive resources to more children. All it will take are a few more willing billionaires.
This story was produced with support by the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship at the Columbia Journalism School.
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Are you excited about teaching your elementary students about syllable types? You should be! A syllable is a word part with a vowel in it. Teaching kids about the six types of syllables gives them insider strategies to read and spell words. Start early with teaching kids about closed syllable words and open syllable words in kindergarten and first grade to make using their syllable knowledge a habit. As kids progress, tackling long words one syllable at a time makes reading and writing easier.
Learn more about open and closed syllables below. Then fill out the form to grab our free printable word list and cards, and try some of the activities below.
Jump to:
What is a closed syllable?
A closed syllable has a short vowel sound spelled by one vowel letter. It ends with (is “closed by”) a single consonant, a consonant blend, or a consonant digraph. The words “hit,” “ramp,” and “mash” are closed syllable words. The words “picnic” and “basket” each have two closed syllables.
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words are closed syllable words. These are usually the first words children learn to decode using their early knowledge of consonants and short vowel sounds. So, closed syllables are usually the first syllable type we teach students. Once kids can read CVC closed syllable words, it’s exciting for them to move on to reading other one-syllable closed syllable words that have more letters, like “frog,” “camp,” or “grass.” Plus, they can also read words that have multiple closed syllables, like “picnic” and “basket.”
Note: Once students are very comfortable reading closed syllable words, you can let them know about a handful of exceptions. Syllables with -ild, -ind, -old, -olt, and -ost are technically closed, but the vowels make long sounds, as in “wild,” “kind,” “fold,” “bolt,” and “most.”
What is an open syllable?
An open syllable ends in a long vowel sound spelled by single vowel letter. “Hi” and “me” are open syllable words. “Zero” has two open syllables. You can dramatically sing the long vowel sounds in open syllable words to help kids notice how they differ from closed syllables; the end of an open syllable is “open” for the vowel to make its long sound.
Talk about open syllable words vs. closed syllable words once students get comfortable reading short vowel sounds in CVC words. When students seem ready to consider how vowels can also make their long sounds in words, go for it!
Note: Once students are comfortable reading open syllable words, you’ll want to teach the exception for words ending in “a.” Words like “sofa,” “yoga,” “data,” and “zebra” technically end in open syllables but the “a” makes the schwa (“uh”) sound.
Closed syllable word and open syllable word lists
We Are Teachers
Check out our handy list of sample words below. Be sure to download the printable version to keep on your desk, plus our word cards make prepping activities quick and easy!
Examples of Closed Syllable Words
One syllable: at, in, on, up, cat, mat, pat, sad, leg, web, wet, bed, hid, hit, pig, six, job, got, mom, rot, sun, bus, gum, mud, mash, path, when, dish, with, moth, such, much, frog, grass, camp, prank, shrink, crack, fetch, punch
Tip: For many more closed syllable words, check out our CVC word list. All CVC and CCVC words are closed syllable words!
Examples of Open Syllable Words
One syllable: hi, me, be, he, she, we, no, go, so, yo, flu
One syllable with y acting as a vowel: by, my, shy, cry, fly, dry, sky, why
Two syllables, both open: zero, hero, solo, polo, Wi-Fi, yo-yo, dodo, tutu, baby, navy, pony, tidy
One open syllable + one closed syllable: virus, rodent, focus, music, pilot, bonus, begin, evil, human, bacon, robot, open, item, siren, refill, unit, pilot, even, silent, minus, hotel, frozen, relax, pretend
Ideas for teaching closed syllable words and open syllable words
We Are Teachers
Use our downloadable word list and cards to make prepping these activities a snap. Remember, anytime you’re working with word lists to teach phonics, first check that kids know the meaning of all the words you use in your activities.
This genius idea is all over the Internet for good reason. It makes open and closed syllables so concrete for kids. Line up some sticky notes on your door frame (or cut printable word cards and tape them to your door) to make examples of one-syllable open syllable words (with the door open) and closed syllable words (with the door closed). This also works with a folded paper “door” as a table-top activity.
Open and closed hands
Flash open and closed syllable word cards for kids to read. Have them make hand motions to show which words are open syllable words and which words are closed syllable words. Try out open vs. closed motions with other body parts, too, like feet, legs, or arms!
Fix closed syllable words
Cut the final consonant(s) off a small set of closed syllable word cards. Have kids read the remaining open syllables, which could be real or nonsense words. Then have them match the consonants to the end of each word to create real words with one closed syllable. (Examples: be to bed, mo to mom.)
Open/closed syllable change
Use a spoon or other tool to cover the final consonant(s) of closed syllable words. Read the new open syllable words. (They could be real words or nonsense words.)
Sort by syllable type
Sort one-syllable word cards into piles for open and closed syllables. When kids are ready, mix it up by including two-syllable words and sorting into appropriate categories (two closed syllables, two open syllables, one open and one closed).
Open and closed syllable headbands
Clip word cards to headbands based on the type of words you’re studying. Haves students try to read each other’s headbands or guess their own headband based on clues about what type of syllable(s) it has, the sounds, and the meaning.
Multisyllabic Guess-My-Word
Display some of the two-syllable word cards. Have students mark the syllables and discuss which are open and which are closed. Play “I’m thinking of a word …” with the remaining cards and give clues related to both syllables and meaning. (For example, “I’m thinking about a word that includes the open syllable ‘hu’ and can be found in this room” for “human.”)
Get ready to teach your class all about closed syllable words and open syllable words! Don’t forget to grab your closed and open syllable word printables at the link below.
SAN JOSE – Since the launch of Ignite Reading’s partnership with Alpha: José Hernández School in November, the organization announced today that students participating in the virtual, one-to-one literacy tutoring program have recorded an average of nearly three weeks of reading progress per week of tutoring instruction, with no achievement gaps for students of color, students with IEPs, multilingual learners, or students receiving free or reduced-price lunches. Ignite Reading officials joined school leaders and students at Alpha: José Hernández today to showcase the nationally recognized program. The demonstration was followed by a Q&A session and panel discussion.
Ignite Reading is currently serving 100 students in grades 3 through 5 at Alpha: José Hernández School. They are currently accelerating at a growth rate of 2.8 weeks of reading skills per week of instruction.
“Ensuring all students are prepared for success in life is an equity issue. Reading can open doors or close students out of opportunities. Bringing tutoring into our school day through Ignite Reading’s tutoring program is showing early success that we’re planning to build on in the months to come,” said Alpha Public Schools CEO Shara Hegde.
Ignite Reading pairs students with expert tutors who deliver daily, 15-minute, Science of Reading-based instruction to help them master the key foundational skills that equip them to become independent readers.The one-to-one virtual program is integrated into the school day and takes some of the burden off teachers by providing individualized instruction for every student.
The company is now teaching thousands of students to read across 13 states with further plans to expand nationwide. In addition to California, Ignite Reading is partnering with schools and districts to serve thousands of students in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia this year.
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with Alpha Public Schools to help more San Jose students enhance their reading skills. Through Ignite Reading’s individualized tutoring, students are making significant progress, gaining nearly three weeks’ worth of reading skills for every program week. The positive influence on their social-emotional development is also notable. It’s an honor to continue supporting the incredible local students, families, and educators in San Jose,” said JessicaReid Sliwerski, Founder & CEO of Ignite Reading.
About Ignite Reading
Ignite Reading’s mission is to ensure that every student is a confident, independent reader by the end of first grade. The organization was co-founded by CEO Jessica Reid Sliwerski and Evan Marwell, Executive Chairman of Ignite and CEO of EducationSuperHighway. Ignite Reading pairs schools with a dedicated literacy specialist and a team of virtual reading tutors, all highly trained in the Science of Reading, who deliver 1:1 daily instruction to students focused on their specific decoding gaps. Ignite’s data-driven approach, provided by caring and skilled tutors, gives kids the know-how and confidence they need to thrive as fluent readers. The Ignite Reading program, delivered 15 minutes per day during a school’s literacy block, takes the burden of differentiated instruction off of teachers and has an impact immediately. For more information about Ignite Reading, visit: www.ignite-reading.com
About Alpha Public Schools
Alpha Public Schools is a network of four public charter schools founded by a group of East San Jose parents committed to creating access to an outstanding education for their children. An Alpha education prepares students in TK through 12th grade for success in college and career.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
If you worry about your own screen time, just think about the young people in your life.
The amount of time they spend consuming media and scrolling through content might alarm you. Teens are glued to screens for more than eight hours a day, reports show. So much screen time could pose risks for adolescents — including exposure to toxic misinformation.
With millions of Americans voting in federal, state and local elections this year, misinformation poses grave challenges to our democratic processes.
Standards-based news organizations carefully fact-check information with an eye toward fairness and a dedication to accuracy. Yet much of what populates our social media feeds is user-generated, unvetted and of varying reliability.
Too often, it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction in the onslaught of information we face. Many students — our next generation of voters — have no idea how to tell the difference between what’s meant to inform them and what’s meant to entertain them, sell them something or even mislead them. Luckily, a growing number of states are tackling this problem by helping students become more media literate. More states must follow.
In 2023 alone, New Jersey and California passed laws requiring that students be taught media literacy skills. Those states join others, including Delaware, Illinois and Texas, that led the way for mandating such requirements.
Media literacy teaches students how to access and evaluate all types of communication. News literacy falls under the umbrella of media literacy, and is focused on helping students understand the importance of a free press in a democracy and on developing the ability to determine the credibility of news.
News literacy teaches students how to think, not what to think. It develops a healthy skepticism — not cynicism — about the news.
Students who learn news literacy skills, for example, are more likely to notice when a social media post does not present credible evidence, assessments show. Studies have shown that “prebunking” — preemptively teaching people the common tactics used to spread false and misleading information — can effectively teach people to resist it. At a time of historically low levels of trust in news organizations, news and media literacy builds appreciation of and demand for quality journalism, a cornerstone of our democracy, and prepares students to be informed participants in our civic life.
States have taken different approaches to helping students find credible information: In Illinois, students must receive at least one unit of news literacy instruction before graduation. New Jersey has gone even further, requiring students in every grade to learn “information literacy,” an umbrella term that includes the ability to navigate all forms of information.
Legislation to require media literacy instruction is a powerful part of the solution to misinformation, but it won’t solve the problem alone. Doing so will also require help from social media and technology companies, media organizations, civic organizations and the philanthropic community.
We need to do away with the myth of the “digital native.” Just because young people have grown up with technology does not mean that they instinctively know how to navigate the challenges of our information landscape. A recent report showed that teens receive more than 200 alerts on their phones a day. It’s important that we teach young people how to recognize the different types and quality of information they’re bombarded with, or we will leave them vulnerable to information that is unreliable or even intentionally misleading.
Most Americans are concerned about misinformation. As we head into an election cycle with AI technologies becoming more widely available and social media companies scaling back moderation efforts, it’s more important than ever to make sure everyone knows where to turn for accurate information about where, how and when to vote. This is especially true for our students who are just becoming old enough to cast their ballots for the first time.
By ensuring that more people are news literate, we can build a stronger, more inclusive democracy.
In 2024, let’s expand this work in schools and at home.
Ebonee Otoo is senior vice president of educator engagement at the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit that teaches people how to identify credible sources of news and information.
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The new edition of myView Literacy comes at a time when the Science of Reading movement has gained national momentum, with many states now requiring the use of evidence-based strategies for teaching students to read. More and more school districts today are making it a priority to use high-quality instructional materials that not only demonstrate both efficacy and a positive impact on student achievement but also provide teachers the training and support they need to successfully implement the curriculum.
Firmly grounded in the Science of Reading, myView’s daily foundational-skills instruction follows an easy-to-teach sequence that’s proven to increase reading achievement and close skills gaps. Adding to the program’s exciting authentic literature and interactive resources, the new edition of myView Literacy now features an increased focus on foundational writing instruction, more student practice opportunities, and new enhancements and improved navigation for a more seamless digital teaching and learning experience.
“With its integrated design that makes Science of Reading-based instruction simple, easy, and engaging to teach, myView Literacy is just what K-5 educators are looking for today,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Our myView program ensures that every student, from struggling readers to advanced learners, receives the support and challenge they need for reading and writing growth.”
Incorporating the latest evidence-based research and best practices, myView Literacy features explicit and systematic instruction in foundational skills that’s proven to boost student achievement. The program covers each of the key concepts that national standards require to qualify as an effective reading program: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Designed by leading literacy scholars and authors, the program’s evidence-based pedagogy from prior editions has been determined to meet ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) Level 2 Evidence for its positive impact on learning outcomes. It also received EdReports “All-Green” ratings, the highest tier within EdReports’ ratings scale for evaluating high-quality, standards-aligned instructional material. Read the full review of myView Literacy on EdReports.org.
Delivered on the award-winning Savvas Realize learning management system, the interactive learning solution provides a set of connected digital and print resources that help educators establish instructional routines, save planning time, and prioritize student achievement. The new edition of myView Literacy now includes:
An Integrated Approach to Reading and Writing offers educators a comprehensive system for explicit foundational skills-instruction and meaningful practice activities that help students showcase their learning.
A Student-Centered Experience increases engagement and learning with new digital resources, like articulation videos, games, a Building Knowledge Library, and a greater focus on multi-sensory practice in every lesson.
Built-in Teacher Training and Support provides integrated professional learning, robust planning tools, and differentiated instruction for multilingual learners to give educators what they need to help all students achieve.
Data-Driven Insights and Progress Monitoring, provided by a suite of dynamic assessment tools, empower teachers to monitor student growth, identify skills gaps, and transform data into engaging instruction.
Laura Looney, an elementary ELA content specialist who coaches teachers in Las Cruces (NM) Public Schools, appreciates the “high-quality teaching materials, aligned with the proven Science of Reading, that myView Literacy offers teachers and students in their educational journey.”
“In our classrooms, where diverse learning needs abound, myView Literacy stands out as an invaluable resource, especially for students who require additional assistance in honing their foundational skills,” Looney said. “The well-crafted content not only facilitates engagement but also plays a pivotal role in cultivating a strong foundation in literacy while the targeted support recommendations are excellent in helping accelerate the language needs of our emergent bilingual students. The program’s commitment to aligning with evidence-based practices ensures that our students receive the targeted support they need, making the teaching and learning experience richer and more effective.”
For educators looking for even more powerful literacy assessments, Momentum Assessment Suite works seamlessly with myView Literacy by identifying each student’s greatest opportunities for growth and pairing that data with aligned instructional resources. The screeners and diagnostics can also be used with SuccessMaker, a proven-effective, continuously adaptive personalized reading program. Together, the combined solution delivers cutting-edge assessments, high-quality core curriculum, and adaptive personalized learning all on one platform, providing an individualized pathway to success for each student.
ABOUT SAVVAS LEARNING COMPANY
At Savvas, we believe learning should inspire. By combining new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of interacting, we design engaging, next-generation K-12 learning solutions that give all students the best opportunity to succeed. Our award-winning, high-quality instructional materials span every grade level and discipline, from evidence-based, standards-aligned core curricula to supplemental and intervention programs to state-of-the art assessment tools — all designed to meet the needs of every learner. Savvas products are used by millions of students and educators in more than 90 percent of the 13,000+ public school districts across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as globally in more than 125 countries. To learn more, visit Savvas Learning Company. Savvas Learning Company’s products are also available for sale in Canada through its subsidiary, Rubicon.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
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