4.14.22 Leading up to MAP Growth: 20 tips for families MAP® Growth™ is an interim assessment given to K–12 students that provides data to help teachers teach, students learn, and administrators lead. As testing day nears, teachers help their... Read more
3.31.22 Swapping my teacher hat for my parent hat: What it was like to see my child’s MAP Growth score for the first time I’ve been a lover of MAP® Growth™ ever since my district first started using it about 10 years ago. Here was a test that finally measured my students’ progress over time rather than focusing... Read more
3.22.22 Parent strategies for improving their child’s reading and writing Family time is learning time. Did you know that kids learn most of their vocabulary outside of school, through conversations with family and friends? Or that drawing pictures during play time lays... Read more
1.20.22 A new spin on playing catch: Helping your child understand what they read When it is warm enough where I live in the Midwest, my 11-year-old son and I sometimes play catch with a baseball. He is usually the pitcher, winding up and throwing the ball to me. I am usually the... Read more
1.6.22 Reading and vocabulary: Why your kids can never have too much of either My daughter, who is in middle school, has dreams of being a veterinarian. One night, while looking for a program to watch, she found Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet on Disney+. It’s a series about a... Read more
12.28.21 6 ways to help your child read fluently, cover to cover You know his voice. It’s deep, soothing, trustworthy. Fans have described it as “running your hand across expensive velvet” or “drinking a rich creamy coffee with your ears.” His voice is... Read more
12.14.21 Mystery solved: How to help your child crack the phonics code I loved the TV show The Electric Company as a kid. One of my favorite segments was when they showed two shadowed heads in profile. Each would take turns reading the beginning and ending of words,... Read more
11.30.21 To support reading at home, turn up the sound I don’t know about your childhood TV viewing preferences, but for me, there was no greater pleasure than my local PBS lineup: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow, Bob Ross’s The... Read more
11.16.21 All about language comprehension: What it is and how it can help your child read Children know a lot about language before they even learn to read. From the moment they are born, kids are exposed to all kinds of spoken language that helps them understand and make connections... Read more
11.2.21 What families need to know to support their child’s reading I am the parent of two elementary school children who were mostly learning from home this past school year because of the pandemic. During that time, I often wondered, “How can I help my... Read more