This resource is a compilation of three documents that support the teaching of spelling in today's schools: a discussion of "Why Spelling Instruction Matters", a checklist for evaluating a spelling program, and tables of Common Core State Standards that are linked to spelling instruction. "Why Spelling Instruction Matters"…

This article presents four Idea-Sparkers that were submitted by Jason McKinney, a graduate student at Southern Mississippi University and a 1st-grade teacher at Pisgah Elementary in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. First is entitled, "Raceway in the Classroom." This activity can help increase children's fluency and ability to identify numerous…

This textbook the second reader in a series of school readers to help children acquire the art and the habit of reading well enough to give pleasure not only to themselves, but also to those who listen to them. New words are introduced gradually, and the stories and poems are short and of such character as to appeal directly to the interest and…

This textbook is a first reader that focuses on moving children from spoken to written vocabulary and recognizing sight words already familiar though sound. The combination of construction with interpretation of writing with reading leads directly to intelligent understanding and expression of thoughts on the written or printed page. Model script…

Experienced educator Donna Whyte has compiled her ideas for using film containers in the classroom into "131 Ways to Use Film Containers" so that they can be shared with other teachers. She includes engaging ways to use them in teaching children about word families, sight words, and punctuation marks; skip counting, estimating, and predicting; and…