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February 2019

  • How to Teach Students to Fix Their Reading When Meaning is Lost

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    What strategies can we teach our readers to enable them to fix up their reading when meaning is lost? When meaning is lost and children need to know what to do to continue their reading by themselves, they need to use fix-up strategies. The best way to teach fix-up strategies...

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  • The Teachific Blog is Now Open!

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Our Blog page is now open! Go to it to find useful articles and links to more Teachific resources. See a recent blog on 'How to Develop Knowledge of Letters and Letter Names'.

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  • How to Fill Your Classroom with Texts that Support Young Readers to be Successful

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    A most significant role for teachers in fostering childen's reading development is the provision of a broad range of supportive texts which allow children to read independently and build up a solid history of success as readers. It has long been recognised that one of the most important influences on...

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  • 8 Great Ways to Use a Classroom Library

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Are you looking for better ways to use your Classroom Library? Learn about eight great ways to achieve this Each book you Read Aloud to the class (or big books used in Shared Reading) can be placed in a special tub/basket at the front of the classroom. Students will flock...

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  • How to Develop Knowledge of Letters and Letter Names

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Involving young childen in instruction that helps them learn about letters, helps them learn about the alphabetic principle. Instruction should assist children in: Understanding the concept of letters. Learning letter names and knowking that the names of letters are constant. Learning the names of the twenty-six letters in alphabetical order....

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  • How to Develop Vocabulary to Support Comprehension

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    When students are taught vocabulary in a thorough fashion, their comprehension of what they read improves. Your students develop knowledge of vocabulary through extensive reading of text that is rich in new words. Vocabulary can also be increased through explicit teaching. What does explicit Vocabulary teaching look like? Asking your...

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  • How to Support Fluency Development for Strong Comprehension

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Luke and Freebody (1997) refer to readers as 'code breakers, meaning makers, text users and text critics', and all of these need to be considered when thinking of comprehension instruction. Improving comprehension is not just a matter of teaching your students strategies. Comprehension also depends on: Word level skills (decoding...

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  • Teachific Tips: Search Site Using 'Filter by Name' Function

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    New feature on the Teachific site! We've listened to your feedback, and we now have a new search feature on the site. You can now type in key words in the 'Filter by Name' box on the left hand side of the resource searching pages and resources with those key...

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  • Teachific Tips: Pay Yearly

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    New feature on the Teachific site! We've listened to your feedback, and you now have the ability to pay a yearly subscription as well as the usual monthly option! The Teachific resources page

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  • Teachific Tips: 'My Dashboard' Function

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Teachific site tips! Did you know that all the resources you download on the Teachific site are kept in My Dashboard which is accessed in the top right hand corner of the homepage! As long as you are a member you never lose this access. If your downloads start to...

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  • A New Toolkit for Conferring With Your Young Readers

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Yay! They’re here! Our Reading Conference Toolkits have arrived. We’ve put together a toolkit of everything you need to run successful Reading Conferences with your students. One for each year level. The ready to print Reading Conference toolkits give you: A routine for conferring with readers, An easy to fill...

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  • A Nifty Planner for Your Literacy Block

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Yay! It's here! Our Gradual Release Planner has arrived. We’ve put together a planner with everything you need to run a successful Literacy Block with your students. See Candace (below) explain how it works in her Year 4,5,6 class at Kaurna Plains School in Adelaide. The ready to print Gradual...

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  • How to Create a Classroom Library

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Yay! At last it's here and completely FREE! The definitive checklist for developing a stunning classroom library. Are you looking to improve your students' reading achievement? Do you wonder whether you are being effective for all students? Classroom Libraries are a great way to start achieving this easily! Beginning steps...

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  • New Mini-Lesson Flip Charts for Teaching Reading Routines

    Posted by Sharon Callen

    Establish your Reading Workshop (Years K-7) with strong routines and expectations to build foundations for reader engagement and growth. Each mini lesson flip chart pack contains: 14 Reading Workshop routines and expectations mini lessons A practical, step by step outline that will help you teach an effective daily Reading Workshop...

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