Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ™

In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Shaheer Mustafa, President and CEO of Hopewell Inc, and Amy Schneider, vice president, program impact and strategy at HopeWell. They will share more about a program called RISE (Readiness, Inquiry, Scholarship, Education) that builds early literacy skills and more for children in foster care. ResourcesTo make a donation to HopeWell, Inc., click here. Connect with us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Deidra Mayberry, Executive Director of the nonprofit, Reading to New Heights, which brings attention to adult literacy as a critical issue in our society. Growing up, she was a struggling reader. This led her to establish her nonprofit which supports building literacy skills in adults.  Deidra's story is sure to resonate with your literacy loving heart. ResourcesTo make a donation to Reading to New Heights, click here. Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

In today's Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Steven Shadel, Director of Great Minds Virtual School. He tells us about effective virtual learning experiences and how those experiences look very much like a typical in-person school experience. In both settings with high quality materials, educators can engage students in active learning. Students are thinking and doing. All teachers take part in knowledge-building professional learning. ALL educators can bring knowledge to life! Knowledge belongs to everyone. Resources+Article and video from teacher voice & admin perspective - Steven to share with us (Steven, Nancy Z.) Great Minds Virtual SchoolGreat Minds Virtual InstagramGreat Minds Virtual Blog Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website and stay connected with Melissa and Lori!Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

In this episode, we talk with a team of educators who made Eureka Math Squared decodable, readable, and accessible for all students. As students access math, their deficits in reading can get in the way. Eureka Math Squared helps students have equity in math to engage in grade level work and feel empowered. All students deserve to be able to do math without limitations. ResourcesEureka Math Squared Overview Eureka Math Squared Webinar on Math ReadabilityEureka Math Squared Whitepaper Improving Readability in Math Without Compromising Rigor Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website and stay connected with Melissa and Lori!Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum. We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

In this episode, we talk with first grade teacher, April Evans, about how she uses Tier 1 foundational skills assessment data to make decisions about small group time, such as how students are grouped, what happens during small group instruction, and why all students have access to readable, knowledge building texts. She discusses structures and routines that support accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Both decodable and readable, knowledge building texts have a purpose and place in her classroom.ResourcesGeodes readable, knowledge building texts Decodable Reader Protocol from Achieve the CoreTo Help Students Read and Write, Shower Some Love on the Sentence by Natalie Wexler The Writing Revolution by Dr. Judith  Hochman and Natalie Wexler Vocabulary Strategy: Concept Mapping Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast Episode 92Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Pun intended. This episode takes us into the world of Geodes - decodable readers that bridge foundational skills and Wit and Wisdom ELA - through building knowledge and accessible text. Melissa and Lori talk with Lorraine Griffith and Emily Gula, who share the research and insight behind the development of Geodes and how they can be used in classrooms, as well as (and most importantly) why Geodes are market disrupters. We can't wait for Baltimore City students to experience these special texts this year, to connect Wilson Language's Fundations foundational skills to the knowledge-building topics in Wit and Wisdom ELA core instruction. Quite simply, GEODES ROCK! We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Primary Teachers: This one’s for YOU! Today we talk with educator, author, and business-owner Elise Lovejoy about decodable texts. What makes texts decodable? What makes quality decodable texts? What’s the purpose of decodable texts? How can we use decodable texts in the classroom? Listen and learn as we discuss all things decodable texts.ResourcesExpress Readers Decodable Books Blood pressure and heart rate changes in children when they read aloud in schoolConnect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website and stay connected with Melissa and Lori!Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Researcher Heidi Anne Mesmer joins the podcast to discuss the research on decodable text and dos and don'ts for classroom practice. Thinking about decodability as a meter from most to least decodable to the reader is important. A child who reads a text by sounding out and decoding words will experience a milestone of childhood: the feeling of reading. This also supports orthographic mapping. ResourcesDecodable Text: A Review of What We Know, Heidi Anne Mesmer TextProject.org Key Knowledge to Support Phonological Awareness and Phonics Instruction, Piasta and Hudson Choosing and Using Decodable Texts, Wiley Blevins Reading Above the Fray, Julia Lindsey Connect with us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

DJ Bolger, a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Maryland College Park, joins the podcast today. DJ helps us understand the dyslexia brain a bit better, shares how dyslexia is so much more than “one” thing, and provides helpful analogies and ideas for application. He defines dyslexia, discussing the brain, and making connections to reading science.  ResourcesInternational Dyslexia Association Dyslexia Awareness Month social media resources and moreConnect with us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to subscribe to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Trauma impacts every facet of our being. Today we’ll hear from educator and author, Dr. Melissa Sadin. As part of our Dyslexia Awareness month series, Dr. Sadin will share her personal story about how trauma and reading affected her family. Trauma can get in the way of the brain learning to read but we can help our students through intentional instructional practices. ResourcesThese resources from the International Dyslexia Association are helpful to spread the word on social media about October as Dyslexia Awareness Month! Developmental Trauma Disorder ACES STUDY​​The Trauma Foundation Carol Dweck Growth Mindset  Bessel van der Kolk, MD The Attachment and Trauma NetworkTNTP’s The Opportunity Myth We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.