We often hear from school and education leaders: What we really need help with is improving our teaching human capital… Our teachers need a lot of help to teach science and science inquiry, especially at the younger grades. At our
Providing Successful PD to your Teachers
Note that this post highlights one of VocabularySpellingCity’s sisters: Science4Us. It is an early elementary science program. Increasingly, principals and superintendents are asking us to help develop their teachers. We have always provided professional development to support our products but
Why Poetry Month Should be Every Month
Tim Rasinski is a renowned professor of literacy education whose research on reading fluency and word study has made him a literacy hero to many. Below, he shares his thoughts on the importance of poetry instruction. “The world is full of
Word Harvesting— Helping Students Become Word Connoisseurs
Tim Rasinski is a renowned professor of literacy education whose research on reading fluency and word study has made him a literacy hero to many. Below, he shares his thoughts on vocabulary instruction. More often than not, vocabulary instruction is characterized
Teaching Vocabulary through Greek and Latin Roots
Tim Rasinski is a renowned professor of literacy education whose research on reading fluency and word study has made him a literacy hero to many. Below, he shares his thoughts on the importance of Greek and Latin roots. In last month’s
5 Things You Need to Know About the Changes to New York State Standards
In 2017, New York leaders adopted a new set of reading and math state standards, adding to the list of states stepping away from the Common Core. Rewriting the standards proved to be a lengthy process, as teachers, educational professionals,
Posting Educational Standards
I love visiting elementary school classrooms and when I do, I check out the environment. Every classroom now seems to post the educational goals for the week. They post for each subject. They post at four depths of knowledge. And
Vocabulary Memory Match: Mix It UP!
The new Vocabulary Memory Match game from VocabularySpellingCity engages the students because it really mixes it up. It blends a classic simple gameplay with some complex concepts of what makes a match. It really makes them think. It is one
VocabularySpellingCity Speaks with an Australian Accent!
For years, VocabularySpellingCity has been popular in Australia and New Zealand. Despite the heavy usage and rave reviews for VocabularySpellingCity from Down Under, there has been some annoyance regarding our accent. The fact is that our 50,000 sentences were all
Sound Counter: Building Literacy Foundational Skills
Sound Counter is designed to build student success on key foundational skills, Sound Counter is a creative approach to helping build these skills. Students are presented with a word and asked to count the sounds. For example, a student might