Your child sounds out a word: “b-oy… boy!” Then they encounter “boil” and pause. “Is that b-oy-l?” They’re puzzled because these letter combinations look similar but behave differently. You want to help, but diphthongs can feel confusing even to adults. Here’s the good news: Diphthongs follow predictable patterns. Once your child understands how they work, […]
The teacher’s email arrives: “We’d like to discuss moving your child to Tier 2 interventions.” Your heart races. What does that mean? Is your child failing? Are they being held back? Should you worry? Take a deep breath. Response to Intervention isn’t a label or a punishment. It’s actually a framework designed to help your […]
Your child confidently reads the word “cap.” Then you add one letter to the end—a silent E—and suddenly they’re stumped. The word looks completely different to them now. “Cape” might as well be a foreign language. This moment happens in every early reader’s development. Silent E represents a huge conceptual leap. Your child must understand […]
Open a Jan Brett book, and you enter a world where the story unfolds in multiple places all at once. While the main text tells you what’s happening now, the decorative borders whisper secrets about what’s coming next. A child who learns to read these visual clues develops prediction skills that transform their reading comprehension […]
Your child sounds out each word carefully. They decode beautifully. But when they reach the end of the sentence, they can’t tell you what it said. They go back and read it again. Then again. The frustration builds. This isn’t about intelligence or effort. Your child is working incredibly hard. What you’re seeing is working […]
Your child stares at the word “jumping” for what feels like forever. They sound out each letter correctly—/j/ /u/ /m/ /p/ /i/ /ng/—but by the time they blend it together, they’ve forgotten the beginning of the sentence. Reading homework that should take 15 minutes stretches into an hour. They’re trying hard, but everything just takes… […]
“What has hands but can’t clap?” your six-year-old asks with a mischievous grin. You pause, think, then admit defeat. “A clock!” she shouts triumphantly, delighted that she stumped you with her riddle. That moment of playful thinking? It’s doing more for her reading development than you might realize. Riddles are sneaky learning tools disguised as […]
You walk into the library, excited to find books for your kindergartener who’s just starting to read. The children’s section offers hundreds of brightly colored early readers. They all look educational. They’re all labeled for beginning readers. So you grab a stack, head home, and settle in for reading time. But ten minutes later, your […]
You’re snuggled up with your little one, reading their favorite picture book for the hundredth time. Instead of just reading the words on the page, you pause and ask, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Can you find something blue on this page?” Suddenly, your child leans in, points excitedly, and chatters about […]
Imagine your child’s excitement when a book arrives in the mail each month with their name on it; a personal gift that says reading is special and they matter. This magical experience has become a reality for millions of children worldwide through celebrity-driven book programs, with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library leading the charge as the […]
