Tagged: vocabulary

If you have never said "Excuse me" to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time.

The Benefits of Reading: Seven Tips for Reading More

Why spend time reading? Just in case you need an excuse to read to your children (or just to read for yourself), the infographic below outlines a host of benefits of reading. Although there are many practical reasons to read...

Words Matter: How to Use Good Essay Models to Become a Better Writer

One of the best ways you can teach writing is to share good models. I especially like working with excellent essays, as they tend to expand not only vocabulary and usage skills, but also because they expand thought. Here’s an example.

Review: The Struggling Reader Assessments and Teaching Materials

Reading is the most important academic skill we teach our students. Students must learn to read well before they can read to learn, so it’s important to create a nourishing home environment where books are read and enjoyed, ideas are discussed, and written and spoken communication is a natural part of everyday life. If you’ve created that strong foundation and your child still struggles with learning to read, there’s usually a discoverable cause. In The Struggling Reader system, the Eckenwilers have provided the tools for diagnosis, and the means for teaching what is needed.

Dynamic Literacy’s WordBuild: A Review

I love the study of words. Words are the building blocks of communication, and the more of them you know, the more likely it is that you will be a good writer and speaker. In addition, words are just plain...

FAQ about using Excellence in Literature in a co-op or classroom.

Questions about using Excellence In Literature in a co-op

I received an e-mail this morning from a co-op leader, inquiring about the Excellence in Literature (EIL) curriculum. When I receive detailed questions like these, I know that others are probably wondering some of the same of the same things,...

Teaching from the Known to the Unknown

I was working with the Chaucer unit in Excellence in Literature: British Literature this morning, and thinking about the ways in which The Canterbury Tales can be made accessible to students. These stories are funny, startling, and sometimes appalling, and...