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At Waltzing Blossom Literacy, we believe that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed. Our easy-to-use phonics curriculum will give your students the tools they need to become confident readers.
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What Are Diphthongs? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
This blog post will explore what diphthongs are and provide some practical suggestions for teaching them to your students.
Paula Plumer
Apr 4, 20244 min read
569 views
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Behind the Scenes: Creating the Foundational Phonics Curriculum for Beginning Readers
Writing a curriculum for beginning readers was not even on my radar back in 2018. I was knee-deep in my role as a Title 1 intervention...
Paula Plumer
Jan 26, 20243 min read
22 views
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What Are Compound Words? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
Language is a dynamic and ever-evolving system, and one of its fascinating aspects is the creation and usage of compound words. These...
Paula Plumer
Dec 5, 20233 min read
11 views
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What Are R-Controlled Vowel Sounds? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
R-controlled vowels, also known as "rhotic vowels," are a subset of vowel sounds in English that undergo a distinct transformation in the...
Paula Plumer
Oct 5, 20234 min read
32 views
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What Are Vowel Teams? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
Vowel teams, also known as vowel digraphs, are two or more vowels that are used together to represent a single sound. In English, there...
Paula Plumer
Aug 25, 20233 min read
28 views
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What Are Long Vowels? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
Long vowel sounds are an important part of English language learning and understanding them is essential for reading and writing. Here’s...
Paula Plumer
Jul 21, 20233 min read
49 views
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What Are Consonant Blends? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
Consonant blends are groups of two or more consonant letters that are pronounced together but maintain their individual sounds. In...
Paula Plumer
Jun 25, 20232 min read
37 views
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What Is a Consonant Digraph? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
Consonant digraphs are two consonant letters that together represent a single sound. In English, there are several consonant digraphs...
Paula Plumer
May 15, 20233 min read
16 views
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What Are CVC Words? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
CVC words are a fundamental part of English language learning and understanding them is essential for young children as they learn to...
Paula Plumer
Apr 20, 20232 min read
101 views
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What Are Short Vowels? Ideas and Free Resources for Teaching Phonics
One of the reasons English is a challenging language to learn to read is that one letter can represent more than one sound. While most...
Paula Plumer
Mar 20, 20233 min read
469 views
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23 Free Short Vowel Videos that Kids Love
Let's face it; phonics instruction can get a little dry at times. However, if you incorporate YouTube videos into your lessons, you...
Paula Plumer
Feb 8, 20232 min read
72 views
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What Is the Science of Reading? A Brief History of Its Origin
The science of reading or SoR is trendy educational jargon. Let me explain concisely what it is all about. The science of reading is...
Paula Plumer
Jan 9, 20232 min read
18 views
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3 Reasons to Give Your Students Independent Reading Time
What advice would you give a person who wants to become better at doing something? I suspect practice shows up somewhere on your short...
Paula Plumer
Nov 11, 20224 min read
11 views
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What Is Phonics? And Why Our Students Need It More Than Ever
If you knew there is a special code that could help your students read approximately 84% of all the words they will ever encounter, would...
Paula Plumer
Oct 8, 20223 min read
30 views
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Why Reading Assessments Are Important to Guide Your Instruction
One thing there is no shortage of in education today are tests. In fact, there are so many that in recent years parents have begun to opt...
Paula Plumer
Sep 10, 20224 min read
45 views
0 comments
The Waltzing Blossom Literacy Blog: Reflections on Teaching Reading
A blog for elementary teachers focused on reading research and tips for instruction. Welcome to my blog! I'm Paula Plumer. My goal is to...
Paula Plumer
Aug 20, 20212 min read
56 views
0 comments
"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."
Robert Collier
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