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The phoneme is really the smallest unit of language in human speech. Letters may be the thread that ties language together, but phonemic awareness is critical to understanding and clarity. A single letter appearing in multiple words could have a variety of pronunciations. Take the following three words: rate, awe, and cat. Each letter “a” is pronounced differently. Understanding that concept is essential to learning to read in a writing system based on a finite alphabet. It’s a major reason why it’s equally important for teachers and educators to use engaging phonemic awareness activities. 

Technology has changed our lives in so many ways. One of the most important contributions of technology has been in transforming education, changing how, when and where students are able to learn, and thereby empowering them at every stage of their journey.

Early years of mathematics consists of the foundation where teachers help pave the way for students to understand numbers and their uses and relationships. At this stage, students learn the basics of counting, multiplying, rounding, measurement and so much more. At the end of the day, we want students to understand the material presented, applying the skills they’ve just learned, and recall those concepts in the future when other problems are presented.

The integration of new technologies into the classroom has been part of the ongoing transformation of the public education system. The pandemic certainly added urgency to that transformation, as school boards, teachers and students had to adapt to online learning overnight. Digital whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, keyboards have replaced pens and paper, and internet access has become an important tool to research topics relevant to the curriculum and access things like online educational software.

Teaching children to read and spell in today’s classroom is a challenge for even the best teacher with access to an abundance of resources. Teaching reading and spelling to children with autism adds another layer to that challenge. Applying standard teaching methods to your lesson plans for children with autism will not reap maximum results given the way their brains process information in unique ways. What is required is the integration of customized reading programs for special education.

There’s a strange phenomenon that happens in many elementary school classrooms. Young K-5 students can be very loud, expressive, talkative, and animated throughout the day; try to get some of them to read aloud, and suddenly they subscribe to the theory children should be seen and not heard. There’s always a mild bit of hesitation for a young student just trying to master the skill of reading to expose themselves to public judgement by reading in front of the class. To help students overcome such youthful fears, it’s important to incorporate evidence-based reading programs for schools. 

There are two types of students in elementary school: those who love math, and those that hate math. Teachers discover fairly quickly which students fall into the second category. Educators are faced with the annual dilemma of trying to make math lessons more engaging. That requires creative thinking and integration of the best math programs for elementary students. 

According to some estimates, as many as thirty-five million people in North America suffer from Dyslexia. That represents about 15 to 20 percent of the population. Teaching young people diagnosed with Dyslexia presents a unique challenge for teachers, tutors, and educators. One of the strategies employed by schools is to provide students with evidence-based reading instruction facilitated through a credible evidence-based reading program. 

It’s not just the fuel that powers the world’s fastest high-performance race cars – it’s the additives that are part of the mix. Even machines built for speed need a boost once in a while, as do kindergarten students learning to read. To put young readers on the fast-track for success, it’s important to incorporate the right mix of educational tools, and that includes evidence-based reading programs for kindergarten. 

Today’s schools are far less exclusionary than they were in previous decades when children with special education needs were often excluded from a public-school environment that had little capacity to integrate such students into the classroom. Changes in legislation provided more opportunity for students with special needs to get the education they needed. Such instruction became possible and more readily available thanks in part to the development of special education software programs.