Blog - Mrs. Winter's Bliss

Using Epic Books in the Classroom

In this post I'll share all about using the online reading website Epic in the classroom. I'll walk you through how to set up your FREE Epic educator account. Finally, I'll share tips for how to use Epic and show you some of the helpful resources Epic offers. If you were a teacher in the year 2020 you probably had students learning from home or socially distanced in your classroom. There was probably a time when you didn't have access to ... read more

Using Mentor Texts to Build Alphabet Recognition

In this post I'm discussing how alphabet books can be used as mentor texts to help students build letter recognition. I’m also sharing lists of the BEST alphabet books (both digital and print) that make wonderful mentor texts for alphabet activities. If you work with young children there is no doubt you and your little ones spend a lot of time working with letters…..you know the good old ABCs. You sing about them, you paint them. ... read more

How to Use a Sound Wall in the Classroom

A sound wall is a way to organize and display the different sounds (or phonemes) we hear in speech. In this post I'll share explicit steps for how to begin using a sound wall in the classroom. You'll also get details about my own phoneme sound wall resource with mouth articulation photos that has all the materials you'll need to get a sound wall up and running in your classroom. Word walls have been around for as long as most of us ... read more

Sound Walls in the Classroom

This post is the first in a two part series on using sound walls in the classroom. Here I share general information about phoneme sound walls, discuss how a sound wall is different from a word wall and how sound walls help students learn to read, write and spell. Sound walls…. It’s likely your literacy coach has mentioned them, you’ve seen talk of them on social media, or you may even have a colleague who has started using one! Maybe ... read more

4 Common Mistakes with Word Blending Instruction and How to Fix Them

Blending is the main strategy we use to help students learn to decode, but there are common mistakes teachers make when teaching it. I’m sharing the four most common mistakes we make when teaching students to blend, tips to help you avoid them and my NO PREP Fluency Builders – Word Blending Activities that provide meaningful and strategic blending practice. As a lower grade teacher, one of your biggest responsibilities is to teach your ... read more

Word Blending: The Most Effective Decoding Strategy

Blending is the main strategy we use to help students learn to decode. I'm sharing information and tips for teaching blending, as well as resources to help you! Check out my NO PREP Fluency Builders - Word Blending Activities and download FREE set of large pocket chart letter cards! What strategy do you think you spend the most time on when you are teaching your students to read? If you guessed “blending” then BINGO - You’re ... read more