It’ll All Be Okay with Chef Marc Murphy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhEstcEqP8o&list=PLkH_2Gx7Rou_yHoply-OhaZVQ5e83esoh&index=2 School is hard for so many students, and especially for children with learning differences like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or ADHD. However, academic challenges aren’t necessarily an indicator of a child’s potential for success. Unfortunately, this is a message that these students (and their parents!) don’t hear nearly often enough! Richard Branson struggled his way […]
Rules for Adding Suffixes
Sometimes it feels like all those phonics rules never end! But the silver lining is that there is rhyme and reason for almost every spelling rule out there–keyword, almost. And when it comes to adding suffixes to words and all the rules involved, there’s no exception. What are the suffix rules kids need to learn […]
Differentiating Instruction 101
Are you a passionate educator? Join our team and become a Braintrust tutor today! A lot of people misunderstand the term “differentiation.” Some parents (and even teachers) believe that differentiation means giving some students a different curriculum than their peers. Some people even think it means “to dumb down.” Nothing about differentiation should ever involve […]
How to Expand Working Memory
Working memory is what we use to store information for short periods in order to use it to accomplish something. But our capacity for working memory is not fixed. There are ways to improve and expand it. Read on for strategies to boost working memory. First, let’s lay down some working memory basics. For those […]
Behavior Strategies for Remote Learning & Virtual Classrooms
Managing behavior remotely is a double-edged sword. Some behaviors feel out of the teacher’s hands when students are not physically present in the room. In one way, this is freeing. The mute button means teachers almost never have to worry about noise disruptions. Your “classroom” will always be in as pristine order as you want […]
Sight Words vs. Decodable Words
What are Sight Words? Sight words are words that students need to be able to recognize instantly (or within just a few seconds). Some words are sight words because they appear in text so frequently that students should learn to recognize them without much effort. Other words are sight words because they do not fit […]
The Connection Between Speech, Language, and Learning
Any student’s experience of school is filled with words. There are the words a child hears or sees each time a teacher gives a direction or delivers a lesson. And there are the words he hears from his peers during class discussions or out on the playground. Then, there are the words that make up […]
Building Confidence with Math
Traditional math practice used to consist of neat rows of problems on a worksheet. Sometimes teachers would set a timer. Students were asked to show their work, but it’s likely that every student’s work looked more or less the same. But times have changed. Educators now know that repetition of math facts and memorization of […]
What is Syntactic Awareness?
There are virtually unlimited ways a writer can phrase a sentence. Sentences can be written in an almost limitless number of ways. A writer has boundless options for how they can communicate the same idea. See what we mean? All of the sentences above provide the reader with the same message, but the syntax of […]
How to Help Students with Writer’s Block
When writer’s block hits, it can feel impossible to escape. Even published authors experience writer’s block all the time. Therefore, students of all ages are bound to fall into the writer’s block rut at some point or another, too. As paralyzing as writer’s block can be, there are strategies we can teach students to help […]
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