Books, Books, and More Books!

One of my favorite parts of summer is being able to read fiction books but also professional development books.  I just can't get enough.  Summer is a time to refresh, recharge, and reignite the spark and magic of teaching.  I don't know about you, but for me, it is SO hard to turn my brain off.  I feel like all the shiny things are all around me, and I want to go to each one!  Hmmmm.  Too much!  Soooo I started my summer with the book Where the Crawdads Sing - this is a MUST read!!  If you read any fiction book, read this!

For professional development, I decided to focus on Reading and Phonics.  I have several books on my list, and I may not finish all of them, but I am going to try!!  A few of them I have read, but I like to go back and reread certain books that I know I can get more from after reading it again.

The first book on my list is Letter Lessons and First Words by Heidi Anne Mesmer.  This is such a great book for teaching phonics for Pk-2nd.  It is easy to follow, and there are videos to watch throughout the book of her explaining in more detail as well as teaching short lessons and putting it in action.  Videos help me so much in putting it all together!  She talks about what engaging phonics instruction looks like and provides tools to use in the classroom.  She also gives a scope and sequence of what to teach, quick assessments, a lesson framework, and units of activities.  This is an excellent book if you want more direction in teaching phonics effectively.

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