A Pioneer Valley Books fan recently asked me about my decision to write decodable books. The fan recognized that in the past I had expressed the thinking that students learn best when their teacher reacts to their reading miscues in the moment during text reading and that I objected to using decodable text that was […]
When it comes to using decodable texts in the classroom, today’s educators are often divided. Many are advocating for using only decodable books to teach reading, while others say that they would never use decodable books. However, there is room for both decodable books and leveled books in our primary classrooms. Both kinds of books […]
Some children learn to read almost effortlessly, and others seem to struggle endlessly. I recently started working with a little guy in first grade named Cayden. Halfway through the year, he had pretty much given up. While the other students in his class were engaged in reading and writing, Cayden had perfected the art of […]
Earlier this week, I talked on Zoom with my collaborator, Jan Richardson and showed off the new books and tools from our Literacy Footprints Fourth Grade Kit. This kit has been a blast to work on together, and we are so excited to share it with teachers. Check out this video where Jan and I […]
Created by teachers for teachers, Literacy Footprints is a complete guided reading system cocreated by myself and fellow literacy expert, Jan Richardson. Hear directly from Jan and I as we detail the program’s components and successes. If you are interested in getting a sample of Literacy Footprints, please visit the Literacy Footprints website.
Students love seeing their own names in print, and that’s one reason that I love creating stories for BookBuilder Online. It’s simple to add names, print out the book, and assemble the story for classroom or home use. To celebrate the beginning of spring (even if it’s still winter where you are), here are two great FREE seasonal […]
[This post is a guest post from our Marketing Coordinator, Rachel. Rachel handles lots of the marketing and social media business for Pioneer Valley Books. Today she’s sharing some awesome updates from a couple of their digital projects.] At Pioneer Valley Books, we love doing whatever we can to ensure that teachers have as many […]
We love getting fan mail from young readers here at Pioneer Valley Books! Students write letters to all our characters, but Bella and Rosie are definitely fan favorites around here! I especially loved this recent letter from Eliza to Bella and Rosie! In the letter, Eliza writes: Dear Bella and Rosie, I love you, Bella […]
It’s September, which in our world only means one thing: back to school! Our BookBuilder™ Online tool is such a great resource for getting kids excited to be back in school. BookBuilder™ Online is a fun, easy way to personalize stories for young readers. Just insert the student’s name and the names of important people in […]
Every month, we create two free, printable books and make them downloadable via our BookBuilder Online. For August, we’ve got two awesome new stories for you! Because August means back to school season, our first story is called “Back to School.” (Level 2/B) Our second story this month is perfect for fall weather. It’s called “Delicious […]