distance learning – Astute Hoot

How to Find Balance with Virtual Learning

August 30, 2020January 20, 2021By astutehoot

Love or hate it, virtual learning has become our new reality. As a reading interventionist and kindergarten teacher, this has been a difficult and daunting shift for us as we wholeheartedly believe in multi-modal, hands-on instruction.

One of our biggest challenges has been keeping young children engaged and motivated during virtual learning. It is important for us to find balance between screen time and authentic, hands-on learning. Here are our top 4 ways we’ve enhanced virtual learning for our students: Read more

Boost Alphabet Skills with Leroy the Letter Lynx!

July 12, 2020January 21, 2021By astutehoot

“Hi, I’m Leroy the Letter Lynx.
I’ll help you name letters quick as a wink!
Alphabet letters are all around.
My job is to teach you their names, shapes and sounds.
I’ll teach you capital letters and lowercase too.
I can’t wait to get started with you!” Read more

How to Boost Reading Fluency during Remote Learning

April 22, 2020October 2, 2020By astutehoot

Like many other educators, I’ve been missing my students greatly and have been trying to wrap my head around providing quality specialized intervention instruction during distance learning and remote instruction.

Most of my students have goals in the area of reading fluency. During the school year we used a variety of strategies to increase their fluency. One of our most effective strategies was Repeated Reading. In the Repeated Reading strategy, students read the same short passage of text several times, improving with each time they read. Repeated Reading has been shown to improve decoding automaticity, phrasing, comprehension, rate and confidence.

Favorite Multi-Sensory Sight Word Activities for At-Home Learning

April 21, 2020October 2, 2020By astutehoot

When learning how to read and spell, children respond best to hands-on strategies. What better way to practice sight words than to use materials that will engage the visual, tactile, kinesthetic, and auditory senses. These are great activities for at-home learning and practice.