To be culturally effective doesn’t mean you are an authority in
the values and beliefs of every culture. What it means is that
you hold a deep respect for cultural differences and are eager to learn,
and willing to accept, that there are many ways of viewing the world.

Okokon O. Udo

Reading Resources:

This page is a compilation of my own resources, as well as, resources from colleagues that I have garnered over the years. If you are a fellow teacher, please feel free to use the resources on this page. I would not be where I am today if I did not share resources with my coworkers. Please message me if you have questions!

Summer Reading List by Reading Level

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Phonics

Sometimes we have to go back to the basics to move forward. If you need a refresher on phonics, phonemes, or graphemes, this section is for you!

Open vs. Closed Syllables

Please do not turn to ChatGPT for an explanation on “Open” and “Closed” syllables. Growing Primary creates excellent resources that offer clear explanations with multiple examples for each rule. Watch the video above and then read my quick notes below.

Syllable: a single word part that includes a vowel sound

• News
• On

Most words are multi-syllable words, or words that are comprised of more than one syllable.

• Silent = Si-lent
• Violin = Vi-o-lin
• Welcome = Wel- come
• Rodent= Ro-dent
• Transcendent = Tran-scen-dent
• Phonics = Phon-ics
• Generative = Gen-er-a-tive

Open syllable: a word that ends in a vowel that says is name or its long sound of the vowel

• Solo
• So
• Me

Closed syllable: a word that ends in a consonant which forces the vowel to make a short sound

• Basket
• Bacon
• Robot

Divide words after the vowel or between two consonants:

• Solo = So-lo
• Basket= Bas-ket
• Open= O-pen
• Menu= Men-u (dividing after “me” doesn’t make sense here)

Blending Long A: A_E, AI, AY

Blending Long E: EA, EE, EY

Blending Long I: I_E, IGH, Y

Blending Long O: O_E, OA, OW

Blending Long U: U_E, OO, EW

Teachers, remember that you can always return to the main resources page “Teachers Corner” by clicking the Resources tab or by clicking here.