You know that dogs bark and cats meow—but have you ever wondered how these words came to be? Say bark and meow out loud—do you notice anything interesting? That’s right—they sound like what they mean!

When a word sounds like or imitates the thing it describes, it is called onomatopoeia (ŏn–ō–mah–tō–pē–uh).

Once upon a time, the people of Iceland developed a wonderful holiday tradition. And then, thanks to the power of the Internet, the rest of the world learned of this delightful holiday activity and adopted it wholeheartedly. If you haven’t already joined the fun of Jólabókaflód, you’re about to discover a jolly holiday treat!

When you read, you probably don’t spend much time decoding the individual words. You just read, and as you get to each word, you instantly recognize it. But beginning readers don’t have that kind of instant recall yet, so it is important to teach them how to sound out words.

Do spelling lessons make your child want to throw her pencil across the room? Do tears seem to go hand-in-hand with learning to read? Are you walking on eggshells, wondering how the “dreaded” subject will go today?

When kids struggle, moms tend to blame themselves …

If you’re always on the lookout for ways to make practicing reading more fun for your children, then you’re going to love our new “Go Dance!” activity! This free printable Thanksgiving activity is perfect for getting in the holiday spirit, but we think these dancing turkeys are so cute that you’ll want to enjoy them all year long.

These days, audio books are becoming more and more available. Their increase in popularity shouldn’t come as a surprise — they provide a range of benefits that many people are only now discovering. Aside from being enjoyable, audio books are great for teaching reading and spelling.

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Have you seen our Word Flippers?

Word Flippers are a super popular part of the All About Reading program. They are fun and motivating for kids, and a simple-yet-effective tool for you as the teacher.

What happens when you combine the style of classic fantasy series like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings with a group of adventuresome sword-wielding rabbits? You get The Green Ember series by S. D. Smith, of course!

Playing with the alphabet is a great way to help your preschooler learn the alphabet and promote letter recognition, and this easy-to-make fabric alphabet will provide hours of kid-friendly, educational fun!

When you teach reading and spelling, it’s a good idea to have a general overview of long vowel sounds. Let’s dive in!

A long vowel is a vowel that is pronounced the same as its name. For example, the word emu starts with the long E sound.

If you’ve been teaching reading for a while, you’ve undoubtedly come across the term sight words, and you probably have some questions about them. Should you teach sight words? What’s the best way to approach sight words? Is it bad to use a curriculum that teaches sight words?

Some kids are just naturally “good spellers.” And then there are those who need all the help they can get.

If spelling doesn’t come easily to your child—or if you want to get your child started on the right foot—this post is for you! Read along to learn about four powerful spelling strategies to help your student, including free resources to get you started.