Fluency starts with confidence, and confidence starts with sight words! In this episode of The Education Connection, Robin Wilson shares practical ways to help young readers recognize high-frequency words instantly, freeing their brains to focus on comprehension and meaning.

You’ll learn how sight words support fluency, how many to focus on each year, and why those little words make a big impact. Robin also shares her favorite classroom-tested activities and a free resource to help you put it all into practice.

🧠 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why sight words are the key to building fluent, confident readers
• The difference between Fry and Dolch lists (and how to start if you don’t have a program)
• How the first 100 words make up about 50% of what kids read — and the first 300 words cover 65%

🎯 Try This in Your Classroom:

Sight Word Parking Lot Write words on index cards and let students “drive” toy cars to the ones you call out. This quick, movement-based activity builds instant recognition while keeping learning playful and fun!

Grab Robin’s Free Spelling Practice Pack, perfect for reinforcing sight words and phonics patterns through editable weekly templates. 👉 Download it now at Robin Wilson First Grade Love Spelling Practice First Grade

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9 Every sight word you teach is a seed of confidence that will grow in your students over time.

If this episode encouraged you, please share it with a teacher or homeschool mom—it helps more than you know! And when you leave a 5-star rating and review, you’ll be entered into a $25 Amazon gift card giveaway.

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Your students can decode words — but something’s still missing. They’re reading words but not books, and it’s choppy, slow, and uncertain. That’s where fluency comes in, the bridge between sounding out and real reading.

In this episode, Robin Wilson shares:

• What fluency means
• Why 20 minutes of daily reading changes everything
• Three simple ways to build fluent, confident readers
• How to keep reading time fun with variety and choice

🎁 FREE RESOURCE: Download Robin’s The Read Everyday Challenge. 10 fun ways to practice reading every day! 👉 Click here to download the free guide

⭐ ENTER TO WIN! Leave a 5-star review of The Education Connection on Apple Podcasts, and you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. It’s my way of saying thank you for supporting the show and helping other teachers find it too! 💛

🎧 Listen now and discover how to turn decoding into joyful, fluent reading — one day at a time.

This week on The Education Connection, we’re moving forward on our phonics journey by exploring plurals — when to add s and when to add es to show “more than one.” We’ve already built strong foundations with letter sounds, CVC words, blends, and digraphs. Now, we’re helping our students apply those skills in real reading and writing.

In this episode, I share simple language to teach the rule, plus three easy activities you can use right away:

• “One or More?” oral practice game
• s/es sorting activity
• Plural Detective reading activity

These can be done whole group, small group, or in literacy centers.

We’ll wrap up with a scripture reminder that small steps matter and a prayer of encouragement for your week. Tune in — let’s grow confident readers together.

If The Education Connection podcast is encouraging you, helping you in the classroom, or giving you something to think about each week, I would be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave a positive review for the show. Your kind words truly mean the world to me. 💛

Leave a 5 star rating and a positive review on this podcast and you will be automatically entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card as a thank you. 🎉

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