Your search for "Rhonda McDonald" revealed the following:

• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Guest Post by Rhonda McDonald

  The “You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You” project was made possible with a proposal known as the George H. Irby, Sr. Incentive Grant of $500.00, submitted to the Virginia Association of Federal Education Programs.    “….these funds must be used to support the academic achievement of students receiving...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The Transitional Stage [Grades 1-2]

  Editor's Note: This blog was previously published, we're re-sharing it today as teachers begin their fall semester.     By  Rhonda McDonald, Title 1 Reading Specialist  Developmental Writing Stage: Transitional (7–8 years old)   Children in the transitional stage of writing display the ability to create meaningful sentences to communicate a...

• Teaching Kids to Write – The Scribbling Stage!

  Editor's Note: This blog was previously published, we're re-sharing it as part of our 'Best of' series, a look back at some of our most popular blogs.    This is a guest post from Rhonda McDonald.   Young children (2–4 years old) are uninhibited as they share their joy in writing. Expressing an idea...

• Hameray Herald: March 2013 Issue

   The New Oral Language Development Series is Released We are pleased to announce the recent release of Hameray's new Oral Language Development Series (OLDS), which is designed to support oral language development through interaction with text. Created after three years of intensive research, this program supports Common Core language standards by providing opportunities to practice simple,...

• 3 Reading Activities That Boost Social-Emotional Learning [First Grade]

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger If you're looking for ways to ensure social-emotional development with lessons in narrative texts that students can easily identify and apply to their lives, you'll want to keep reading. In today's blog post, I'll describe activities that you can use to improve social-emotional...

• Teaching Kids to Work Together with Reader's Theater

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger In today’s blog post, I’ll explain how you can use reader’s theater to facilitate social-emotional learning and to help students improve reading fluency and expression. First I’ll explain how you can use a great science fiction script to teach kids to work together to solve problems...

• Teaching Character Traits and Morals with Fables

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger Fables offer engaging opportunities for you to teach kids about character traits and morals. In today's blog post, I'll describe fun activities that you can use after reading level G fables, which will help facilitate social-emotional learning among your students. Understanding the Significance of...

• Teaching Comprehension Skills with Paired Texts [Grades 1–2]

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger Pairing narrative and informational texts is a great way to teach comprehension skills in first and second grade. In this blog post, I'll provide ways to help kids find the main idea and supporting details, as well as activities to pair with reading...

• Kindergarten Reading Activities for Social Studies and Science Themes

  Editor's Note: This blog was previously published, we're re-sharing it today as educators prepare for the upcoming semester.     By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger When a beginning reader says, “I can read,” a smile inevitably shines on our faces. In some cases, a child has been read and reread...

• Hameray Herald: April 2014 Issue

  GET OFF TO THE RIGHT START ENTER NOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN LETTER LEARNING MATERIALS Alphabet knowledge is an important aspect of a child's literacy foundation, and the Letter Buddies materials offer students a fun, engaging way to begin their letter learning. Today, we launch the Letter Buddies Classroom...

• How to Leverage Prior Knowledge About Homes

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger In order for an appliance to work properly, it needs power. Similarly, when you tap into a child’s background knowledge, he or she needs a frame of reference in order to develop real world connections to classroom instruction. Keep reading to find out how...

• Benefits of Reader's Theater for Your Students

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger When teaching reading for fluency and expression, you need to look for material that will engage your students. Reader’s theater is an exciting way to motivate struggling readers. When kids fulfill a role in a play, they immerse themselves in rich opportunities to strengthen their reading...

• Social-Emotional Development with Fables

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger Fables are an engaging way for you to teach a moral or a lesson because the character development of fictional human and animal characters often involve character traits of real-life people. This is a great way to introduce kids to social and emotional learning. In today's...

• Using Level A Books for Kindergarten Guided Reading

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger “I can read! I can read!" Have you ever heard students say this? When the light bulb clicks, and the words on the page begin to make sense, it is an exciting moment. Reading to children from a very early age is important in preparing...

• Teach Writing Skills by Tapping into Student Creativity

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger Young children come to school with an endless amount of creativity. As educators, we have the responsibility to tap into their prior knowledge to nurture and channel those naturally creative thoughts. The beauty of creative writing is that there are no right or...

• Teaching Point of View with Reader's Theater

  By Rhonda McDonald, Reading Specialist, Guest Blogger When you teach reading for fluency and expression, have you considered looking for plays to interest your students? Reader’s theater is an exciting approach to motivate struggling readers because they can portray a character in a play. In today's post, I'll explain how...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The "CVC Words" Stage!

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our  Kaleidoscope Collection :  Polar Bears  and  The White Whale .      Developmental Writing Stage: "CVC Words" (6–7 years old) The magic of writing...

• Teaching Kids to Write: Beginning Sounds Emerge!

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our   Kaleidoscope Collection :   Polar Bears   and   The White Whale . The Developmental Writing Stage of Beginning Sound Emergence: 5–6 years...

• Teaching Kids to Write: Writing to Inform

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our   Kaleidoscope Collection :   Polar Bears    and   The White Whale . She has been writing a series of posts on teaching...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The "Consonants Represent Words" Stage!

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our  Kaleidoscope Collection :  Polar Bears   and   The White Whale .   Developmental Writing Stage: Consonants Represent Words (5–6 years old) Children in...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The Author's Purpose and Writing to Communicate

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our   Kaleidoscope Collection :   Polar Bears   and   The White Whale . She has been writing a series of posts on teaching...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The Letter-Like Symbols Stage!

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our   Kaleidoscope Collection :   Polar Bears   and   The White Whale . The Developmental Writing Stage of Letter-Like Symbols: 4–6 years old...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The Strings of Letters Stage!

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia, and author of two books in our  Kaleidoscope Collection :  Polar Bears  and  The White Whale . The Developmental Writing Stage of Strings of Letters: 5–6 years old Children in the...

• Teaching Kids to Write: Writing to Persuade

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our   Kaleidoscope Collection :   Polar Bears   and   The White Whale . She has been writing a series of posts on teaching...

• Teaching Kids to Write: The Standard Spelling Stage

  This is a guest post by Rhonda McDonald, a Title 1 Reading Specialist in Botetourt County Public Schools, Virginia and author of two books in our  Kaleidoscope Collection :  Polar Bears   and   The White Whale .   Developmental Writing Stage:  Standard Spelling (9–12 years old) For the past...