Pennington Publishing Blog

If you googled Executive Function Skills to get this article, you know that this is a trending educational topic. As educators, parents, and students, we’ve learned a lot about learning during the pandemic. Researchers, too, have hopped aboard this train with grant money conducting the ride, and the recent research base validating the importance of executive functioning skills is impressive.

Now, as I write this article in August of 2022, I can’t help thinking about two popular idiomatic expressions: “A horse by any other name is still a horse” and “What goes around, comes around.” Come to think of it, these expressions are not really that popular anymore, but I’m not familiar with their contemporary replacements.

Somewhat surprisingly, googling study skills still produces plenty of search results and you may even have found this article by entering this phrase. However, the updated “horse by any other name” is executive function skills.

Now, technically the two terms are a Venn diagram with some differences, but with a much larger overlap of similar components. Both study skills and executive function skills share the same characteristics: active self-regulatory processes which play substantial roles in learning.

Additionally, the older collection of study skills, which seemed destined to fade into oblivion due to instructional time constraints or had been narrowed down to last-minute test prep in many schools, has now been re-branded into a similar, but expanded version of itself.

“What comes around” are the same old, with some new, study skills, but with quite a different look. Executive function skills now are trending.

The research about executive function (EF) skills is particularly impressive in reading development. Researchers Nell Duke and Kelly Cartwright (2021) summarize this body of recent research:

Several EF skills contribute directly to reading: cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, working memory, planning, and attentional control… EF skills also contribute to reading ability indirectly, through both word recognition and language comprehension processes… EF is so important to reading that there is reason to believe that for some students, limited EF skills are the primary cause of reading difficulty.

As a reading specialist, I might not be quite as effusive in extolling the merits and critical importance of EF skills on reading development; however, they certainly play a role, especially with respect to reading intervention (e.g., Melby-Lervåg & Hulme).

In sum, the recent research does seem to indicate that the old study skills are still essential. So, thank you for teaching them to our students.

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The author, Mark Pennington’s Essential Study Skills is a wonderful collection of teacher or student-guided 20-minute lessons (the perfect substitute lesson plans) to teach what some seem to believe are common sense skills, or things other teachers must have already taught.

Essential Study Skills

Grammar/Mechanics executive function skills, memory skills, pragmatics, study skills, substitute lesson plans, test prep

Syntax in Reading and Writing

The greatest bang for the buck for fluent readers to improve academic reading comprehension and writing sophistication? Syntax

What does the research say about syntax?

“In addition to lexical development, syntactic development plays a key role in reading comprehension” (Poulsen and Gravgaard, 2016 as cited in researchgate).

“Inadequate ability to process the syntax of language results in the inability to understand what is heard, as well as what is read. Beyond word knowledge, it is the single most powerful deterrent to listening and reading comprehension” (J.F. Greene, 2011).

“Fostering young writers’ awareness of the linguistic choices available to them in writing and how those choices differently shape meaning is developing their metalinguistic knowledge of writing” (Myhill, Jones, Lines, Watson as cited in Research Online).

Students will learn to understand (read) and apply (write) the key syntactic features in 18 weekly lessons of about an hour each. Focus is on function at the sentence level, not on rote memorization or drill and kill. Huge indebtedness to the late William Van Cleave… However, whereas William gave us the Why? and How? of reciprocal reading and writing syntactic instruction, this program gives you and your students the What?

But, how should we teach syntax?

The research over the last half-century is clear that isolated explicit grammar instruction is ineffective. However, the late William Van Cleave was certainly correct that implicit grammar instruction in the context of reading and writing provides no overarching framework, no consistent language of instruction, and not enough practice for students when taught only as problems arise. Bottom line? Neither explicit, nor implicit grammar camps link reading and writing instruction. As Van Cleave has concluded: “We need a new camp.”

That new camp is function-based syntax in reading and writing at the sentence level.

Syntax in Reading and Writing will help your students learn the function of syntactic tools in reading and writing. No endless grammar identification and terminology worksheets; no DOL error correction; no mini-lessons; but lessons which teach how challenging sentences are constructed.

The program provides syntactic content and examples, short identification practice, 153 complicated syntactic sentences to analyze and revise with sentence kernels, sentence combination, sentence expansion, and more. Plus, short writing applications to practice each syntactic lesson focus in a variety of genre.

The 18 parts of speech, phrases, and clauses weekly lessons are leveled from basic (elementary) to advanced (middle school and high school) and feature 5 lesson components (10–15 minutes each):

1. Learn It! (the syntactic content and examples)
2. Identify It! (a short practice section)
3. Explain It! (analysis of challenging sentences featuring the syntactic focus)
4. Revise It! (kernel sentences, sentence expansion and combination)
5. Create It! (Short writing application with the syntactic focus in different genre).

Additionally, the teacher and students Reinforce It! by searching class and independent reading texts for syntactically similar sentences to analyze and explain.

Check out the Syntax in Reading and Writing program. Pronoun Examples

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Pennington Publishing Grammar Programs

Teaching Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and High School) are full-year, traditional, grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics programs with plenty of remedial practice to help students catch up while they keep up with grade-level standards. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep lessons in print or interactive Google slides with a fun secret agent theme. Simple sentence diagrams, mentor texts, video lessons, sentence dictations. Plenty of practice in the writing context. Includes biweekly tests and a final exam.

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Interactive Notebook (Grades 4‒8) is a full-year, no prep interactive notebook without all the mess. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep grammar, usage, and mechanics lessons, formatted in Cornell Notes with cartoon response, writing application, 3D graphic organizers (easy cut and paste foldables), and great resource links. No need to create a teacher INB for student make-up work—it’s done for you! Plus, get remedial worksheets, biweekly tests, and a final exam.

Syntax in Reading and Writing is a function-based, sentence-level syntax program, designed to build reading comprehension and increase writing sophistication. The 18 parts of speech, phrases, and clauses lessons are each leveled from basic (elementary) to advanced (middle and high school) and feature 5 lesson components (10–15 minutes each): 1. Learn It!  2. Identify It!  3. Explain It! (analysis of challenging sentences) 4. Revise It! (kernel sentences, sentence expansion, syntactic manipulation) 5. Create It! (Short writing application with the syntactic focus in different genre).

Get the Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessments, Matrix, and Final Exam FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics and Mechanics, clauses, DOL, ELA English grammar, grammar workbook, grammar worksheets, high school, middle school, parts of speech, phrases, syntax, Syntax in Writing and Reading, Syntax Matters, teaching grammar, usage, William Van Cleave, Writing Matters

Heart Wordles Slide Games

Do you love Wordle? For those of you teaching reading intervention, SPED, or ELL classes, here’s a set of 43 FREE Google slide games to help your ages 8-adult students practice Heart Words. Heart Wordles is pretty darn fun!

A Heart Word is a word which includes one or more irregular sound-spellings. Generally, older students have a larger lexical bank than beginning readers, so some of the words used in the game will be new to younger students, but the game may be helpful for them, as well.

Each of the 43 slide games focuses on a particular Heart Word sound-spelling pattern and provides the letters to form 5 words. Teachers should introduce the slide game pattern (the most common ones first) and help students blend example words before assigning students the slide game. Blend the phonetically regular parts and add the parts to learn by heart. New to teaching Heart Words? Check out my article, How to Teach Heart Words.

Not all agree on which sound-spellings are irregular. My selection of the 216 Heart Words in this game is based on sound-spelling patterns, syllables and phonics rules, and the Dolch 220 high frequency word list. I included 59 of the Dolch Heart Words (frequency numbers on the next two slides). Full disclosure: I also included words from lessons and decodables from my own reading intervention programs.

The directions are simple: Drag and drop the letters into the light shaded boxes to spell as many Heart Wordles as you can. I like playing the game whole class with a bit of competition (the first student to create all five words shouts out Heart Wordles! I’ve included a blank text box at the bottom of each slide for a few instructional options: 1. Type (and spell check) each word. 2. Explain the pattern or rule. 3. Write sentences including each Heart Word. 4. ?????0

Heart Wordles Slide Games

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GL-EFFuEhQCoPLFAJYhXP7vn-qeeEZNFY4HAaWMEZMQ/copy

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If you like the Heart Wordles Slide Games, you’ll love my reading intervention programs for grades 8-adult:

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards and speech articulation songs. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Grammar/Mechanics Dolch words, Fry Words, Heart Wordles, heart words, Mark Pennington, no excuse words, reading intervention, San Diego Quick, sight words, Sitton words, Slosson, Teaching Reading Strategies, The Science of Reading Intervention Program, Wordle

SCRIP Comprehension Cues

I developed the five simple SCRIP Comprehension Cues to help students improve their reading comprehension by building better and deeper understanding of the text as they read. The beauty of these cues is three-fold. First, they work equally well with expository and narrative text. Second, they provide a language of instruction to discuss reading in all content areas: literature, history, science to name a few. Third, students internalize the comprehension cues and develop the habit of “talking to the text.” Internal monitoring of the text is precisely what good readers do.

The SCRIP Comprehension Cues: Summarize, Connect, Re-think, Interpret, Predict

Summarize means to put the big idea into a smaller one.
–For expository texts (articles, textbooks, etc.), put the main idea(s) and key details into your own words. Summarize after subtitled reading sections and at the end of the reading.
–For narrative texts (stories, poems, etc.), put the theme into your own words at the end of the reading.
* Check out a YouTube video demonstration of the Summarize Comprehension Cue, using “The Boy Who Cried Wolf“ fairy tale to illustrate this strategy. The storyteller first reads the fairy tale without comment. Next,  the story is read once again as a think-aloud with interruptions to show how readers should summarize sections of the reading as they read to monitor and build comprehension.

Connect means to think about how the reading relates to other reading. The reading section might relate to another reading section inside the same reading passage, or the reading section might relate to something outside the reading passage, such as book, a movie, etc.
* Check out a YouTube video demonstration of the Connect Comprehension Cue, using “Hansel and Gretel“ fairy tale to illustrate this strategy. The storyteller first reads the fairy tale without comment. Next,  the story is read once again as a think-aloud with interruptions to show how readers should connect sections of the reading within or outside of the text as they read to monitor and build comprehension.

Re-think means to re-read the text when you are confused or have lost the author’s train of thought. Re-read for better understanding, and look at what is said in a different way. Ask questions or make comments about the reading.
* Check out a YouTube video demonstration of the Re-think Comprehension Cue, using “Little Red Riding Hood“ fairy tale to illustrate this strategy. The storyteller first reads the fairy tale without comment. Next,  the story is read once again as a think-aloud with interruptions to show how readers should re-think sections of the reading as they read to monitor and build comprehension.

Interpret means to think about what the author really means. Draw a conclusion or figure out what is implied (suggested). Authors may directly say what they mean right in the lines of the text, or they may suggest what they mean with hints to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. These hints can be found in the tone (feeling/attitude) of the writing, the word choice, or in other parts of the writing that may be more directly stated.
* Check out a YouTube video demonstration of the Interpret Comprehension Cue, using “Goldilocks and the Three Bears“ fairy tale to illustrate this strategy. The storyteller first reads the fairy tale without comment. Next,  the story is read once again as a think-aloud with interruptions to show how readers should interpret sections of the reading as they read to monitor and build comprehension.

Predict means to guess about what will happen or what the text will say next, based upon what has already happened or what has been said. Good readers make and check their predictions as they read.
* Check out a YouTube video demonstration of the Predict Comprehension Cue, using “The Three Little Pigs“ fairy tale to illustrate this strategy. The storyteller first reads the fairy tale without comment. Next,  the story is read once again as a think-aloud with interruptions to show how readers should predict sections of the reading and check the accuracy of their predictions as they read to monitor and build comprehension.

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Check out the author’s ages 8–adult reading intervention program, and download the FREE SCRIP Comprehension Cue Posters and Bookmarks below.

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted, sounds to print instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every grades 4-adult reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards, speech articulation songs, sounds to print games, and morphology walls. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Click to get these FREE ready-to-use resources:

Get the SCRIP Comprehension Cues FREE Resources:

Grammar/Mechanics close procedure, comprehension strategies, connect, independent reading, interpret, predict, re-think, reader response, reading comprehension, Reading Comprehension Cues, reciprocal teaching, SCRIP Comprehension strategies, summarize

School Jingles

Twas the Night before Christmas

The most famous Christmas poem, was originally titled “A Visit.”

It was published anonymously on December 23, 1823. Not until 1837 did the author of the poem, which was now known as “Twas the Night before Christmas,” claim credit. The author was Clement Clarke Moore, a New York professor who was initially ashamed to claim credit for such an “unscholarly work.” Much of what we know about Santa Claus comes from the verses of this poem as you will soon hear. Of course, as an English teacher I would have preferred the apostrophe prior to the contraction, ’twas, but the author of the poem retains the right to punctuate as he or she or they so chooses!

Watch the catchy “Twas the Night before Christmas” YouTube video after you read a bit about me and what I can do for your school.

I Write School Songs

In addition to my experience as an English teacher, I also am a professional musician and songwriter. I combine my love for teaching and music in a commercials jingles and songwriting business. Yes, I write school songs!

If you want to develop your school’s brand, establish traditions, and build school spirit, incorporating original, customized music can help you do so! I write and record three type of songs for schools, including lyrics from your mission statement, creed, motto, name, colors, and/or mascot:

1. A quick “Announcements” lead-in for your morning public address with 10 versions to keep the song fresh;
2. A “Spirit (Fight) Song” for special events, assemblies, sporting events, use in the multi at lunch, and video messages;
3. A catchy and singable “Alma Mater” to close assemblies, staff meetings, PTA/PTO meetings, and graduation ceremonies.

The “Spirit Song” and “Alma Mater” include optional videos with song lyrics for group singing and sheet music with piano accompaniment for band and choir performances. The songs also make great additions to your school website. As a former teacher, I understand the importance of creating a positive and unified school climate. Your own school songs can enhance the culture of your school. Plus, they are a lot of fun! Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Check out samples, pricing, and reviews at https://penningtonpublishing.com/collections/mark-pennington/products/school-songs. Or contact Mark directly at 888-565-1635 or mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

School Songs

Oh, and here’s the video to enjoy: “Twas the Night before Christmas”

Happy Holidays,

Mark Pennington

Grammar/Mechanics alma mater, commercial jingles, commercial songs, fight songs, Mark Pennington, musical announcements, original song compositions, pennington publishing, school songs, songwriting service, spirit songs, Twas the Night Before Christmas

I Write School Songs

Interested in developing your school’s brand, establishing traditions, and building school spirit with original, customized music? As a professional songwriter and musician, I write and record three type of songs for schools, including lyrics from your mission statement, creed, motto, name, colors, and/or mascot:

1. A quick “Announcements” lead-in for your morning public address with 10 versions to keep the song fresh;
2. A “Spirit (Fight) Song” for special events, assemblies, sporting events, use in the multi at lunch, and video messages;
3. A catchy and singable “Alma Mater” to close assemblies, staff meetings, PTA/PTO meetings, and graduation ceremonies.

Review from Ryan R. Lucas, Principal of Governor’s Ranch Elementary in Littleton, Colorado:

“Mark was exceptional easy to work with. He took into consideration existing school culture and traditions, and incorporated everything into some amazing songs that will become traditions unto themselves. The songs were catchy and students loved them!”

The “Spirit Song” and “Alma Mater” include optional videos with song lyrics for group singing and sheet music for band and choir performances. The songs also make great additions to your school website. As a former teacher, I understand the importance of creating a positive and unified school climate. Your own school songs can enhance the culture of your school. Plus, they are a lot of fun! Your satisfaction is guaranteed.

Check out samples, pricing, and reviews at https://penningtonpublishing.com/collections/mark-pennington/products/school-songs.

Grammar/Mechanics alma mater, fight songs, Mark Pennington, musical announcements, original song compositions, pennington publishing, school songs, songwriting service, spirit songs

Vocabulary Assessments | Academic Language Tier 2 Words

Following are free diagnostic academic language assessments in self-correcting Google forms to help teachers determine what students know and what they do not know regarding the grade level Tier 2 words. The Tier 2 vocabulary has been derived from the research-based Academic Word List (AWL).  The author’s grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Common Core Vocabulary Toolkits provide the corresponding instructional resources to teach the grade level Common Core Vocabulary Standards L. 4, 5, 6. To view the comprehensive instructional scope and sequence of these program, including all CCSS vocabulary standards, click HERE.

The Academic Word List has been ordered into grade level lists by frequency of use. Each grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Academic Language Assessment includes 56 Tier 2 words. The Tier 2 words are the academic language words that are most-often generalizable across the academic domains. For example, the word analyze is used in English-language arts, social science, history, science, math, and the arts.

Academic Word List Criteria

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Dr. Averil Coxhead, senior lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies developed and evaluated The Academic Word List (AWL) for her MA thesis. The list has 570 word families which were selected according to certain criteria:

• The word families must occur in over half of the 28 academic subject areas. “Just over 94% of the words in the AWL occur in 20 or more subject areas. This principle ensures that the words in the AWL are useful for all learners, no matter what their area of study or what combination of subjects they take at tertiary level.”
• “The AWL families had to occur over 100 times in the 3,500,000 word Academic Corpus in order to be considered for inclusion in the list. This principle ensures that the words will be met a reasonable number of times in academic texts.” The academic corpus refers to a computer-generated list of most-frequently occurring academic words.
• “The AWL families had to occur a minimum of 10 times in each faculty of the Academic Corpus to be considered for inclusion in the list. This principle ensures that the vocabulary is useful for all learners.”

Words Excluded From the Academic Word List

• “Words occurring in the first 2,000 words of English.”
• “Narrow range words. Words which occurred in fewer than 4 faculty sections of the Academic Corpus or which occurred in fewer than 15 of the 28 subject areas of the Academic Corpus were excluded because they had narrow range. Technical or specialist words often have narrow range and were excluded on this basis.”
• “Proper nouns. The names of places, people, countries, for example, New Zealand, Jim Bolger and Wellington were excluded from the list.”
• “Latin forms. Some of the most common Latin forms in the Academic Corpus were et al, etc, ie, and ibid.” http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/information

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics Academic Language, Academic Word List, diagnostic vocabulary assessment, Tier 2 words, vocabulary assessments, vocabulary tests

The pandemic effectively suspended the implementation of standards-based summative reading assessments, and most teachers did not shed any tears. However, the anti-testing movement tends to broad-brush the full range of assessments and undermine the application of assessment-based instruction. All testing is not equal, and as a reading specialist, my fear is that we may be throwing out the baby with the bath water.

In “3 Reasons We’re Still Using Outdated Assessments,” the author analyzes the multi-faceted roles of educational assessments.

Key quote from article: “We need to know where students are so we can get them where they need to be. Rather than centering instruction around assessments that occur at the end of the learning cycle, assessments should inform the teaching and learning process every step of the way.”

Essentially, the author argues that CCSS and state standards benchmarks should serve as our primary assessments.  I take issue with this conclusion. While helpful for formative assessment, these benchmark assessments don’t produce the diagnostic data needed to inform initial instruction.

Pardon the silly cooking comparison:

Summative assessments are like comparing Mom’s fresh out of the oven cornbread to a neighbor’s. We can taste which is better, but we can’t isolate the variables to determine why Mom’s is better.

Formative benchmark assessments check the ratios of water to corn meal to added sugar; they check how well the cornbread is browning; and they use the toothpick to determine if the center is fully cooked. All necessary to check, and we can determine which steps were mastered and which were not, but checking off each step of the cooking directions is only the process, not the content of the cooking.

Diagnostic assessments provide the content i.e., the recipe. We need to know the list of ingredients that Mom uses for her award-winning cornbread. But that’s not enough. We also must compare what’s in the kitchen cabinet to that list. Even if Mom’s doing the cooking, the cornbread won’t be up to her standards if she leaves out or ignores key ingredients in her recipe.

Perhaps all three layers of assessment have value, but of the three, it’s the diagnostic recipe most impacts the finished product: informed, targeted instruction and efficient learning.

Here’s my recipe for ELA and reading teachers i.e., free diagnostic reading, spelling, and grammar assessments: https://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/grammar_mechanics/reading-and-spelling-assessments-2/

The author, Mark Pennington, creates assessment-based curriculum. Check out programs at Pennington Publishing.

Grammar/Mechanics reading assessment