Lily Jones

Educator, writer, curriculum developer, mother, lover of learning & teaching
Understood •

6 essential skills for reading comprehension — and how to help

Many kids can read the words on a page but struggle to understand what they’ve read. That’s because reading isn’t just about sounding out words. It’s also about comprehension. Reading comprehension is the ability to read words and understand what they mean. It involves using many skills like decoding, vocabulary, and reasoning to make sense of a text. When one of these skills is harder for kids, understanding what they read can be harder, too.Reading comprehension is a fundamental component of t...
Forbes •

Want To Solve The Teacher Shortage? Tell Teachers They Don’t Have To Stay In The Classroom Forever

District after district is short on teachers. Recent research shows that teacher shortages are happening in 74% of elementary and secondary schools. And these shortages leave even more work on the shoulders of teachers who stay, perpetuating burnout and creating an unhealthy cycle. The hashtag #FormerTeacher is constantly trending on LinkedIn as teachers desperately claw their way out of a toxic education system. So many of these teachers don’t want to leave teaching, but the job itself has beco...
Understood •

STEM stars who learn and think differently

Students who have trouble with subjects like math and science may think that a STEM career is not for them. But in fact, many leaders in STEM learn and think differently. Teach your students success stories about scientists, engineers, and other STEM professionals with ADHD and learning differences. You can start by downloading these mini-posters. The posters feature leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. As kids, they struggled in school. Today these STEM stars are...
Understood •

How to use flexible grouping in STEM

Collaboration is a future-ready skill. Almost every job requires people to work with others. That makes it one of the most important skills for students to practice in school, especially in STEM lessons. In STEM, students must work together to solve problems. One way to do that is with flexible grouping.Flexible grouping is an evidence-based teaching practice that supports all learners. Students work together in temporary groups to develop a skill or to complete an activity. The groups can be ho...
Understood •

How to plan STEM lessons with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help make STEM content more accessible to all students. UDL is an evidence-based teaching practice that removes barriers to learning. Read on to learn more about UDL and how to use it in your STEM lesson plans.UDL is a framework that helps ​​all learners to access and engage in learning. It’s about building flexibility into your lesson plans so they can be adjusted for every student’s strengths, interests, and needs. With UDL, you assume that barriers to l...
Understood •

Growth mindset printables for STEM

A growth mindset is a way of viewing challenges and setbacks. People who have a growth mindset believe that with hard work, their skills can improve over time.Having a growth mindset is important for students. It helps them face challenges and learn from mistakes. It’s essential for students who learn and think differently to have opportunities to practice a growth mindset. And STEM is the perfect place to practice this.STEM often involves finding solutions to problems. Having a growth mindset h...
Hooked on Phonics •

Scarborough’s Reading Rope | Hooked on Phonics

The science of reading is a comprehensive body of research that explains how children learn to read and identifies the most effective instructional methods. It highlights the need to teach a combination of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Scarborough’s Reading Rope is a model that helps visually represent how these essential skills intertwine to develop skilled reading. Understanding this model can allow you to help your child grow as a reader.Scarborough’s Re...
Hooked on Phonics •

Teaching Your Child to Read: A Parent’s Role | Hooked on Phonics

How do you teach your child to read? Actually, teaching your child to read isn’t something you need to do on your own. Your child’s teachers will play a key part, and educational technology can help, too. So, what is your role as a parent? While you can teach your child to read, it’s also important to help your child get ready to read. Here are some tips to grow a reader.The simplest way to help your child learn and grow as a reader is to consistently spend time reading together. While a nightly...
Hooked on Phonics •

When Do Kids Learn to Read? | Hooked on Phonics

The answer to the question, “When do kids learn to read?” is simple: when they’re ready! That’s because learning to read is an ongoing process that happens on your child’s own timeline. In fact, it’s normal for there to be a wide variability in reading skills until about age 6 or 7. By then, most children’s reading abilities tend to even out. That’s why it’s important not to push your child too fast. Instead, try to think about learning to read as the beginning of a lifelong adventure. Even afte...
Hooked on Phonics •

The Science of Reading Explained | Hooked on Phonics

Understanding exactly how children learn to read can feel like solving a mystery. Fortunately, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. There are decades of research around reading development that you can use to help your own kids. Collectively, that information is referred to as the science of reading. Using methods informed by the science of reading is important because they are based on proven knowledge of how kids learn to read. Over the years, some approaches to teaching reading have n...
Springboard Collaborative •

Three ways to involve families in their child’s learning

Learning doesn’t just happen within a school building. To increase student achievement, it’s important to not just focus on what happens at school. Research shows that parents’ involvement in their kid’s learning is the strongest predictor of academic success. An analysis of 100 Chicago public schools showed that students were four times more likely to improve in reading if they had strong parental involvement. To truly partner with families, schools need to actively listen to families and prio
Forbes •

Healing Together: How Guardian Lane Helps Children Cope With Loss

When Kristina Jones was seven, she lost her dad to cancer. To help process her loss, she went to therapy and grieved with her family. But, reflecting back on her experience, Jones wishes she had more of a support network. “It was very traumatic. I never got the help I needed to process what had happened. My school didn’t give me any type of support. They just gave us a Christmas tree and expected me to go back to normal,” said Jones. Now Jones is committed to making sure other children who exp
Forbes •

Proud To Be Us: Celebrating Pride Month With Supernow

With Pride Month underway, children’s media has been finding ways to celebrate all month long. From the Blues Clues Pride Parade to Sesame’s Street’s rainbow muppet message of solidarity, kid-focused brands have been infusing pride into their programming. Even Lego got in on the Pride Month celebration with their Everyone is Awesome rainbow-themed set. For Supernow, relatively-newcomers to the children’s media scene, celebrating pride month has presented an opportunity to double-down on their m
Forbes •

Everyone’s Out Of School: How Outschool Is Making Virtual Learning Personal

After the coronavirus outbreak closed schools across the world, parents became teachers at a rapid rate. Though a sudden switch to homeschooling certainly has its challenges, it is also an opportunity for kids to dive deep into subjects that interest them. This is the perfect time to help kids develop agency, self-direction, and a love of personalized learning. Enter Outschool. Though their online learning platform has been around since 2015, they have grown rapidly over the last few weeks, so
Forbes •

Want to Support Teachers? Pay Them, Help Them, Love Them

A recent study found that teacher pay is decreasing. This is bad news for an already struggling profession. Many come to teaching as a calling, something they feel they are born to do (I was one of them). Many leave teaching because it is unsustainable, as there’s too much soul-wrenching work without support, both monetarily and otherwise (I was one of them too.) We know that society doesn’t value teachers, though many of us individuals do. How can parents and other supportive community members
Woman's Day •

Why I Refuse to Teach My Kids the Santa Lie

I remember exactly where I was: in the car with my mom, around the corner from our house. I was nervous to ask, afraid I knew what her response would be. While my mom blew Santa's cover as sweetly as possible, all I could think of was how I'd been lied to. "Does Dad know? Do my sisters know? DOES EVERYONE KNOW?!" I remember asking. I wasn't upset that Santa didn't exist; I was devastated that everyone I loved had been lying to me. As a kid with two much older sisters, I was no stranger to fee
Forbes •

Teaching After Hours: The Rise Of International Online Teaching

After teaching all day long, most teachers want to go home and rest. But with meager teacher salaries, many teachers take on additional jobs to make ends meet. We normally think of teaching as something that’s done within four classroom walls, but technology has expanded the ways in which teachers can work. At the forefront of this expansion are virtual teaching companies that give teachers a chance to tutor students internationally, outside of their regular workday.
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