Contact Me

If you would like to contact me, please leave a message on this page or send me an email at:  teachinfifth@gmail.com

26 thoughts on “Contact Me

  1. Hi, I’m a mum of 4 with 2 boys who have phonetic dyslexia. I’m struggling to figure out how best to teach them IPA in a way that both of them will understand. The teachers don’t teach dyslexic children to any standard and currently I’m stuck in a loop with my ten year old stuck on the same spellings we’ve learned several times over! My 14 year old is currently missing education because his teachers have severely affected his self esteem due to his dyslexia and handwriting.
    I found your ipa lesson article fascinating and would like to try to gain an understanding in how I can teach this as a parent (who spent half an hour trying to get my youngest to understand how break is different to brake and isn’t spelled brike(sic)) so they can learn to think outside the box and gain an understanding in how the sounds form from different letter groupings.
    I am by no means educated to teacher level but I’m capable of still picking up new skills
    Please help.
    Regards
    Stacey

  2. Happy Friday!

    I don’t know if you’ll remember me, but this is Jason; I used to teach middle school ELA in Cambridge. Anyway, I’m now teaching Tech Ed in another district, but I have been talking with a middle school ELA teacher here, and she’s interested in your etymology and word stems instruction. I’d love to see it make its way here, so I’m reaching out to see if you are willing to share what you’ve done with them.

    Anyway, let me know if you’d be interested in helping out and I can either try to set up a connection or just send you her contact information.

    Thanks for all you do,

    Jason

  3. Hi,

    I love your material & would be very interested in a class like this for my daughter. Unfortunately, SWI is not taught as often in the US.

    I was wondering if you had considered teaching an online class so students from all over could benefit from your insights. My daughter has teachers from all over on Outschool or we also join teachers that set up their own zooms.

    Thank you,
    Dawnellen

    • I am not teaching online classes to students right now – only to teachers. I reached out to a friend who has offered such a class on Outschool in the past. She is considering offering one in last December. Until then, please consider joining the facebook group called Structured Word Inquiry in the Classroom. I guarantee you’ll find activities to do with your daughter. You may even find someone offering such a class!

      Mary Beth

  4. Hello Mrs. Stevens
    Thank you so much for your Classroom Blog. I am a reading specialist from Virginia. I teach in a middle school. I am currently stumped on my investigation of the word . It comes from Latin solvere and solutio and is related in meaning to solve, solute, resolution, etc. My question is how do I explain this change in spelling to my students? Is this a twin base, related through etymology but not morphology? I would say my understanding of SWI is more than beginner but less than intermediate. Thank you for your time.
    Michele Landry

    • Hi Michele,
      Thank you for your question! I sent an email because I wanted to be thorough in my response. Let me know if you have any questions.

      Happy to talk words!
      Mary Beth

  5. Dear Mrs. Steven,
    What a lovely last half hour I’ve had reading your posts and responses to them. I heartily applaud your integrity, manner, tenacity, and humor! They may be known as soft skills but they are in short supply these days yet essential for any tutor or teacher to model if we are to raise inquiring minds. Keep on keeping on Mrs. Steven. I may have to begin visiting your classroom each Sunday morning.

    • Thank you, Susan! Your kind comments have put such a smile on my face today! I’m flattered to think that those are the qualities you spotted in my posts, for they are certainly ones worth striving for. It would please me greatly to think that you might be stopping by on a Sunday morning. 🙂

      Mary Beth

  6. Mrs. Stevens, I found my way here because of SWI, and then I stayed to watch some of your grammar videos. While the grammar is interesting, what makes me comment is the interaction with your kids – so kind and respectful! I just have to say – I don’t know you, but thank you for being that way and may Jesus bless you greatly! 🙂

    • Thank you so much! You make a great point. While the content of what I am teaching is important, how we treat each other is even more so. Thank you for making me smile today!

  7. Mrs. Steven, thank you for your time spent on this blog! I pop back every now and then, and always enjoy what you have to share. I was lucky enough join you in your classroom for a field study when I was finishing up school. I’ve been teaching science for the past two years since.

    • Hi Katelyn,

      When I received notification that you had left a comment, I recognized your name right away! It’s nice to know you are checking in and that you are teaching science! What grade level are you working with?

  8. Can you recommend any resources for teaching Real Script. Thank you!
    Would you recommend I teach my 1st and 3rd grade?

  9. Thank you for your blog. I just completed a year of training through the Children’s Dyslexia Center of Cincinnati. I am wanting to bring OG into my classroom this coming school year. My thoughts were to do a whole-group mini-lesson Monday – Friday and also in small groups during my reading block. I am comfortable with the small group setting but would like your advice on how to do the whole group mini-lesson. Do you have books to suggest that I could use to assist?

    Thanks so much,
    Mike

    • Hi Mike,

      I choose many of the topics for my whole group mini-lessons by looking at the written work of my students. Periodically I will have them write a friendly letter to me. That way I can see the kinds of spelling errors that they are making in the context of a writing. It might be a spelling convention or just a word that they are trying desperately to spell by sounding it out (which doesn’t usually work in a stress timed language like ours).

      Mary Beth

  10. I am interested in taking your grammar class. However, I didn’t see a link to request dates, how should I do this? I am free between June 18-29, and July 18-31.

    Thank you!
    Mileah Briley

    • Hello Mileah!

      I am available after 1:00 pm CST on any of those dates. Pleas send an email to me at teachinfifth@gmail.com and we’ll set up a schedule. Then I will post it so others can join as well!

      I look forward to meeting you! There are others who have been waiting for a summer class to start up as well!

      Mary Beth Steven

  11. Hello,

    I saw your root word maps and love them! Would you mind telling me a little bit about how you go about creating these with your class? I would love to do something like this with my students.

    Thanks,

    Dr. Pelotte

    • Welcome!

      I am happy to tell you more. Often I choose a base word to start with (or we come across a word during our day). Then the students brainstorm a list of words built off of that base, and I write them all on the board. Next I create the matrix by starting with the base. We list prefixes on the left and suffixes on the right.

      Building matrices is a great way for students to see the structure of the word — what each morpheme looks like and means. It is also a great way to talk about suffixing rules.

      Today I gave each student a word to investigate. They had to find out what the word meant and then find as many words as they could that shared the base. Next I sent them to Mini Matrix Maker to create their own matrix. In order to create the matrix, they had to write their words as word sums first.

      I would be happy to explain in more detail, so if you send me an email to the address listed at the top of this page, I will respond. Looking at word families has really helped in many ways. When wondering about the ‘g’ in sign, we built a matrix and recognized words like signal and signature in which the ‘g’ is pronounced. It suddenly made more sense for it to be there!

      Mrs. Steven

  12. Thanks for letting us make our own blogs. I am so excited just making the blog. I was so happy when you sent the sheet to see if we could even have our own blog.

    Aynsley☺

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