Literacy Teaching Tools

Every child should feel confident in his/her ability to learn! These teaching tools were requested/inspired by the classroom teachers and can be used for years to come.

Secret Stories®

All first-grade and kindergarten classrooms can now enjoy learning with Secret Stories®. Know & Grow proudly provides:

Phonics Book
Phonics Posters
Musical “Sound Skill” Phonics Songs Download
Phonics Flashcards
Porta-Pics for Writing Folders

Thank you Mrs. Thomas for sharing your “find!”

Sponsor: General donations

My Sight Words

Would you believe kindergarteners are expected to know 237 words by sight?

To help them achieve this goal, we’ve prepared charts listing all these “sight words.” They are colorful and laminated. Each kindergartener gets one for his/her personal use in the classroom.

Sponsor: Walmart River City Marketplace

CVC Word Tray

CVC (consonant – vowel – consonant) words are important when learning to read. We designed this word tray to give young children a big picture view of CVC words. The tray makes it easy for a child to build a word by seeing the beginning, middle, and ending letter possibilities.

The teachers asked we add images to the trays. Can you see the little image of the kids hugging in the top right-hand corner? Next school year teachers will have a comprehensive inventory of 128 images. Just one more tool Dinsmore Elementary teachers have to teach CVC words.

Sponsor: General donations

Etch-A-Sketch Freestyle

Forget the two white buttons – that is now retro. The Freestyle Etch-A-Sketch comes with a handy stylus that’s easy to grip and move. Each kindergartener and first-grader can write/draw, shake to erase, and write/draw again. Teachers report this is an engaging way for kids to learn to hone their fine motor skills while learning their alphabet and spelling. Photo

Kindergarten Initial Sponsor: CSX Transportation

First Grade Initial Sponsor: Dollar General Literacy Foundation

Yearly* Sponsors: Roger Mann and Linda Brunson, Board members

Sight Word Flashcards

Re-invented for the 2023-24 school year! Every kindergarten classroom has seven sets of sight word flashcards for small group work. The same words in the weekly Sight Word Pads are bound by the quarter.

Volunteers print, cut, punch, and ring the flashcards. Photo

Sponsor: Walmart, River City Marketplace

UFLI Word Trays

During the summer of 2023, highschoolers volunteered hundreds of hours to prepare these word trays, a simplified version of the UFLI model that uses many more tiles. The word trays are used by students to practice reading and spelling words. All kindergarten classroom were furnished with the trays in an effort to support the District’s newly adopted literacy program.

Sponsor: General donations and summer volunteers

*Every summer, these teaching tools are cleaned and any damaged – or missing – ones repaired/replaced.