Preconference Workshops — Saturday, January 31, 2026

Separate registration is required for each Preconference Workshop. Workshops start at 11:00 am, 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm ET. You may only register for one workshop during each time slot.

Scaffolding Emergent Writers and Readers Through Guided Writing

Carolyn Helmers

11:00 am – 1:00 pm

The goal of early literacy teaching is to help children develop into strong readers and writers. We can scaffold and accelerate literacy learning by focusing on the reciprocal relationship between writing and reading. Guided writing creates a supportive learning environment filled with valuable opportunities for beginning writers and readers to learn about print. This daily writing experience provides opportunities to develop the foundational skills necessary to become early readers. Children learn how letters and sounds work together to efficiently encode language which reciprocally builds stronger decoding skills when reading.
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What’s Still Missing? The Role of Executive Function Skills in Literacy Development

Jeff Williams

1:00 – 3:00 pm

Current narratives within the science of reading movement often neglect or ignore the role of Executive Function skills and how they impact literacy development. This session will define Executive Function skills broadly and focus on how specific skills are fostered in comprehensive literacy interventions and classrooms.
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Teaching & Learning in Preschool for Early Literacy Success – Part 1

1:00 – 3:15 pm

The Importance of Reading Aloud with Lisa Pinkerton: Reading aloud to children is a powerfully creative act. Reading aloud fosters children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. Sharing books together develops the adult/child bond through a love of reading. Attendees will participate in read-alouds, learning how to engage listeners and build thoughtful conversations. They will also receive an extensive list of favorite picture books to read aloud to young children.

A Comprehensive Literacy Framework in the Pre-School Classroom with Jamie Lipp: Pre-school is an integral part of a child’s overall learning journey. Balancing social-emotional learning, oral language development, and developmentally appropriate academic beginnings is a delicate balance. Play-based learning does not have to take a backseat to literacy teaching and learning opportunities. Explore how to carefully intertwine these important learning components within the pre-school curriculum and classroom setting.

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Letter and Word Work: Power and Possibilities

Denise Rowe

3:30 – 5:30 pm

Clay (2016) reminds us that students have “to learn the letters, and the words, and their relationships to sound sequences, but he also has to build and expand the intricate interacting networks in the brain that must work together at great speed as he reads (and writes) text” (127). Come explore the procedures and other possibilities for expanding letter, word, and sound knowledge explicitly during those 1-2 minutes of the lesson while also digging deeper into integrating and embedding that learning into continuous texts.
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Teaching & Learning in Preschool for Early Literacy Success – Part 2

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Successful Start with Journey Swafford: In this session, participants will learn about the promising new kindergarten initiative, Successful Start. A classroom program based on Marie Clay’s literacy processing theory, Successful Start includes four instructional components: Instructional reading, instructional writing, read to and word work, with handwriting and letter formation explicitly and responsively taught during both the instructional reading and writing components. Participants will make connections to preschool practices by watching and discussing lesson videos and records.

Growing Readers and Writers in a Play-Based Environment: Integrating Literacy with Purposeful Play with Allyson Matczuk: “Play is the work of childhood” according to Maria Montessori. It is serious business where important learning takes place. Within a play-based context, literacy concepts and practices can be purposefully embedded to enrich rather than replace play for young children. Through photo and video samples we will see what this can look like in the year ahead.

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