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Half my second graders couldn't sound out the word cat, Niepodam.
I found that out my first week of teaching, and I had not one single strategy for what to do about it.
My one reading professor in college taught me that kids pick up reading naturally, the same way they pick up talking. So I walked in expecting readers.
What I got was a room full of kids who needed something nobody had ever taught me to give them.
I've been thinking about that week a lot, because your students’ screening data is either sitting in front of you right now or it's about to be.
And here's what happens next in almost every building…
The numbers come back, everybody panics, and the first thing on the chopping block is play.
The block corner gets packed up. The extra ten minutes outside disappears.
I understand why. When a kid is behind, giving them another worksheet feels like the responsible thing to do.
But play isn't what you cut to make room for the learning.
Play is where a huge amount of the learning is actually happening.
It's how kids practice waiting their turn, talking through a problem, and figuring something out without an adult stepping in.
It's also how they stay curious enough to want the next hard thing you hand them.
This week on the Science of Reading Formula podcast, I sat down with Kristen Day, a play researcher who founded her own play-based preschool.
She walked me through the science behind why play works, and then she got specific about how to fold more of it into a school day that's already completely full.
You'll hear how to do it without buying expensive toys, without adding anything to your lesson planning, and without falling behind on your standards.
If someone in your building has already floated cutting it, this is the episode that hands you the argument.
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