
Click below to hear the science of reading with Amy Neilson:
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Key points on the science of reading I discuss with Amy Neilson:
- The importance of phonemic awareness, decoding skills, and vocabulary instruction in building reading ability
- The Scarborough’s Rope model and how it explains the different pieces involved in effective reading instruction
- Insights from cognitive science and neuroscience about how the brain develops reading ability and what strategies can be used to support this development
- The role of background knowledge and information in reading tests and reading ability
- Amy’s reading program, Play to Read, and how the new science of reading research has led to efforts to improve and up-level the program
The Science of Reading: A Deep Dive into How Our Brains Learn to Read
I’m super excited to dive into today’s topic, which is all about something that’s been buzzing around the education world: the science of reading. Now, I know what you’re thinking — reading? We do it every day, so what’s the big deal? But trust me, once we get into how our brains actually work when learning to read, you’ll be as hooked as I am! So, grab a coffee, take a seat, and let’s get into it.
How It All Started: A Journey into Reading Science
I was chatting with Amy Neilson, a teacher and podcast host who’s been in the education game for over 20 years. Amy’s curiosity about reading sparked this whole journey for her, and she’s been diving deep into the science behind it. She recently interviewed Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap, which opened her eyes to the incredible world of brain development and how it relates to reading. And let me tell you, folks, once you start learning about how the brain processes reading, you can’t go back!
Amy explained how our brains weren’t originally built to read — crazy, right? Instead, we’ve had to hotwire our brain’s visual and auditory systems to make it all work. The process involves creating new neural pathways, and it’s like our brains are learning a new trick every time we read a word. Isn’t that mind-blowing?
What Does Neuroscience Say?
So here’s the deal: reading is a relatively new skill in terms of human evolution. Our brains have evolved for things like seeing and hearing, but not for reading. This means we’ve got to create new neural networks that connect the visual and auditory parts of our brain to make reading happen. Neuroscientists can actually watch these new connections form through brain scans — how cool is that?
Imagine your brain as a bunch of wires. When kids are learning to read, they’re literally re-wiring their brains, linking parts that didn’t originally communicate. It’s like building a bridge between two islands that were never connected. Amy gets super nerdy about this stuff (in the best way!), talking about how kids’ brains grow with focused learning activities like phonics and decoding. And you know what? I love it!
The Cognitive Side: How It All Clicks Together
Okay, now let’s break it down a little more. Cognitive science has been around longer and focuses on how kids actually learn to read. Ever heard of Scarborough’s Rope? It’s like a guide to understanding all the different parts of reading, from language comprehension to word recognition. These two pieces work together to make a strong reader.
One thing Amy and I discussed was how important background knowledge is. It’s like having a cheat sheet for understanding what you’re reading. Kids with more knowledge about a topic are better readers because they can make sense of the text faster. And if they know how to decode the words too? Well, that’s when the magic happens!
Why We Need Grace in This Process
One of the best parts of our conversation was when Amy emphasized giving yourself grace as a teacher or parent. Look, nobody has it all figured out, and that’s okay! We’ve all been doing the best we could with the knowledge we had, and now that we’re learning more about how reading works, we can adjust little by little.
You don’t have to flip your entire teaching approach overnight. Start small — maybe shift your focus from comprehension strategies to building phonemic awareness or background knowledge. It’s all about progress, not perfection. As Amy put it, “If we had everything perfect the first time, why did we even get up this morning?”
Bringing It All Together: A Roadmap for Better Readers
There’s no magic wand when it comes to helping kids become expert readers, but there are small, effective strategies we can use. Whether it’s focusing on phonics, vocabulary, or simply making learning more engaging with activities like rhyming games, every little bit helps build those neural pathways. The science of reading is giving us the tools to do it smarter, not harder.
And remember, teaching is about growth — for the students and for us as educators. We’re all learning as we go, and that’s the beauty of it.
So, there you have it! If you’re a teacher, parent, or just a nerd like me who loves learning about the brain, dive into this science of reading. It’ll change the way you think about learning — and maybe even how you teach! Ready to take your classroom to the next level? Let’s do this together!

Resources mentioned:
- Wife Teacher Mommy Club
- Planning Playtime
- Planning Playtime Freebie
- Educate and Rejuvenate
- Wife Teacher Mommy: Mentioned on Podcast Amazon List
Science of reading-related episodes and blog posts:
- Episode 20, The 8-Step Test to Choose High-Quality Reading Materials
- Episode 7, Activate and Differentiate – Reading Comprehension Skills with Tori La Rue
- 4 Tips You Need for Using Differentiated Reading Passages
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Read the transcript for episode 80, “The Science of Reading with Amy Neilson from Planning Playtime”:
Kelsey Sorenson [00:00:00]:
You are listening to episode number 80 of Wife Teacher Mommy. The podcast the Science of Reading with Amy Nielsen from Planning playtime. We’re talking all about how the brain works and what the neuroscience and cognitive science are telling us about how kids really learn how to read. So let’s get to it. Hey, teacher is always gonna do summer gotta take care of you whether it’s the time or resources you have why Teacher mommy they have got your back they’ll bring the galaxy, galaxy between welcome to Wife Teacher Mommy, the podcast. I’m Kelsey Sorensen, a former elementary teacher and current homeschool mom. And even though I’ve been a resource creator since 2014, I’ve realized that printables alone aren’t all you need in order to thrive as a teacher or homeschool parent. That’s why I also created this show and got certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burn out to the curb and feel confident with whatever challenges come your way. With the right mindset, strategies, and new teaching inspiration, you’re going to be well on your way to your best teacher life. Now let’s go. Welcome to wise teacher. Mommy. The podcast.
Amy Neilson [00:01:38]:
Today.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:01:38]:
I’m so excited to be here and do another episode for you with another incredible guest. Today we’re talking with Amy Nielsen, who is the founder and CEO of Planning Playtime. She is also just such an incredible person, an incredible, genuine person who I’ve known for several years now as we’ve connected through both having kind of education based businesses. I would say we met at a blogger conference I believe was the first time. But now we’ve discovered she actually lives pretty close to me and it’s fun that we get to know each other, but really she is just such an expert on reading and how especially the little ones can learn how to read. And she has helped so many teachers and parents out there with helping their children how to read with her incredible Play to Read program and so many other things. I’m really excited to be talking to Amy today about the subject of the science of reading because this is something that has come up quite a bit. It’s a hot topic in the education community and I’m honestly kind of surprised that we made it 80 episodes in without it being the main topic. I know I’ve kind of mentioned it here and there, but this is our first episode where we’re really diving into the science of reading. And I’m excited about this because even over the last few months a bit more, I’ve been diving a lot more into how the brain works. I’ve gotten really fascinated with that with my certification, and I’ve started reading some books about the science of reading. And so when Amy brought this topic up, I was like, I’m really excited to talk about this. And Amy and I, when we were even talking before we started recording, I feel like we’re kind of learning this along with our audience, but it’s really exciting to learn and be on the cutting edge of all of this new information and how we can use it to level up our teachings. So really excited to be talking about this today. So let me tell you a little bit about Amy and read her bio for you before we really dive into today’s interviews. Amy is the creator and the CEO of Planning Playtime, an international education company serving more than 2 million teachers and parents across the world. Her mission to improve outcomes and relationships by bringing Play back into learning has led to videos with tens of millions of views on social media. One of her biggest missions is to empower every child with the ability and love of reading. I could not agree more. And I am so excited to have Amy here on the show today. So let’s go. Okay. Welcome Amy to wife teacher. Mommy. The podcast. I’m so excited to have you here with us today.
Amy Neilson [00:03:56]:
Oh, I’m so excited to be here. Thanks for having me on.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:03:59]:
Yeah, I’m really excited to have you. Amy is a really awesome friend of mine. I love Amy. We actually live like, 15 minutes from each other, but she is also the owner of the amazing international company Planning Playtime, so she does so many amazing things there. So, Amy, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you, like, your personal your teaching background, what you do to help parents and teachers now with Planning Playtime, all the good stuff?
Amy Neilson [00:04:26]:
Oh, absolutely. So my story is actually really weird, but I do weird. So weird is cool. I’m fine with it. But, yeah, I am an odd duck in that I don’t have a degree in education and somehow now run an international education company and help tens of thousands of moms and teachers all over the world. But yeah, so I had a really interesting background. I only finished one grade of public education. It was kindergarten. So that’s my big claim to fame. And then ended up just doing a lot of in and out of schools all over the country as my family moved all over the place and did a lot of homeschooling and teaching myself in between. And ended up I kind of ended up just going to college. I applied to college when I was 15 and got into college, started about a week after I turned 16. So I don’t have a high school diploma, and I don’t have a GED. And it’s really weird because that’s not normal for what I do. But I did go to college really early, and then I kind of just taught myself anyway, so got a college degree in accounting, of all things. But I worked in schools, like, the whole time. I started teaching at a private high school when I was 16, actually. I was teaching piano and music and then was teaching in elementary schools as I was working my way through university and was teaching reading. And it was so interesting and fascinating and that’s kind of how I got obsessed with play based learning and then had my own kids and was working with them and had some YouTube videos go viral. And all of a sudden I have so many teachers from all over the world asking me for resources on using what I do, which is play and bringing play into learning. Here I am. And it’s amazing and it’s just incredible that we have different backgrounds and we come at this from different spaces. And I think I have kind of a unique entrance into this world, but it gives me maybe a little bit different perspective and has just been so fun to get to share what I do with parents and teachers all over the world.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:06:32]:
Yeah, I love your story and your background and I think just what you’ve been able to experience really brings in a fresh perspective to what all these teachers need and how you put together this Play to read program and all your resources, all your reels you do. I’m just like I learned so much from what you share. I just love what you do and your work. So it’s doing amazing things.
Amy Neilson [00:06:55]:
Thank you. That makes me so happy. And I have just this incredible team now, too, of teachers and we all get to kind of work together and build all these amazing things and I love it. How do you get a job like this? It’s like the coolest thing ever.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:07:11]:
It really is. When you get to where you have your team and they get to help you because you have different strengths than they do. And it’s so fun. It’s so much fun. And I know one of your team members, Kara, she is amazing and yeah, just love her. Well, I guess the two Kara’s, how.
Amy Neilson [00:07:28]:
Do you do that? Yeah, I know, it’s so confusing, but yeah, they make the world go round and I’m so grateful for them. It’s amazing.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:07:37]:
Yes. Okay, so what we’re talking about today on the podcast is the science of reading, which is a super hot topic right now. And as we were even kind of talking before we dove into this interview, we’re kind of talking about how we are learning. It kind of along with everybody, which has been really fun because it’s been kind of new information that’s come at us. And I feel like a lot of us, as we’ve taught, we might have done things that don’t completely align to the science of reading. And we’re learning now and we’re kind of adjusting and that’s what we do as teachers and parents. So can you tell us a little bit about what led you to start diving into the Science of Reading?
Amy Neilson [00:08:10]:
Absolutely. So I’ve always been really curious about reading. This is kind of where I got my start 20 years ago into education. And so it’s something really fascinating to me. But I recently was having Natalie Wexler on my podcast and she had done this, wrote an incredible book called The Knowledge Gap. And that was really interesting. And then I kind of got further into some podcasts and just different things and just became really fascinated with the science of reading. And on my podcast we talk about brain development and go into science around that anyway. And so it was just really fascinating to me to see how the brain actually works. And the more I get into it, the more interested I get. And it’s so neat to see some of the things that felt natural and seemed like the right thing to do and then see science backing that up and then see maybe some places where there’s room for growth and some adjustment and pretty just simple things we can do to kind of just switch it up just a little bit to make it so much more effective in using a child’s brain and meeting their brains where they’re at. And so I love that.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:09:22]:
Yes. So what neuroscience and brain scans, what are they showing us about how kids learn how to read?
Amy Neilson [00:09:29]:
Well, so this was so interesting to me. And I’m kind of nerding out about this, right, because I think for a long time we’ve had maybe some cognitive science around reading. But I feel like neuroscience of reading is a little bit newer and just this brain scans that they’re doing and they can see what’s happening, it’s so fascinating. So what they’re telling us, the neuroscientists, is that our brains weren’t really developed. Like reading is new enough. It developed maybe 5000 years ago or something, but it’s new enough to the evolution of human brains that there’s really not a part of our brain that is meant for reading. And so we have our visual system where our eyes work and we have our auditory system, right, but we kind of have to hotwire them to create a space that works for reading. So I thought that was so fascinating and interesting. And so we really have to kind of create some new neural networks and kind of just make it work. And I just kind of love the hot rying idea. So as they’re scanning brains, they can see this happening and they can watch the actual growth in the brain where they can see you building connections between the visual system and the auditory system of your brain to create a space that is like reading, like kind of a hijacked reading system. And it grows, of course, as we help children become better and better at it as they continue to read and become more fluent and more capable of reading, that just grows and grows and grows and they’re watching it happen, which is so neat. How cool is that, that we can just watch that happen in the brain. It’s fascinating.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:11:09]:
It’s so fascinating. And I was reading about this not too long ago, too, and it’s kind of like a lot of teachers and parents thought that just like, reading was something kids are just naturally going to learn. Like with talking, it’s like we know they’re going to learn how to talk and communicate in the language they’re surrounded with. So just hand them a book and they’re going to eventually figure it out. But like you said, it’s not like part of our brains. It wasn’t developed for that. And I found that super fascinating.
Amy Neilson [00:11:33]:
Yeah, isn’t that interesting? Because I think we just kind of thought it was similar. But no, there’s a part of our brain that is like our auditory or language part of our brain, and there is not one of those for reading. So we kind of have to make it, which is cool. And it’s cool that our brains can do that. Neuroplasticity right? It’s amazing that we can grow our brains to do things like that.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:11:54]:
It’s fascinating. The brain is so fascinating. I love what I’ve learned about it, like doing my coaching certification and everything. But I know there’s so much more to learn. And I know you do a lot of that on your podcast, too, which is an incredible resource to learn about, especially for the kid brains and teaching them and how it works. We talked about the neuroscience. What about the cognitive science? What is that telling us about the different parts of reading?
Amy Neilson [00:12:17]:
So that one’s really interesting because I think that’s kind of more what we’ve been talking about for more time, right. And as we’re looking at how children learn to read and what the pieces are, and there’s some really great resources on that. I think one of the ones that we hear a lot about is Scarborough’s Rope, right? Where there’s the different pieces of there’s language comprehension and word recognition, right. And they kind of work together to create a really effective reader. And so there’s all the different parts of that, right? So in language comprehension, you have to have the background knowledge. And that was if you’ve read Natalie Wexler’s book that one’s so good. She was on my podcast. It was episode 13, talking about some of that. It was just mind boggling to kind of hear some of what she had to say. Vocabulary, really important. Language structure, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge. So those are kind of the pieces that are language comprehension. And then there’s word recognition, which is more of the phonological awareness, decoding, site recognition, right. And so there’s all these different pieces that kind of come together to help make an effective reader. And so the cognitive science is more just kind of around these different pieces and how they work together and watching behavior, I think more than where the neuroscience is kind of looking at the actual scans of your brain and the actual growth changes in your brain as you’re kind of focusing on different parts of this. And so it’s really neat that we have both sides of that science where we can look at the behavioral things and see years of testing of how when you have more knowledge right around a topic, we know that kids with background knowledge are going to be much better readers. They say that reading tests are actually knowledge tests and so if you know about the topic right, then you’re going to do really well on the test as long as you have basic decoding skills right as whereas if you don’t have background knowledge, right? And so this all kind of comes into play, into building a really strong reader. And then, of course, being able to decode and the phonics and the phonemic awareness and all that. Those are all important parts, and you need them all. Then we talk about strategy around that and how to bring that all together to kind of support and help build readers right? And it’s really neat to kind of have all these different pieces.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:14:41]:
Really interesting thing I found. I don’t know if you’ve kind of found this as you’ve been looking into the science of reading is it actually kind of it’s a little different than what we were doing before as far as our awareness of how kids learn or whatever, but it actually kind of is like, oh, that makes sense now. It’s kind of like clicking about maybe why something wasn’t working because maybe, oh, they weren’t able to comprehend because they could decode it, but it was too challenging for them to actually comprehend it because of the other parts of all of it that comes together.
Amy Neilson [00:15:09]:
Yeah, and I think having it broken down into these pieces and really focusing on and I always like to give lots of grace as we’re learning and growing right? And I think when we go into people some of the structure that’s been in the schools for a long time or how we’ve been maybe taught to teach people to read and then now we’re finding some of those things didn’t fit with cognitive science ever, right? And it’s kind of frustrating, you’re like oh shoot, if I’d only known, right, I could have done it a little bit differently. But I think it is really interesting to kind of learn these pieces and then be able to take them in and start using them. So for example, maybe spending less time on comprehension strategies and spending more time on because those tend to actually develop more naturally right, and spending instead time doing actual things that will build comprehension as opposed to just teaching strategy right. Because we know that doesn’t work and that we have learned that reading doesn’t come naturally, right. So we do need to spend some good quality time on building phonemic awareness and that systematic phonics instruction and yeah, a lot of it does make so much sense. And then there’s these pieces, right, like helping build background knowledge and vocabulary. And the vocabulary piece itself is just so interesting because there’s so many words that we have to teach kids so that they know what they are, right, and the orthographic mapping and just all the different pieces. There’s so much going on. But now that we’re kind of really learning and bringing more science into it, there’s so many strategies that are simple, like completely different way of teaching sight words, where you’re putting them into they’re not necessarily word families, but putting them into, like, short vowel sound, you know, groups. And and, you know, you can kind of group them together in ways that make more sense than just, here’s the next five. You need to memorize these, right? Kind of teaching children to kind of network words, or I was listening to a fascinating podcast episode the other day around how to teach vocabulary and doing it in groups and clusters instead of just like a list of 20 vocabulary words, but take that one word and then all the words around it, right? And helping children learn how to recognize a piece of that word in other words, and kind of help try to build vocabulary faster using these different kinds of activities. Because if we’re only doing so many a week, we’re just not going to get kids caught up to the level of vocabulary that they need to be able to read the text that we want them to be able to read. Right? But it’s so cool when you kind of break it down like that and help them. Kind of like we’re doing in systematic fondness instruction and break down teaching children how to find sounds and be able to manipulate them and kind of just play with sounds and words and tear them apart and put them together and be able to decode so beautifully. Right, but we’re also doing that with vocabulary and can you break apart a word and find where it’s connected and with other words and what words might be similar and all these different kinds of things? And so that vocabulary instruction and then you pair it with trying to build background knowledge and what that can look like anyway, there’s just so many pieces and I just find it more and more fascinating the more I get into it and it’s just fun.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:18:30]:
Yeah, it’s really fascinating. And there are so many I love all the ideas you shared. There are so many little things we can do like that that will help students so much. But I love what you touched on with giving yourself grace because I don’t think it’s ever helpful for us to beat ourselves up about something we might have done with the knowledge we had at that time. What good does that do? And it doesn’t even mean we were teaching students how to read and a lot of them were getting it and it’s just like, here are some ways we can improve. And as teachers, I really believe parents who are teaching your children, if you’re homeschooling or whatever, we are lifelong learners, too. So it’s like, if there’s more information and we want to learn how to do it better, then I’m all for that. And then you can just do a little bit at a time, like be like, okay, here’s how I can tweak this. And then once you have that down, I can tweak this. You don’t want to feel like all of a sudden you have to change everything all at once.
Amy Neilson [00:19:20]:
Yes, I think that’s so true. And I think when we do maybe smaller things, we’re able to be slightly more consistent, which is much more impactful than just being like, oh, I’m going to change everything, and then we’re tired. Is that real? That’s real in my life. So, yeah, I think it’s so valuable to take pieces and work on pieces. And I think it never hurts, too, to kind of recognize both in ourselves because we’re also trying to share this in children, right. Growth mindset. We are growing all the time. Of course we’re growing. If we had everything perfect the first time, then why did we even get up this morning, right? Like, we have room to grow. And so we’re going to keep going. We have our amazing play based reading program, play to read. And it’s fantastic. It’s an incredible program. And yet as I’m studying more and more about the science of reading, we’re going to up level it and add even more awesomeness to it. And I think that’s so good, too, to just keep moving forward. And every time we learn more things, we just make it better and better and better and yeah. So I think we’re all doing that. Good job, everybody. Let’s keep going.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:20:26]:
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Amy Neilson [00:21:02]:
Well, this is kind of really interesting because I was listening to a neuroscientist talk about the brain and what’s happening inside the brain. And they were talking about how they can watch with brain scans, growth in a very specific tiny area. So they were talking about working with phonemes and sounds and then phonics and kind of like this breaking apart and putting words back together and all the different sounds pieces. And they were talking about how when you focus in really, really tight, when you’re doing that, it changes how your brain is growing. And so they can literally sit there and watch with brain scans, right, they can see growth in very specific tiny spots in the brain based on where you’re focusing attention. And so they were talking about the importance of spending some really specific time, maybe 15 minutes or a day or something, whatever you have to really get tight in on specific strategy to build up that part of the brain. And it was interesting because they were saying a lot of times we talk about our brains like they’re a muscle. And I think I’ve used that terminology before and they said it’s actually not really a muscle and that it’s not something like it’s going to get stronger and stronger just by using it. But what you really want to do is actually focus in and build in specific areas to be able to do specific processes and specific things. And so you have to rewire it and work on specific circuits if you’re trying to build an ability to do something that the brain doesn’t naturally do. And so hyper focus, right? So one of the things they talked about hyper focus on was hyper focus on Rhyming, spending a lot of time on Rhyming, right, and you’re building that system around Rhyming. And so just kind of picking like just being aware, maybe as teachers, right, that we want to spend time, if we have a specific skill that we know is needed to really focus on taking that hyper focused time and doing that really detailed attention in small amounts that are developmentally appropriate for our kids. And then what happens, too, is then it goes kind of into that more diverse of attention afterwards, where it kind of spreads around in their brain and is working and doing his thing back in the back. Right. But we spent that hyper focused time, started building the wiring there. Right. And then it just kind of builds that way. But if we’re just assuming that the more we hand them a book, the better they’re going to be able to read to some degree, possibly, right? But if we can actually go and focus in on these detailed activities like Rhyming, or breaking apart the word into different sounds and teaching them how sound groups work and things like that, right, then they develop those skills and the wiring is literally built and they can find it on brain scans. And then children develop these abilities to be able to do decoding at a really high level, which is great. And then of course, we add in other kinds of activities that help build similar things in and the comprehension side as well. And it all kind of works together and they become phenomenal accomplished expert readers that can then go and read all the amazing books and it’s wonderful.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:24:49]:
This is all so fascinating. Amy I love everything that you shared with our listeners today about the science of reading. And I bet you’re talking about this even more over on your podcast, right? If they want to learn more, yeah.
Amy Neilson [00:25:02]:
So we talk about a variety of things over there. So we’re going to be bringing on some more reading experts and we talk about I love my podcast. It’s kind of just a space to learn about what’s happening in kids brains, right, and how to raise healthy kid brains. So we do talk about learning. We talk about reading and some of this stuff. And then we also bring on neuroscientists and we bring in child psychologists and we bring in brain therapists, and they talk about just different pieces of brain development. So sometimes we’re talking about music and sometimes we’re talking about emotional regulation, and we’re talking about lots of different pieces of that. And it is the funnest thing ever. I just have learned so much myself. And what’s really interesting is I’ll have guests come on to interview and they’ll have multiple master’s degrees and have been doing this for 20 years and they’re like, I’ve been listening to your podcast and I’m learning so much. And I’m thinking, awesome. That is a good sign right there. We’re doing something right. But yeah, it’s just really fun. And so, yeah, we do talk about reading there, but we talk about some other pieces as well.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:26:05]:
That’s awesome. And I’m really excited that you’re also speaking at Educate and Rejuvenate, too. We’re so honored and excited to have you again for the second year you are joining us.
Amy Neilson [00:26:15]:
Yes.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:26:16]:
So excited. What will you be teaching about there? Can you tell everybody?
Amy Neilson [00:26:19]:
I’m going to be talking more about reading. We’re going to be going into a little bit more detail around the science of reading and sharing, just more of what I’ve learned and some more activity ideas and specific things that I’ve been learning about there because I think it’s really critical. And I mean, obviously in schools, some of the main things we’re focusing on are reading and math, right? And so I love the idea of being able to share more about the science of reading. So that’s what I’m going to be talking about. And I’m so excited because it was so fun to be a speaker, a presenter last year and had a lot of fun with that. So I’m excited to come back. Yeah, and we’re really excited.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:26:55]:
It’s going to be like last year and that we have a Facebook group and that we’re going to have a post for each presenter. But this year we’re like, okay, we want everybody engaging with all the presenters and everything. So there will be giveaways for every single presentation. Like, if you watch Amy’s session and comment either with a question or just saying, amy, you’re amazing, thank you so much for this, or whatever, you’ll be entered to win. I think it’s. Like a $5 Starbucks gift card or something that we’re going to do for each one. So it’s going to be a lot of fun because we want to bring everyone together. It’s not just us talking at you, but it’s like us communicating together, you and the presenters. I mean, we have a few live portions, but the majority of them are pre recorded, so you can do it whenever it works for you. You can do it while you’re outside and your kids are playing or whatever. So it’s a lot of fun.
Amy Neilson [00:27:40]:
That’s fantastic. Yeah, I have a tremendous number of weeds in my yard that I could weed and listen at the same time. That’s kind of my thing right now and will be all summer.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:27:52]:
I know. We’re getting into that spring cleaning and it’s like, oh, we got to trim our rose bushes and all the different things that you got to do right now. So it’s that time.
Amy Neilson [00:28:02]:
I know, but it’s amazing to have audio that we can listen to, like your podcast or the Educate rejuvenate and you can listen and maybe do something at the same time. I love things like that because then I feel super useful and also get to learn and anyway, it’s one of my favorite things.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:28:18]:
Where else can our listeners connect with you online? And I think you also mentioned an awesome freebie you have available too.
Amy Neilson [00:28:23]:
We do, yes. So the podcast is Raising Healthy Kid Brains and we’d love to have you come on and listen with us there. It’s amazing. My site is planningplaytime.com and if you go to planningplaytime.com, you’ll get one of those little pop ups and we try not to do annoying version of pop ups. It’s just one. And you can enter your email address and we’ll send you a really fun 26 page alphabet freebie to kind of just get your younger kiddos working on their alphabet. So that one’s really fun. And then also you’ll find links there to our programs. We have our Mommy and Me preschool program that’s incredible. As well as our reading program which has just already changed lives and we’re loving it so much. Or you can go directly to it. It’s Playtoreadfun.com is the link for that reading program.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:29:10]:
I love that it’s Play to read fun. That’s perfect.
Amy Neilson [00:29:14]:
It is because I think one of the things that people have been trying to solve and we’ve gone to all these different strategies for teaching kids to read over the last 100 years when people kind of moved away. From phonics and into all these other strategies. And it was because phonics is kind of monotonous and it’s very repetitive and it’s kind of boring and it’s a struggle. It’s not fun, it’s very hard. And so we’ve tried all these other things right, and we’ve done a lot of scientific research right, in the last 20 years and we’ve come all the way back to Phonics and we know, it’s really important. And then I’m sitting here thinking, okay, so great. We have phonics. This is amazing. But we have some of the same challenges we had 100 years ago. So instead of maybe trying to change phonics, why don’t we just make it fun? And so that’s what we’ve done. And it’s very play based, and so you can learn to read through play and also get that systematic phonics instruction. And it’s very sensory and hands on and play based, and it’s amazing. So, yeah, that’s why we call it playtoreadfun.com. Yeah.
Kelsey Sorenson [00:30:17]:
So fun. Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us, Amy. It was so great to have you. And for all of you listening, I hope that you join Amy and I at Educate and Rejuvenate. It’s going to be so much fun. And I will talk to you very soon on the next episode. Wasn’t that interview amazing? Amy is so talented. She knows so much, she’s so humble, but she really is just so incredible. I would recommend checking out her podcast and her website, but she is just one of many incredible, talented guests who will be joining us at Educate and Rejuvenate. And I’ve been loving interviewing so many of these amazing people. When we all come together and share our strengths, it just helps everybody to lift each other up. And I have certain strengths and other speakers of other strengths. We come together for you and we even help each other. Like everybody who’s an attendee gets to chat together in the Facebook group. I love that there’s a community component, and I really would love for you to be at the event. I mean, I just really would. If you don’t have a ticket yet, or if you’re not in the club, I want you to be there. So today I have something for you. So for a limited time, if you leave a review on this podcast on Apple podcasts and send it to us, you can email us or send us a DM on Instagram. At Wife Teacher Mommy, we will send you a $5 code that you can use on anything, including a ticket to Educate and Rejuvenate. Or if you already have a ticket, you could put it towards a resource or upgrading your ticket to Platinum Past, and it can even be put towards future renewals to Wife Teacher Mommy Club. So if you’re already a member, it can go on to your next month’s or next annual or quarterly payment. So we really appreciate you taking just a few minutes to leave a review. All you need to do is go to the show on Apple podcast, scroll down, leave a rating. I was going to say five star rating, but it doesn’t have to be five stars. Obviously. We would love for you to leave an honest rating and review on the show, and then when you do take a screenshot, send it to us. And I would recommend taking that screenshot before you hit submit because sometimes it takes a couple of days to show up. So just so you don’t have to remember to go back and find it again, then we will send you a code. It’ll be within 24 hours. On a business day, we’re usually pretty good at getting back to you. We’ll send you a code that you can use on the ticket or on anything else, or if you already are a member, we’ll just go ahead and apply it to your membership. That’s all you need to do. So we would appreciate that and I hope to see you and rejuvenate. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you’re ready to take the next step, come grab your ticket to join me at Educate Amber Juvenate the Education Event of the Year on June 27 and 28th, 2023. This year we have two incredible live keynotes joe Jamrowski, aka Mr. D and bestselling author and video creator Christina Kismich. We have over 60 incredible speakers speaking on topics such as math, language arts, reading, social, emotional learning, classroom management, homeschooling and tackling burnout. We start the day with a workout together. Each morning we have panels with the presenters and you’ll even get to join live coaching with me and even raise your hand if you would like to be coached. Plus we give away tons of prizes throughout the event too. It is the best PV you could ever attend. And all of this is happening from the comfort of your own home. It’s just $19 for a ticket. And past attendees have said that this is what finally lit a fire under them to enjoy teaching again and that it was well worth every penny. Go to Educateandrejuinate.com to learn more about the 2023 event or if you’re listening to this later, that link will show you what’s up next. As we will continue to do events like this, I hope to see you educate and rejuvenate.
More about Wife Teacher Mommy: The Podcast
Being an educator is beyond a full-time job. Whether you’re a teacher or a homeschool parent, the everyday to-do list is endless. Between lesson planning, grading, meetings, and actually teaching, it probably feels impossible to show up for your students without dropping the ball in other areas of your life.
Wife Teacher Mommy: The Podcast is the show that will bring you the teacher tips, practical strategies, and inspiration that you need to relieve the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day. Your host, Kelsey Sorenson, is a former teacher and substitute turned homeschool mom. Tune in weekly to hear Kelsey and her guests cheer you on and help you thrive as a wife, teacher, and mommy. Because with a little support and community, you can do it all. For access to every single Wife Teacher Mommy resource, join the club at educateandrejuvenate.com/club.
2 Responses
Thank you! This aligns with my teaching style, and it was a fun listen. I enjoyed hearing about the growth of the brain when learning to read. 🤓
I love that play helps them read.i play many games with letters & sounds. Thanks for all your help.