The Reading League

Day 1 at @reading_league conference is complete and my heart is full. 🫶 The booth conversations were everything I hoped for. People stopped, explored the mini toys and tried to guess which everyday moment between a parent and child were aligned to the toy. Matching the "everyday moment" card to the toys sparked so many wonderful conversations! And the highlight of the day was meeting Charles Hulme and Dr. Jennifer A. Bishop!! I was so excited to meet them that I completely forgot to take a picture...but it happened! Shoutout to Jessica Pasik, Audrey Goninan and Kari Kurto for faciliating an excellent applicaton session following the session presented by Dr. Hulme and Dr. Bishop: Language — The Heart of Reading. Rich discussion on oral language and one educator said someting I can't stop thinking about: "If we do not get language into this work soon, people are going to call the science of reading a failure. Because the proficiency numbers will not move the way we promised." She is right. Reading is language. Early language is foundational for word reading AND for comprehension. Not one or the other. Both. And the misconception that keeps getting in our way is that language is caught, not taught. It has to be taught. Explicitly. On purpose. Which means it starts long before a child walks into a kindergarten classroom. Oral language is money in the bank for later comprehension. I keep thinking about who else could be making deposits, and how early they could start. Booth 218 tomorrow, friends. Come match moments to the playful literacy skills that are foundational...and tell us which little toy is your favorite! 😉 #TRLConf2026