We know you are ready to take a well-deserved week off, so this will be a short newsletter. Some of you may want a few new podcasts to listen to while you go for long walks or work in your gardens during spring break, so read below for our updates and recommendations!

The ORTIi Team

Sharyn, Matt, Ryan, Lisa, Beth,

Carrie and Rachell,

Our Annual Conference is SOLD OUT!

If you are attending, make sure you log into Whova, the conference app, to keep up to date on schedule or room changes, prizes, meet ups and more. The email from Whova may have gone to your Spam or Junk mail a few weeks ago, so look for it. If you can't find it, contact Matt.

The ORTIi Conference Endnote is on

Dr. Anita Archer's BIRTHDAY!

Even if you can't be with us in Eugene, you can still celebrate! But you need to hurry!

Click here to get your "Archerisms" postcard from our friend Stephanie Stollar. Print your favorite postcard, customize it, sign your name, and send it to ORTIi, and we will give them to Dr. Archer at the conference. Tell your friends! Please try to get them to us by Monday April 1st.

If you are attending the conference, there will be a box for the cards.

Shhhh! It's a surprise!

Now you can listen to "Sold a Story" in Spanish!

(Audience: All)

"Sold A Story", Emily Hanford's investigation into how reading has been taught around the country, is being translated into Spanish. The first 2 episodes are ready and 2 more will be available in April. The Spanish version is narrated by Valeria Fernández.

Click here to listen to the first 2 episodes.

It's a Book Club!

(Audience: Elementary teachers)

ORTIi's virtual book club has already met once, but it is not too late to join in.

Elsa Cardenas-Hagan's book "Literacy Foundations for English Learners" is a hands-on, practical manual for teachers and specialists working with language learners. The book details evidence-based strategies for all of the components of literacy instruction.

The book club is meant to be a casual, discussion-based club and will last about one hour. If you want to join the April 3rd meeting, they will be discussing chapters 4-6.



Click here to receive calendar invites and the Zoom link.

Please join us for our first official The Reading League Oregon Chapter Awareness Meeting! 

Andrea Setmeyer, The National Reading League Chapter Director will join us to discuss the formation of our chapter and give an overview of The Science of Reading. 

The meeting is April 15th at 5:00 pm, virtually on Zoom Click here to register for the meeting on Zeffy, and to receive the Zoom Link. Please feel free to share this registration link with other Oregon Literacy Advocates! 

The mission of The Reading League is to advance the awareness, understanding, and use of evidence-aligned reading instruction. 

Podcast Highlights

(Audience: ALL)

Each week we get more opportunities to learn about highly effective classroom strategies through great podcast sessions. Below you will find a few of our favorite topics from this last month.

Literacy Talks: A Big Conversation about Small Group Instruction

In this episode, Stacy Hurst, Lindsay Kemeny, and Donell Pons discuss the power of targeted small group instruction across the grade levels. Each host shares insightful practical tips for planning, organizing, and evaluating small group time. There are great ideas for supporting independent work during this time as well.

Click to listen to Session 5: Episode 2

Amplify: The Science of Reading podcast: Comprehension is an outcome, with Sharon Vaughn

In this episode, Dr. Vaughn clarifies the importance of recognizing reading comprehension as an outcome and how to best support students in their quest to reach that outcome. She also shares her desire for educators to better understand the components of the science of reading with clear messaging and practical strategies to support background knowledge development and comprehension.

Click here to listen to Session 8 Episode 10

Melissa and Lori Love Literacy: What Research Says About Phonemic Awareness with Matt Burns

There has been a lot of interest in this topic lately. In this episode, researcher Matt Burns explains the importance of specific phonological awareness skills and how to best determine focused needs. He shares what research has proven is needed to develop strong reading skills and why adding graphemes to phonemic awareness activities is so valuable. He gives very practical tips and examples for implementing his recommendations.

Click here to listen to Episode 181

ORTIi Resources

MTSS Components

Does your PD plan include staff training on the components of MTSS? Do you have new staff who are unfamiliar with MTSS? We've got you covered!

Click here for the module page

If you are looking for specific meeting agendas or other resources that go along with the MTSS components, you can find them here.

ORTIi's

Professional Learning Resources

What do your current students need you to learn more about? Check out our library of content from from experts in the field of literacy instruction. View with your grade level team or as a school and discuss how the presentation relates to your school, your students and your practice.

Find the videos at the Professional Learning Tabs on our website.

The Science of Reading

Have you been asked to present some introductory information to your staff about the Science of Reading and don't know where to start? We created some slide decks you can use to start to build understanding about what science tells us about how we learn to read and how that science informs what and how we should teach reading and writing. These are not videos, so you will need to lead the sessions yourself and can customize them for your setting, but everything you need to get started is here. The topics include:

• What is the Science of Reading Anyway?
• Word Recognition
• Language Comprehension
• Explicit and Systematic Instruction
• Reading Assessment

Click here to find the Science of Reading PL Materials