Dreams KC

10/03/2026

🔠 WORD BUILDER SATURDAY 🔠

This week's word: KNOWLEDGE

How many smaller words can your child build using only these letters?

⭐ Beginner: 12 words
⭐⭐ Competent: 22 words
⭐⭐⭐ Challenge: 30+ words

WHY DO THIS?
Building words is reading practice in disguise. Your child is working on:
🔊 Letter sounds: matching each sound to its letter
✏️ Spelling: turning sounds into letters
🧩 Sound play: change one letter, get a new word (cat → hat → hot)
🔍 Spelling patterns: spotting what they know (sh, ai, Magic E)
📖 Reading: reading every word back out loud
📚 Vocabulary: talking about what each word means

GRAB WHAT YOU HAVE:
🔤 Letter tiles or magnetic letters
🃏 Letter flashcards
🟨 Post-it notes, one letter per note
✏️ Pencil and paper

HOW TO PLAY:
⏱️ Set a 10-minute timer
🗣️ Say it, stretch the sounds, then build it
👨‍👩‍👧 Play alongside your child. Don't just watch.
📈 Save your list. Try again next month. Beat it!
🔍 Notice the patterns they've got, and the ones to keep practicing.

Rule: use each letter only as many times as it appears in KNOWLEDGE.

10/02/2026

We have winners! 📚

At our Tutor Training sessions, I put every attendee's name into a drawing. From each day, one person won a copy of The ABC's and All Their Tricks by Margaret M. Bishop, a phonics and spelling reference every tutor should have within reach. One person won our Level A Decodable Book Set.

Saturday, September 26
Adriane – The ABC's and All Their Tricks
Wendell – Level A Decodable Book Set

Tuesday, September 29
Josephine – The ABC's and All Their Tricks
Lisa – Level A Decodable Book Set

Congratulations to all four, and thank you to every volunteer who spent two hours learning how reading actually works.

None of this happens without the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. They didn't just recruit volunteers. They decided their tutors would walk into classrooms prepared: knowing why some children struggle, how to help a child hear the sounds in a word, and what to do when a child gets stuck. That's leadership. Thank you, too, to the community volunteers who joined them.

This is a partnership, and the kids are the reason for it. Our young and striving readers deserve more than good intentions. They deserve well-prepared tutors.

Literacy is Liberation. 💙

10/02/2026

Philanthropic funding is propelling Missouri State Board of Education's efforts to hire a new commissioner and refresh its strategic plan.

10/02/2026

Columbia Public Schools argues a 2024 Missouri law illegally singles out Boone County in a circuit court hearing

09/30/2026

What is Title I, really?

Here it is without the policy language:

Title I is federal money for schools that serve a lot of students from lower-income families. The purpose is to help those students get what they need to succeed.

That is it. That is the core.

A few things people are surprised to learn:
➡️ It is not new. This law was passed in 1965.
➡️ It is not free money. It comes with rules the school and district have to follow.
➡️ And some of those rules are about YOU. About your right to be part of decisions.

We will get into those rules over the coming weeks.

For today, just this: if your child attends a Title I school (district), there is a federal law behind that. And it was written with your family in mind.

09/28/2026

What does it take for a nation to decide that its children will read?

I have spent more than two decades living with that question. I have watched children struggle without the instruction they needed, listened to families fight to be heard, and seen what happens when someone finally teaches a child in a way that works. Now I have written my first book about the question beneath all of it.

Literacy as Exodus: The Blueprint for Reclaiming Educational Will will be released December 8, 2026.

This book brings together personal narrative, faith, history, and the science of reading. It examines how we came to accept educational failure despite knowing more than ever about how children learn, and what it will take to reclaim the will to teach them well. It is written for parents and educators, but also for anyone who cares about the kind of future we are building.

I chose December 8 with intention. On that date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. That moment speaks to one part of the book’s historical argument: rebuilding requires more than a declaration. It requires the will to make freedom and opportunity real, including through education.

The prelaunch list is now open at ClariceJackson.com. Sign up to learn more about the book and receive updates as we approach its release. Copies are not available to purchase or reserve yet.

I am proud to finally tell you that this book is coming. Please share it with someone who cares about literacy, children, faith, history, or the future we owe the next generation.

ClariceJackson.com

09/27/2026

09/27/2026

Mark your calendar...Get ready to celebrate!

09/26/2026

🔠 WORD BUILDER SATURDAY 🔠 A great way to practice and assess spelling!

This week's word: DEOCDING
How many smaller words can you build using ONLY these letters?

⭐ Beginner: 10 words
⭐⭐ Competent: 18 words
⭐⭐⭐ Challenge: 25+ words

HOW TO PLAY:
📝 Use pencil & paper, letter tiles, or a dry-erase board
⏱️ Set a timer
👨‍👩‍👧 Play with the kids — don't just watch
🔍 Look for spelling patterns your kids have mastered, and ones to work on.

💬 Share the words you built in the comments! 👇