DAC Episode 24- Decodable Books

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Maggie. [00:00:02] Speaker B: And I'm Nicole. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia in Coffee Podcast. We are so happy that you could join us. We're both moms and dyslexia interventionists who want to talk about our students and children. What dyslexia is, how it affects us, strategies to help and topics related to other learning disabilities will also be covered in this podcast. Parents are not alone and we want to give voice to the concerns and struggles we are all having. This is a safe place to learn more about how to help our children grow and succeed in school, in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation. [00:00:35] Speaker A: Hi everybody. It is time for the concept of the week. This is the way we like to start our show and it introduces parents to topics that we would be teaching about in intervention session. Today's concept of the week is decodable text. So this is a question we get asked a lot. A decodable text is a type of text that's designed for primarily early readers. The bulk of the words that are used in sentences really are like the basic phonics concepts and pretty much are the ones that we've already taught our students. So. So the purpose of decodable text is to give our students lots and lots of practice with the phonics concepts that they have already been taught. [00:01:30] Speaker B: Good. And so welcome to this episode and we have our first guest today. [00:01:36] Speaker A: We're so excited. [00:01:37] Speaker B: Yay. So we're going to just introduce them real quick and then we're going to get down into the questions. So Joe is a data analyst and web designer developer who creates education focused web apps. Webb's expertise is in AI and data analytics and it drives decodable reads. Mission to make reading instruction more personalized and engaging. Joe lives in Chicago with his beloved rescue pup Bambi. [00:02:07] Speaker A: And then Paul is a middle school reading interventionist and OG tutor with with a passion for helping students of all abilities improve their reading skills. Paul's interest in using AI to write decodable stories stems from his students frequent requests for text at their level that match their interest. Paul lives with his wife in Indianapolis, though he remains a die hard fan of his hometown Kansas City sports team. We'll forgive you for that, Paul. We are Wisconsinites, but we will forgive you. It's okay. We are not direct rivals. It's okay. We welcome you. So our guests today, Joe and Paul are co creators of a decodable text website that uses AI to generate decodable text. We are very excited to have you both with us. Welcome. [00:03:06] Speaker C: Thanks. Yeah, really Excited to be here. And hopefully by the time we're listening to this, Kansas City, the Chiefs will be back in the Super Bowl. Hopefully by the time everyone. [00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we're hoping February 18th. So whatever happens will have happened by then. Yeah. So our first question, we sort of went over that on the. The concept of the week, but what is a decodable text, and how does that differ from other kinds of text that we use in an intervention? [00:03:40] Speaker C: Well, yeah, kind of like you said in your intro, the phrase that stood out to me is, like, very purposely written or carefully written. So decodable texts are texts that are written to help a learning reader practice very specific phonics skills and also to help build confidence by, you know, using phonics skills that they've already been taught. So in theory, that reader should be able to decode every word that's within the book. But you also want, of course, the book to be engaging and creative and literary. The way that it's different from another book just is in the purpose kind of that it was written. So it's really written for reading practice. Decodable texts are really great at helping students put into practice some of the phonics skills that they're learning. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah, they're definitely an important tool in an intervention. And we get asked from parents a lot, what exactly does that mean? Should I be using those at home? That kind of thing. So I'm curious, Paul, since you're a middle school interventionist, do you get asked that from parents of students that you work with at all? [00:04:51] Speaker C: I don't think that that terminology maybe doesn't come up exactly. But I do get a lot of questions more so about, like, text complexity and finding texts. So I think it's one of those terms, like you said, that can be. It's maybe not the most approachable, like, term itself, because folks hear that and they're like, I don't exactly know what that means, but I usually kind of describe it to folks also as, like, some of those early texts that you maybe remember reading for the first time, like a hop on pop typ of text and then explaining that they can, of course, be a lot more complex than that. Right? [00:05:29] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Thank you. [00:05:33] Speaker B: Thank you. So what made you Decide to build DecoDableReads.com, your company that develops decodable books? [00:05:43] Speaker C: Yeah, so as Maggie mentioned, I work in a middle school setting, and I work with readers that are definitely still learning to read and improving in their reading skills. And they, of course, have the typical middle school interests like any other middle Schooler has. So we would read decodable passages and they'd be great for practicing, you know, the certain phonics skills we're working on. But I felt there was a lot of opportunity to inspire more of a love for reading. It felt sometimes just like, you know, reading for the sake of practicing reading, which is, you know, good in and of itself. But my kids would ask a lot like, can we read about this certain video game character? Can we read about LeBron James? Can we read, you know, just all these different topics that the typical middle schooler would love to read about. So that kind of, you know, got my wheels turning some about the use of AI to make that a reality for, for kids. I probably like other reading interventionists. As soon as ChatGPT came out, I rushed to try that and found that while it was cool, it wasn't really creating the sorts of high quality decodable passages or making it do that would take me as much time as writing one myself. Another experience that I saw at the same time was in the tutoring space seeing really excellent tutors spend so much time either scouring the Internet for the perfect decodable passage for their students or actually writing decodable passages because they wanted them to be, you know, to be personalized to the, the student as well, which again, incredibly admirable. But I also know how much, you know, how time consuming that is. So wanted to find some way that we could bring very personalized and interest based decodable texts to students and lessen the load for educators a bit. And so that's kind of where the, where the entire journey started. And yeah, from there we're really just excited that we've found a solution that if a kid wants to read a decodable passage about LeBron James and practice a very specific phonics pattern, that is a reality now. So that's, you know, it's been a fun journey. [00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I just think that's so cool. One of, I think the phrases used a lot in like the balanced literacy days, right, is like, well, we just want to expose the kids to so many texts and we just want them to love reading. And somehow the message was that like the science of reading camp did not want students to love reading. I was always a bit confused by that particular back and forth. But I just really love what you said about. Yeah, just because it's a decodable text, you know, doesn't mean that it can't be of high interest to a student. We can have both of those things be true, you know, and have that student Experience that real success of being able to actually read a passage about their favorite character or sports hero or something totally random that they made up in their head. [00:08:56] Speaker C: And I think that that success that students feel when they. When they realize, like I've had students, you can just kind of see the look on their face when they realize that they actually read every word in that by themselves and they didn't guess any of them and they knew what the words were and they understood what the passage was about. Like, that's another angle to view someone, you know, finding a love for reading. Right. Is finding that confidence in that success. So that's another good. Another just benefit of decodable texts is they can help sort of help. Help students become independent readers that maybe haven't found that success yet. So they build the confidence there, which is great. [00:09:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's really, really cool. [00:09:40] Speaker B: Me too. So Joe just kind of bouncing off of that too, is how did it. Being a web designer and having to learn all these new terms and everything. How did that feel? And have you learned a lot from Paul in this process? [00:09:56] Speaker D: Yeah, I would definitely say I've learned a lot about the science of reading, which, you know, a year ago I wouldn't have known what that is. I can tell you what scope and sequence is. I can differentiate Orton Gillingham from Wilson from. You fly. Okay. From decodable materials. So I've definitely grown to appreciate the science of reading more throughout this process. And a lot of. A lot of what I've been doing, what Paul and I have been doing these days is, you know, calling organizations and networking and trying to get more, you know, just more attention about the. The product out there. And so I've. I've just seen the passion that people talk about the space with, and that is, I don't know, it just feels very. It feels cool to be in a space where people are so passionate about the, you know, what they. What they're doing. And. Yeah, that's been my experience with the science reading. [00:11:20] Speaker B: Hey. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Well, good. I'm glad. I'm glad that's been your experience with this crowd, that's for sure. Listeners will be surprised. Right. Nicole and I also very passionate about what we do here. Yeah. Yeah. [00:11:34] Speaker B: I don't think you'd be that surprised. [00:11:38] Speaker A: So, Paula, how did you get started in og? What's your OG Journey? Most of us have one. Yeah. [00:11:45] Speaker C: Yeah, Yeah. I don't know if mine is unique or not unique, but I was a seventh grade language arts teacher, actually the same school that I still work at. Now, so just kind of a traditional public school Title one setting in Indianapolis. And our district offered what they were calling like a brain based literacy class or like training for teachers. I didn't exactly really know what that was, but took the class and you know, as many, you know, middle school teachers probably have experienced, you're expected to teach to children that are all fluent readers and that's what your standards say that you should be doing. And you're reading novels and you know, I loved doing that. But I also felt I would have students in my class who were really struggling to read and had these huge foundational gaps and I didn't have anything really in my toolkit as an educator to help them that I was aware of. And so this course that I took through my district was really eye opening and it kind of led me to start considering reading interventionist roles and how I could, you know, start, start using some of that to help students at the school that I'm at. And then from there that, that particular course was a lot of the theory, which was great, but I was still like, okay, I need some, I need the actual, like, how do you do this? And so I did a training, like a 50 hour OG training and practicum through a local nonprofit here in Indianapolis, the Dyslexia Institute. And then, yeah, from there I use a lot of the OG methodology with my students. I do a little bit of a mix of small class size classes at my school and then a few students who I try to steal 15, 20, 30 minutes out of my day to do some OG with as much as I can and then tutor a couple students on the side as well. So yeah, being able to implement OG in its purest form and then take things from it and try to modify it has been, I think it's been a really good experience just having to find ways to be creative. I don't think I probably would have come to this idea of doing something like decodable reads without having to on the fly find things that work in different settings. Yeah, so in a long winded way, that's, that's how I got started in og. And yeah, from here I just am really, you know, there's, there's so much, there's, there's so there's such a depth of knowledge out there. So, you know, right now I'm taking like an advanced OG class and getting into morphology and learning all this new terminology that I didn't even know about. So, so many, so many different aspects and it's just cool to see the level of knowledge that's out there. As someone who's still, I would say, relatively new to this, seeing people who have been doing this for decades and it's just incredible. Incredible to see the depth of knowledge that's out there. [00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah, I agree. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I've been in this field a long time and never feel that I, you know, have. Have it all by any means. And I still just really get blown away when I talk to other practitioners and learn something new. [00:15:30] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:15:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:33] Speaker B: So this question is for both of you. What is the most surprising thing that you both learned when developing your company? [00:15:45] Speaker C: I think I would say maybe it's, you know, kind of sticking on that same point to an extent. You know, as someone who. So the state I'm in, Indiana has had some recent laws and that have changed around, you know, implementing the science of reading in public schools. And that's definitely kind of where my school district was reacting to when they, when they did our training. So for me as a teacher, like it felt like this new wave in a way because it was new to me. Right. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:17] Speaker C: I think something that was just surprising to me especially as we've, you know, founded the company and you know, interact with people online. Like we have customers in Australia, we have customers in Great Britain, we have customers in other English speaking countries around the world. And just seeing how much of like a global movement in a lot of ways this is and how it's really not new information at all. [00:16:42] Speaker A: Yes. [00:16:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:16:44] Speaker C: You know, the, the body of research that the body of evidence behind it is, is really not new at all. It's, and it's logical in a lot of ways and dates back a very long time. I just think the, the amount of like, kind of like Joe spoke about earlier, just the level of passion that people have for it is, is, you know, it's, it's surprising, but it's also just really cool to see. What about you, Joe? [00:17:13] Speaker D: Yeah, I don't know. I, I'm trying to think of something that I've been surprised about and I don't know, like, I've learned a ton. I think like the thing that I've just like. Yeah. That I've been the most surprised or shocked about is just like there's so much science of reading passion. Like people really care about this stuff and they care about getting it right and they care about their different. There are different ways of doing it and they have really strong opinions and not that that's a bad thing, it's just, it's just really interesting to me. And it's. So, yeah, I, I think that that has been the most surprising part. And then, you know, we've learned about how it's implemented in all its different forms rather. You know, there's, there's teachers, there's small group school school instructors, there's non profits, there's small businesses, there's individual tutors. And then there's also parents who want to learn more about it but are, you know, they're just, they're not classically trained in it or anything. So, yeah, there's a lot of different folks trying, trying to learn. So I think it's great what you guys are doing, getting the word out with this podcast and, you know, thank you. [00:18:53] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks. Yeah. So kind of piggybacking on kind of what Joe is saying there at the end in regards to parents, you know, primarily, that's our audience here is parents. So I'm wondering, this question is probably a little bit more for Paul, but given that you're a middle schooler, middle school interventionist, what is some of the advice that you give parents in terms of how to support their kid? What, what are some of the questions maybe you're getting from your particular parents? [00:19:28] Speaker C: Yeah, great question. I think. So some of the things that I talk to parents about is like establishing some kind of a reading routine at home. I think that's so huge. And I think it's. I often hear from parents that knowing how to help their kid feels overwhelming. And I want totally resonate with that. Going back to what we were just talking about, there's such a depth of knowledge. It can feel a little overwhelming to know how to help or feel like you're helping in the best way. But I do think like, half the battle for a lot of the students that I work with is just reading some at home. Like just even if it's just 10, 15, 20 minutes a night of having some sort of a routine of doing some reading at home. And so one of the things that I talk to parents about is like just different types of reading, right. So I try to send home decodable texts that are what I teach chakra there, decodable texts that are matching, you know, what I'm teaching in like an explicit phonics, small groups. And so like, that's something that I encourage them to have their child read out loud to them at home on reading fluency. But I also think, like, you know, if your kid is passionate about reading something else, like, let them lead the way. Let them be the One that kind of leads the conversation about reading. Definitely don't want to like, discourage kids from reading anything. Right. So. But I think sometimes parents do need help. Like if there's, you know, I have certain kids that are really into certain, like anime or fantasy genres that, that are. Have like, that do have a higher text complexity. And so that might be something that you need to do an audiobook or you need to read. Read alongside with your child or read to your child. And so, like, there's nothing wrong with that. Right? That's a. Actually a great. Having a mix of different ways to read is actually quite good. And so I think just letting the kid lead the way in terms of what they're passionate about is a great way to start. And then, yeah, just establishing that routine and recognizing that it doesn't have to be perfect. It's way better to have somewhat of a routine than to be frank. Like, a lot of what I see is just kids that are not really readers unless they're at school. And so, so I think just encouraging that and to be honest, not even readers often at school too, that we kids are not getting a whole lot of time reading in school. There's a study I saw. I wish I had a source for you, but it was something to the effect of like 7 to 12 minutes. They actually timed like the amount of time that kids are actually reading, not being maybe read too out loud or, you know, not kind of being in a room where reading is existing, but actually reading at school was like 7 to 12 minutes on average. So I think just recognizing that, you know, any kind of routine is going to be beneficial and building the stamina might take time for kids to read 20 minutes and letting them lead the way and don't discourage them if they're interested about in reading a text that may be too complex for them to read, you know, independently. Yeah, that's kind of what I and I. So I just try to. I try to send home what I can control best is let's make sure the reading that we're. That we're doing at home is going to be giving you extra practice in what you're getting at school. And I have found that parents are typically really glad to have that because then it shows them what that looks like. It shows them what those sorts of texts look like. And I think there's also power for some parents too, to see their child read a text that really is kind of on their level so that they have a better sense of. Here are the skills that my child does have. And here's where there are still gaps and they can see that when they have their child read out loud. So, yeah, so that's kind of what I try to do with my parents. [00:23:49] Speaker B: Okay, that's really good. And to kind of bounce off that question is. So we at the center, we do assessments here. And so we've been seeing a lot of middle, high school and college students that are just getting diagnosed with dyslexia. Now, how do you talk with your parents about dyslexia and reading concerns and things, especially when it's new for them? [00:24:17] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great question. That's something that I want to learn more about too. I think, you know, it's. It. It can feel, especially where I teach and the grade level that I teach at, we kind of. I feel like parents are often, they often feel like the school system is telling, like your child is really behind in reading, but then sending somewhat of an opposite message, like, well, they might have A's and B's in class and it might be. [00:24:50] Speaker B: Yes. [00:24:51] Speaker C: Yeah, it's like, I think it's bridging, trying to help families bridge that gap between two things. That. And that's a system wide problem. Right. That we often are. We have a school system that's kind of set up to just kind of keep, you know, kids moving along. And so I think, yeah, just helping them bridge that gap, being honest with them about, you know, here's what, just, just objectively here's what, you know, if we did a certain phonics screener or if it's a standardized test, like, here's where your student is. Here's a goal that we have for them. I also find myself talking to parents a lot about the difference between, like, accommodations and intervention in schools too, because I think again, I have some students who I know struggle to read independently and they get accommodations, which is great because that helps them access some of the content that their peers are getting, which is really good. And these kids are very intelligent. So often with accommodations, they can be really successful in school. They might have an A or a B. They have great work ethic. But I think so for parents to see that, but recognize that also intervention is really important because the intervention is them getting help at their level. That's going to help bring them up where they need less accommodations. Right. So those are some of the conversations I find myself having. I wish there was a better playbook for me. And maybe you guys have, you know, suggestions as well for how to talk specifically about, like, it Sounds like. Sounds like you do, by the way you're looking at each other. But yeah, I. I just think. Yeah, it's, it's. I try to put things as much as I can into plain English for folks and just be honest with them and try, try to give them, you know, an idea of where their child is, but also how much that this works. Right. That the right interventions really work too. So it's not a hopeless. It shouldn't be a hopeless feeling at all. So it's hopeful in a lot of ways, but it's important for folks to know where their kids are and to understand, maybe not every in and out, but to understand what sorts of interventions will help them. [00:27:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I really couldn't agree more. And I mean, you really echo a lot of what Nicole and I do say. So I think our listeners maybe are getting a little chuckle just because. That's exactly it. Right. We talk a lot about accommodations are necessary, but those alone are not really enough because you're not addressing the underlying, the underlining dyslexia and you're not targeting what those students really need. And if we over accommodate. Right. We're really, we're no longer doing our students favors in the long term because, yeah, you're getting an A and B in fifth grade, but soon the volume increases so quickly and the ability to keep up is, you know, they just cannot do that indefinitely, which is why we end up with a lot of college students in our office for assessment, you know, which is. Which is great. We want them. We want them. But we also know that the earlier the better. Yeah, yeah. [00:28:42] Speaker B: So your website has writing. So can you tell me how come you decided to incorporate writing activities into. [00:28:51] Speaker A: Your website, which we love, by the way. [00:28:55] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So that's another tool that we're really excited about. So just kind of at a high level, how it works is, you know, kids can put in a topic just like they can for our reading, you know, passage generator. We want kids, you know, ultimately to be the ones kind of leading the way here with what they're interested in reading or writing about. So kids can put in a topic that they want to write about or their tutor or teacher, you know, if it's, you know, let's say it's Martin Luther King Day and we want to write about Martin Luther King. Like we can, we can lead that way with a topic as well. And then the teacher, tutor can also choose a type of writing, like a mode of writing. Maybe they're writing, you know, persuasive piece, maybe they're writing, you know, a narrative. And then what's really nice is it, it will choose the same skill that they're working with, maybe with an OG for spelling and reading will then be extended into writing. So they have a little word bank that comes along with their writing prompt that they're going to try to use in their writing piece. And so those words would all follow the same pattern that they might be working with and they're reading or they might have just learned to read or spell that day. Right. And so where that idea came from actually was a non profit here in Indiana that we've worked with to develop some of these tools. They do one on one tutoring as well and they also do like small classes. They have a written expression class, they have a reading comprehension class. So they were really excited about this tool for their written expression class and they kind of led the way in terms of the ideas behind it. And then we just worked with them to try to take what they had and make it a reality. So yeah, so happy to hear that you all like the tool as well. And yeah, we're excited to continue working on that and making it even better and integrating more types of writing in there space for, for writing to actually happen within the app and those sorts of things. [00:31:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's really cool. You know, we know, right. The growing body of research suggests how us working on writing is actually really critical to bringing up reading skills. So I love that that's incorporated. Is that something Paul, that you're using in your OG lessons as well? [00:31:24] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. So, and it's a great, where I like it as a tool is it can be a great extension. So if you, you know, if you want to extend it into like a full paragraph or essay length, you know, you can, if you're still working at the sentence level and you want, you know, your, your student to write a strong sentence from their own, you know, out of the own, their own noggin onto the paper. You know, we do a lot of dictation sentences in og, which, which is great and there's a huge. But I think also this tool gives them some like support but also pushes them to come up with their own ideas, which is just a little bit of a higher order. You know, the cognitive load is a little bit higher on that because they're coming up with their own ideas, holding that in mind, doing the handwriting, you know, and that's ultimately what we want to build, is that you know those abilities. So yeah, so it goes really Nicely, you know, within the OG lesson. And then it also can go really nicely to extend, you know, make it make sense for kids a little bit more like, okay, I just learned about this certain prefix or suffix now, maybe, you know, later in my, my day or another, another day when I'm in a writing group now I'm working on that same skill that I worked on in og, you know, with my writing. So, yeah, so that's just kind of the idea behind it, helping it make sense for students as they're learning really, you know, systematically how to read and write. [00:32:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. I love that a lot. Kind of. Our final question formally is, so anything else? And really, either one of you, anything else you want our listeners to know about literacy or just how to help our kids? Any kind of final message from either one of you to our listeners? [00:33:28] Speaker C: I can start you. Yeah, so a couple things that come to mind, I think. One is just don't let the. Which is a huge benefit that we've come back to a few times that there is a huge body of research. This is, you know, the science of reading. Orton Gillingham. All of these things are its own world. There are people that are incredibly passionate about it. The downside of that is sometimes it feels overwhelming or unapproachable. So don't let that keep you from doing just simple things that are common sense that we know, help for your kids, like having them read out loud to you, reading to them like, we know these things work and that they help. So don't, don't, don't let not being, you know, trained or having a graduate degree or, or, you know, to be honest, or not feeling like you're an excellent reader yourself, keep you from trying to help your kid or just doing things that are common sense for, for your kid. [00:34:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:35] Speaker C: So I think that's, that'd be the biggest thing. And then also, you know, I have to say from this being such an important part of us with decodable reads, like, let kids be creative. Let them come up with things that they want to read about. Let them, you know, be silly, come up with crazy ideas. Don't let reading be something that's so structured and so overly strict that it, it tames down that creativity, because that will also help them so much in life and will help them grow that love for reading and be better readers, too. So. Yeah. Joe, anything to, to add about, about literacy, how folks can help their kids with literacy? [00:35:21] Speaker D: I would say I'm not the preeminent expert on offering advice to anyone on literacy, but I don't know, I. We've gotten some good feedback that the kids that are engaging with material that they are finding interesting, it just like makes them enjoy it. And so, I don't know, I think that we should all kind of be doing things that we enjoy. And if we can increase that joy for a kid then who's learning how to read, then I think that's a good way for them to learn how to read. And that's about as. As much. As much of a perspective as I can get. [00:36:16] Speaker A: You know, Rachel, that is plenty. [00:36:18] Speaker B: I was gonna say that's great, you. [00:36:20] Speaker A: Know, and I think it kind of echoes really what Paul was saying. Right. Paul's saying, like, don't let your kind of perceived lack of knowledge prevent parents from. Yeah. Reading with their kids and finding things that they can connect on. That's so important. And while I agree, and I am part of the passionate crowd of the structured literacy, Orton Gillingham crowd, I think sometimes it is. It's so dense. There is a lot of knowledge, it's a lot of vocabulary, and it can be extremely overwhelming to parents and, you know, outsiders. And I don't, I don't want that to ever stop anyone from reading with their kids. And we know. Right. What does research ultimately say? The more we read, the better we get at it. So the more exposure to text, period, full stop, the better for. For kids and for adults. You know, research is showing still, you know, that magical 20 minutes a day, that's where. That's for grown ups too, y'all. So I just, I really love that we like to kind of end our show with just sort of what's going outside. Outside. Right. Outside. In our general day to day lives beyond Dick's, beyond dyslexia. So, Paul, what's been going on in your life just outside of. [00:37:58] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for asking. So. Well, I think I already mentioned this, but it is top of my mind. The Kansas City Chiefs are hoping to win a third Super Bowl. Very much locked into that, which is getting me through a snowy and pretty cold winter here in Indianapolis. So. Yeah, so I'll go with that. That's top of mind. [00:38:19] Speaker A: That's all right. That's all right. Kill a trav. Right. Lots of our listeners will resonate with that. You know, Patrick Holmes is not too bad either. [00:38:32] Speaker B: How about you, Joe? [00:38:35] Speaker D: Let's see, I. My sister moved in with me about three months ago. She's been looking for a job for nearly two years, and about a month after she. She got laid off from her last job as a software developer. And about a month after she moved in with me, she got an offer actually. Yeah. And so she will be starting work in. Wow. Next week. Yeah, I think next week. [00:39:03] Speaker B: Yay. [00:39:04] Speaker A: Good for her. Is it with dakotapallebreads.com? no. Just kidding. [00:39:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I wish. [00:39:13] Speaker A: Maybe someday. Maybe someday. [00:39:15] Speaker B: Someday. [00:39:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:18] Speaker B: I guess for me talking about the snow, you guys are getting all the snow and Wisconsin has missed it. It's very bizarre. But I am really happy that that negative 35 degrees is gone this week because that was hard this week with getting out and about and going to see our kids and getting kids to school. And so at least today it's in the 30s and I'm celebrating that. [00:39:45] Speaker A: Yeah, it's an actual 50 degree swing from where we were on Tuesday. So I will take this 30 degree weather. Yes, me too. Yeah, mine really? Same as Nicole's. It has been a very tough week with school closing on Tuesday. We obviously record this a few weeks earlier. Hopefully by the time this comes out we'll be like, oh, that was. That was fun. It'll still be February, but yeah, I am just really ready for routine. I'm looking ahead to next week and my kids should be in school all five days next week. [00:40:32] Speaker B: That is the hope. [00:40:33] Speaker A: Hallelujah. Please have that happen. Speaking it into the universe, friends. [00:40:40] Speaker B: So, yeah, everybody who's listening, you should check out their website, decodable reads.com and definitely try those decodables and try the writing pieces because they're pretty amazing. Definitely recommend it. [00:40:53] Speaker A: We've been having a lot of fun playing around with them with our students. It's just another way to engage with them and they're so creative and so fun. And as always, if you like our show, please follow us on social media and reach out. If you have any questions or would like us to discuss a topic, be sure to give us a rating and review. That's how we reach more listeners and we get to help more families. Thank you everybody. [00:41:19] Speaker B: Thank you.