Vulnerable Readers Conference- Vancouver

In October my principal signed me and another teacher up for a professional development conference in Vancouver. It was a two-day conference aimed at teaching strategies and theories on readers; particularly young and vulnerable readers. I learned from the conference that in general, if a student isn't reading at grade level by grade 3, they probably never will. That's a really harsh reality. It is crucially important that we are catching readers early and giving them as much support as possible so that they do not get stuck trying to catch up in their later years. There were a lot of very interesting speakers at the conference I picked up some neat teaching strategies for younger students.
My favourite one for teaching students the alphabet is to get them to make the letters with their bodies or in partners. They can also go on a hunt throughout the school grounds to find letters of the alphabet hidden in the architecture! Sounds cool!