Langley Park School for Boys is a large 11–18 academy in Beckenham, near Bromley. The school is one of four secondary schools in Impact Academy Trust which recently took part in a Year 7 reading intervention trial using DK Phonic Books catch-up readers and resources. The DfE’s Reading Framework, published in July 2023, highlights the […]
Read MoreApproaches to Teaching Reading
Boost reading confidence with Phonic Books
Stephanie is a reading specialist in New York and we met with her to discuss how she uses Phonic Books in her classroom. Stephanie works with children who need reading intervention with students in Kindergarten through to second grade. *** Stephanie has been using Phonic Books for over five years and Magic Belt was the […]
Read MoreGroup work – routine for reading a decodable book in class
Download the guide to group work now! Learning to read is hard work. It is helpful to prepare students for reading a decodable book so that they experience success and enjoy their achievement. Here is a routine for group work that prepares students for reading success. Step 1: Word-building with target sounds/letters Skill: phonemic awareness […]
Read MoreHow to…teach the schwa sound
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** Did you know that the schwa is the most common sound in the English language? This is because there is a schwa sound in most multisyllabic words. Additionally, did […]
Read MoreHow to…teach alternative spellings for vowel and consonant sounds
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** One of the difficult aspects of the English Alphabetic Code is that sounds (phonemes) can be spelled in different ways. For example, the sound /ae/ can be spelled ‘ai’ […]
Read MoreHow to…teach high-frequency words
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** High-frequency words is another term for common words with tricky spellings, or high-frequency words with “irregular” spellings. The term “irregular” is a bit misleading because while beginner readers might […]
Read MoreHow to…write a word chain
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** First, what is a word chain? A word chain is a list of words used to develop phonemic awareness skills: blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation. These are the underlying […]
Read MoreHow to…teach vocabulary when reading a decodable book
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** Decodable books often include target words that pupils may not know. There are many reasons why pupils may not know words in a text: The word may be unusual. […]
Read MoreHow to…dictate a sentence from a decodable book
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** Dictation is a great way to consolidate the bonds between reading and spelling. It is a controlled exercise where pupils can succeed because the teacher includes words with spellings […]
Read MoreHow to…correct reading errors
In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** One of the most important elements of learning is receiving error feedback (How We Learn, Dahaene). With every error feedback, the pupil can adjust their knowledge or skill and […]
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