Many children struggle with spelling. It is important to teach them how to spell in the digital age when ‘Spell Check’ is there to help? The answer is yes. Why? Firstly, because at present Spell Check makes errors as do voice recognition tools. Spell check may offer homophone or spelling options – but can students […]
Read MoreMany students struggle with split vowel spellings a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e. These are also known as ‘split digraphs’, ‘magic e’ and ‘vowel + e’. These students need extra explicit instruction and practice reading words with these split spellings. It is important to take the time to embed this learning as split spellings are very […]
Read MoreThis year I have a number of students in Year 5 and 6 who are fluent readers. Their problem is spelling. Typically they may spell a word with all the correct letters that are in the wrong order, e.g. ‘nitgh’ for ‘night’. Children in Year 5 and 6 in the UK are expected to be […]
Read MoreBefore children can begin to read and spell multisyllabic words they need to get a feel for what a syllable is – for what a ‘mouthful of a word’ is. If they have had systematic phonics instruction they may find it difficult to switch from sounds (phonemes) to syllables and may confuse the two. Some […]
Read MoreMany of my students at the Bloomfield Learning Centre have difficulty remembering the complex alternative spellings of sounds in English. The problem is they don’t hold on to what they have learned. The teacher may teach <ai> and the next lesson <ee> and after that <oa>. By this stage <ai> is forgotten. It seems that […]
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We have just received this independent review from Teach Primary Magazine. The review is available online. See link below. Phonic Books – That Dog! for catch-up readers across the school. At a glance: • Age appropriate, synthetic phonic catch-up reading books with decodable text for pupils who can read CVC words • Controlled language […]
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1. Step-by-step You don’t need to teach the whole alphabet to get reading going. Start with a few letters and get children to build words with them. Our series starts with the sounds s, a, t, i, m. 2. Word-building rocks! Word-building is the best way to teach reading and spelling. Write the letters on […]
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How to use decodable books Decodable books are controlled texts that beginner readers can read independently once they have been taught the spellings in the text. Children learning to read with phonics benefit from reading decodable texts because they allow them to practice what they have been taught and experience success. They also help children […]
Read MoreWhat is ‘The Matthew effect’ when it comes to reading instruction? This idea (mooted by Keith Stanovich) is that children who learn to read in the first three years of their education become fluent readers. They read more, learn more vocabulary which then enables them to read more and comprehend more advanced texts and so […]
Read MoreI have just started to teach a struggling reader in Year 1. The first thing I observed from my assessment was that she did not use ‘pure phonic sounds’, also known as ‘precise pronunciation’. Many of the consonants were pronounced with an added ‘uh’ sound: /k/ was pronounced ‘kuh’; /p/ was pronounced ‘puh’, etc. This […]
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