Here we are in the last term of school and soon the summer will be upon us. It is really important that during this summer, the ‘summer slump’ of learning loss will not add to the learning loss that has […]
Read MoreReading Difficulties
Homophones – what to do about them?
What are homophones? Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. The word ‘homophone’ has a Greek origin. ‘Homo’ meaning ‘same’ and ‘phone’ meaning ‘sound’. So, the word ‘homophone’ means a same-sounding words that have different meanings. […]
Read MoreWhat is reading? – what I should have learned in teacher training
When I trained to be a teacher in one of the best universities in London, I learned a great deal about the wonderful world of books, how to select quality picture books and spot racially biased books, and even how […]
Read MoreSupercalifragilisticexpialidocious – scaffolding the teaching of multisyllabic words
Scaffolding the teaching of multisyllabic words – simple to complex Many teachers are focused on teaching children how to sound out graphemes (spellings) and to blend sounds together into words. They will even be teaching children how to manipulate phonemes […]
Read MoreWhat is the point of pointing?
Often when I read with a pupil, I need to remind her/him (and myself) to point to the words. As fluent readers we don’t point to words on the page, but sometimes if we come across a difficult or new […]
Read MoreHow to write a word chain
Word chains are really important for all children learning to read, especially struggling readers. Some programmes call this activity ‘Sound swap’ (Sounds-Write) or ‘Switch it’ (Reading Simplified). Why word chains are a useful teaching tool Word chains offer children practice […]
Read MoreWhy we should be teaching phonemic awareness to address learning loss and equity
I recently listened to a webinar by Dr Susan Brady and there some really important points I wanted to summarise for busy teachers. Focus what is supported by evidence to accelerate learning We are now racing against time to reverse […]
Read MoreWhen should children stop using decodable texts?
Decodable books have a very specific and limited purpose in the process of learning to read. They provide reading practice as children learn to use the sound/letter correspondences they have been taught, and the strategy of blending sounds throughout the […]
Read MoreWhat if?
What if a young illiterate man had not travelled to New York from the Bahamas to find work? What if he hadn’t been rejected from the American Negro Theatre in Harlem because he couldn’t read? What if he hadn’t had […]
Read MoreTeach high-frequency words like an incomplete puzzle
English is complex and we need to teach reading in a structured way from simple to complex. Unfortunately, there is no avoiding high-frequency words with spellings the children haven’t learned yet because they are present in even the simplest of […]
Read More
