Why we need to teach ‘structured and cumulative’ reading instruction In the bad old days before I learned how to teach kids to read, I taught kids to read in a structured way. That is, what I thought was structure: Week 1: letters a, b, c, d Week 2: letters e, f, g, h Week […]
Read MoreReading Difficulties
How to make comprehension fun
How to make comprehension fun Most teachers will agree that the purpose of reading is comprehension. But many children, especially kids who struggle with reading and spelling, hate comprehension activities. It’s not because they hate comprehending or answering questions. It’s because many comprehension activities often entail writing the answer. And many kids hate writing. […]
Read MoreShould we teach spelling in the digital age?
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 MorePhonic Books is Going Red for the month of October!
What is all this ‘going red’ about? Go Red is a community of passionate individuals and organisations that campaign to promote literacy and a greater understanding of dyslexia. Being able to read and write is something most of us take for granted. Dyslexia Awareness Month shines a light on the 1 in 10 children who […]
Read MoreHow to practice reading ‘tap’ and ‘tape’
Many 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 MoreDictation is great activity for emerging spellers
Most teachers approach teaching in a child-centred way so dictation goes against the grain. It may seem old-fashioned and yes, a bit dictatorial. But actually, is it a really powerful tool which is particularly useful for struggling or emerging readers and spellers. What more, children enjoy it because it consolidates their learning and they experience […]
Read MoreThumbs up for READ, SOUND, WRITE, CHECK!
So, we are resuming our campaign to change the way teachers send home spelling lists every week using the LOOK, WRITE, COVER, CHECK approach. Why doesn’t it work with so many children? Many children have a poor visual memory and as hard as they try, they cannot remember the shape of the word. This is […]
Read MoreREAD, SOUND, WRITE, CHECK – a better way to teach spelling
This 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 MoreHow to teach children about syllables
Before 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 MoreWhat is a syllable and why we should teach children about it
What is a syllable and why we should teach children about it A syllable is a part of a word that contains sounds (phonemes) of a word. It usually has a vowel in it. A syllable is also called a ‘beat’ and teachers often teach children to identify syllables by clapping the ‘beats’ in words. […]
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