Phonic Books has just published a new workbook , the ‘Dandelion Book of Dictation’. It consists of dictation and punctuation exercises which follow the progression of the Dandelion Books reading scheme, Units 1-20. Yes, we love dictation. It is a really useful way to get children to practise spelling words and sentences as they develop their reading. It […]
Read MoreApproaches to Teaching Reading
Quality of teaching = quality of training
Read the feedback from a recent Sounds-Write course given by John Walker and Mary Gladstone in Perth, Australia. That is just how I felt when I attended the course! http://topnotchteaching.com/lesson-ideas/teach-children-to-read/ To find out more about Sounds-Write visit: http://www.sounds-write.co.uk/
Read MoreWhole Language – The Medusa’s head
Read this informative post by Susan Godsland on the Reading Reform message board on the multiple lives of ‘whole language’ approach to reading despite having poor evidence to back its efficacy. http://www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5360
Read MoreWhere is the evidence for using mixed methods in teaching reading?
Here is a powerful blog post by Teaching Battle Ground explaining how weak the evidence of teaching children to read with alternative or mixed methods as opposed to Synthetic Phonics. http://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/the-latest-iteration-of-the-phonics-debate/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Read MoreReading Recovery failing disadvantaged pupils in New Zealand
A report on the failure of Reading Recovery to help the most disadvantaged children in New Zealand has just been published by Massey University Professors James Chapman and Bill Turner. If it is failing children in New Zealand why are teachers still using it here? http://nzinitiative.org.nz/Media/Insights/x_post/reading-into-reading-recovery-00231.html#.UgRLSzY1fo8.twitte Thanks to Susan Godsland from www.dyslexics.org.uk for flagging this up.
Read MoreWhat they tell you on Teacher Training
Below is an excerpt from a post on Scenes from the Battleground – an excellent blog. Thank you. When I finished my teacher training, I knew nothing about teaching children to read. I don’t think I was the only one. This excerpt below sounded rather familiar: Lies, Damned Lies and Things You are Told During […]
Read More100% success in the Y1 Phonics Check – what are the secret ingredients?
Recent results of the Year 1 Phonics Check show that schools in deprived communities can do as well as, if not better than, schools in leafy suburbs. Take St George’s, a school in Wandsworth, which reported 100% success in the Y1 Phonics Check this year. This school is situated in a challenging catchment area. What […]
Read MoreFirst results of Y1 Phonics Check. Great results for Sounds-Write!
The Literacy Blog has posted the first results of the Y1 Phonics check. Great results for Sounds-Write! Our books follow the Sounds-Write phonic progression and are used by St George’s – a school in a deprived area in the borough of Wandsworth in London. Despite the deprivation of the catchment area, the school has excelled in the phonics check for […]
Read MoreWhy is the three-cueing (searchlight) reading system still being practiced?
Thanks to Susan Godsland of www.dyslexics.org.uk for flagging up this comprehensive article by Kerry Hempenstall Ph.D on how the three-cueing (searchlight) reading system has become so a prevalent in schools and teacher training to this day, despite the fact that it is not evidence based. In fact, it is ideologically based and can do irreparable damage to children who have not been […]
Read MoreWhy English Spelling sucks… 10 point explanation for kids
Thanks to Geraldine Carter for flagging up this really useful explanation – another great blogpost from Spelfabet. http://www.spelfabet.com.au/2013/07/spelling-for-kids/
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