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 MoreLearning to Read
READ, SOUND, WRITE, CHECK – a better way to teach spelling
This year I have a number of students in Years 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 Years 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 are syllables, and why should we teach them?
A syllable is a part of a word that contains some of the sounds (phonemes) of that word, usually including at least one vowel. A syllable is also called a ‘beat’: teachers often teach children to identify syllables by clapping the ‘beats’ in words. Another way to describe a syllable is a ‘mouthful’ of a […]
Read MoreCumulative teaching – how to teach children who forget
Many 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 learnt. The teacher may teach ‘ai’ and the next lesson ‘ee’ and after that ‘oa’. By this stage ‘ai’ is forgotten. It seems that […]
Read MoreReading with expression can help with reading fluency
Do you have children. who. r-ea-d. l-ike. th-i-s? How can we get children to read fluently? Firstly, why do we need to read fluently? We need to read fluently because it is difficult to understand what we are reading if we read in a halting way. Our working memory can’t combine all the different aspects […]
Read MoreIndependent review of That Dog! series
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 […]
Read MoreTeaching ‘Silent’ letters
Do you teach ‘silent letters’? Read what the Literacy Blog has to say about them. http://www.thereadingcentre.com/2011/11/26/silent-letters/
Read MoreTop tips for teaching phonics
Teach step-by-step You don’t need to teach the whole alphabet to get reading going. Start with just a few letters, and get children to build words from them. Phonic Books starts with ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’, ‘i’ and ‘m’. Work with word-building Word-building is the best way to teach reading and spelling. Write letters on cards […]
Read MoreHow 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 these texts allow them to practice what they have been taught and experience success. They also help children develop an effective strategy […]
Read More