In our ‘what is…’ series we’re taking things back to basics! From phonics to decoding, blending and more, we’re going to break things down and give you our expert advice on each area, to help answer any questions you may have around teaching reading. *** The Alphabetic Code is the framework that shows how the […]
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When we teach reading with phonics, we need to include two important elements: Introduction of the alphabetic code in small steps (these are the letter/sounds correspondences) starting with simple letter/sound correspondences and progressing to more complex. Teaching children the phonemic awareness skills that underlie reading and spelling, so that they can use the phonic knowledge […]
Read More In our ‘what is…’ series we’re taking things back to basics! From phonics to decoding, blending and more, we’re going to break things down and give you our expert advice on each area, to help answer any questions you may have around teaching reading. *** It may seem obvious to fluent readers, but beginner readers […]
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There is a difference between ‘sounding out’ and ‘blending’. Sounding out a word entails recognising the letter/sound correspondences, e.g. seeing the letters “p” and being able to say the sound /p/. Children will need to remember the letter shape and distinguish it from similar looking letters, e.g., p/q; b/d/; m/w/; f/t etc. They also need […]
Read More In our ‘what is…’ series we’re taking things back to basics! From phonics to decoding, blending and more, we’re going to break things down and give you our expert advice on each area, to help answer any questions you may have around teaching reading. *** When fluent readers read, the words fly off the page. […]
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Yes, they do. Sounding out words is very taxing on a beginner reader’s working memory. If we think about it – children need to recognise the shape of the letter, attach a sound to it, hold that sound in their heads, do the same for the next letters in the word, blend the sounds into […]
Read MoreWe used to say “practice makes perfect”, but when it comes to memory “practice makes permanent”. We know that to get good at anything, we need to perfect and improve our skills, and this is done through repetition and rehearsal at each stage of learning. In order to learn we need to store the learning […]
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There are many phonics programmes to choose from. Here is what these programmes need to offer to deliver explicit, systematic, structured, and successful reading instruction for all children. 1. Clear scope and sequence: the Alphabetic Code is complex, and it is imperative that it is introduced in a systematic way – starting with the simple […]
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What is Set for Variability? Set for Variability is a cognitive flip that we do when we mispronounce a new word, and we need to try a different pronunciation to fit in that word. A classic example is when a learner reads the word ‘head’ as ‘heed’. They are misapplying their phonic knowledge to this […]
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Research has shown that children lose the equivalent of one month of learning over the summer. Many children experienced learning loss during the pandemic, so it is important that we help to keep children reading throughout the summer to prevent this additional summer slide. Here are ten ideas to keep children reading over the summer […]
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