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 the learning loss that took place over COVID. It is so important that we focus […]
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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. As their code knowledge grows, children will be able to apply it to ‘authentic’ texts. Authentic texts […]
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Here at Phonic Books we usually discuss how to help children to learn to decode and become fluent readers. But as The Reading Rope shows (see graphic below) – decoding, or word recognition is only the first part of the story. I like the metaphor describing the impact of teaching systematic phonics: it will get […]
Read MoreWhat 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 to work as a dish washer in a restaurant in New York? What if an […]
Read MoreWe know that vocabulary is one of the five elements that make a fluent, confident reader. These five are: phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, vocabulary and fluency. While phonics and phonemic awareness are the bedrock of reading that allow children to decode words accurately, the other three are intertwined. If you have a good vocabulary […]
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On many occasions, especially at conferences, teachers have said to us, “You have gone ahead and done what I always dreamed of doing!” They describe how every lesson they write decodable stories for their pupils and thought what a good idea it would be to actually publish them! Well, that is how Phonic Books got […]
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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 learnt yet because they are present in even the simplest of sentences, e.g. ‘The cat is on the mat’. In the very first sentences children read […]
Read MoreIn my previous blog post I mentioned I was lucky enough to listen to a much-sought-after webinar given by the Reading Ape. Well, I came away with another rethink: “Spelling helps reading more than reading helps spelling,” the Reading Ape explained. This is based on the research and work of Perfetti, and is supported by […]
Read MoreI recently listened to the much-anticipated webinar given by the Reading Ape. (If you haven’t heard of the elusive Reading Ape, do check out the website which has fantastic research-based articles about reading.) Anyway, the Reading Ape discussed the research of Cattell, 1886, that showed that we read words quicker than we read individual letters. […]
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Now that kids are back in school, teachers must make sure that they have solid foundations for reading. These foundations will ensure reading success throughout their education and beyond. Who knows what exciting opportunities lay ahead for our young readers? But first they will need to learn to read. So what are the foundations we […]
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