Following the discussion about the importance of teaching the phonic code and how to split multi-syllabic words, I thought it might be illuminating to show what a page from Harry Potter might look like to a pupil who has weak phonic knowledge and cannot split long words into syllables:
Read MoreReading Difficulties
High/low reading books and high interest phonics – what’s the difference?
There are some great high/low (high level of content/ low reading age) books on the market these days, particularly for boys. Publishers have published some really good quality, motivating books. What is the difference between those books and decodable readers for older, struggling readers?
Read MoreTricky adjacent consonants
We have found that lots of children are OK blending 3 sound words but have difficulty blending 4 and 5 sounds words with adjacent consonants (CVCC, CCVC and CCVCC words). Dandelion Launchers series now has 12 new books which tackle this reading skill. With no more than 10 words of text on each page, and 4 […]
Read MoreTotem Series out now!
At last the much awaited Totem Series is out! Check out this new set of decodable books for older struggling readers. The idea here is to fill in the gaps that older pupils may have in their phonic knowledge. It has great illustrations and stories and it starts at CVC and CVCC level. There is also a really […]
Read MoreColoured Overlays
Changing the background colour on which people are reading has been shown to effect reading ability. For this reason all of the books published by phonic books are printed onto a cream background to reduce the contrast between black and white which can cause problems for some children. Google have actually changed the colour of their search boxes based on […]
Read MoreTop Tip: Phonic Phones
Phonic phones are incredibly simple devices. They are a simple plastic tube that go from the mouth to the ear and allow the reader to hear the sounds they are making.
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