John Walker of the Literacy Blog discusses recent sampling of schools in Stoke-on-Trent. Is this just the tip of the iceberg? http://literacyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-tip-of-iceberg.html
Read MoreNews & Information
How valid is the phonics check?
John Walker discusses the validity of the Y1 Phonics Check: http://literacyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/how-valid-is-phonics-screening-check.html
Read MoreSpelling photosynthesis
Thanks to TRT for Teachers blog for this post: http://trt-for-teachers.com/2014/06/26/spelling-photosynthesis/
Read MoreEducational technology fails to bridge achievement gap
Read this rather depressing article by Annie Murphy Paul on the ‘Matthew Effect’ and how education technology is failing to create a level playing field in education: http://hechingerreport.org/content/educational-technology-isnt-leveling-playing-field_16499/
Read MoreResearch suggests that the initial texts used by early readers have a strong influence on how they ‘decode’ text.
It is my experience that if young readers are given texts to read that are decodable – they will develop decoding skills. They develop a habit of sounding out and blending graphemes to read and gain meaning. But if they are offered texts they cannot decode (and must resort to guessing in order to read) […]
Read MoreRead it and weep
Why does Congress hate the one part of No Child Left Behind that works? Read it and weep… http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/850gvneh.asp?pg=1 Thanks to Susan Godsland from www.dyslexics.org.uk for flagging this article up
Read MoreWhat people are saying around the world
Here is what people are saying about the new study by Dr Grant: http://phonicsinternational.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1736#1736 Thanks to Phonics International forum for this post.
Read MoreSchools spreading news of impact of phonics on literacy
http://www.tyndalepark.school.nz/news/phonics-huge-head-start
Read MoreWhat to do if a child has not passed the Y1 phonics check
Some helpful advice from Gordon Askew from the ssphonix blog: http://ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/phonics-screening-3-what-next.html
Read MoreSee how decodable books can develop vocabulary and comprehension
We are currently in the last stages of creating our Dandelion Readers, Level 4 series. It introduces more vowel and consonant spellings and common suffixes. This page is taken from Book 10 ‘A Grand Adventure’. The phonic focus of the book is the suffix -ture (as read in the words ‘nature’, ‘adventure’). But this page […]
Read More