Many children struggle with spelling. Is it important to teach them how to spell in the digital age when ‘Spell Check’ is there to help? The answer is ‘yes’. Why? Firstly, because at present Spell Check makes errors, as do voice recognition tools. Spell check may offer homophone or spelling options – but can students […]
Read MoreMany students struggle with split vowel spellings a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e. These spellings are also known as ‘split digraphs’, ‘magic e’ and ‘vowel + e’. These students need extra explicit instruction and practice reading words with these split spellings. It is important to take the time to embed this learning as split spellings are […]
Read MoreMost teachers approach teaching in a child-centred way so dictation goes against the grain. It may seem old-fashioned and yes, a bit dictatorial. But actually, is it a really powerful tool which is particularly useful for emerging readers and spellers. What’s more, children enjoy it because it consolidates their learning and they experience success. So, […]
Read MoreSo, 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 MoreThis 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 MoreA 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 MoreMany 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 MoreDo 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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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