In our ‘how to…’ series we are going to delve into all things phonics instruction and give you our expert advice on developing confident readers. *** High-frequency words is another term for common words with tricky spellings, or high-frequency words with “irregular” spellings. The term “irregular” is a bit misleading because while beginner readers might […]
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The verb ‘to dictate’ is not one that teachers warm to. This is because we love to foster creativity in our children and to get them to write their own ideas. BUT when teaching children how to read and spell we need to use all the best tools we have to instruct our beginner readers […]
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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 […]
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Do your children forget spellings from one week to the next? Many teachers issue spelling lists each week only to find that a week or two down the road the children have already forgotten them. At Phonic Books we believe that teaching children the first 300 high-frequency words in a way that links up with […]
Read MoreHigh-frequency words are common words in the English language. Many teachers believe that it is useful for children to learn to read and spell these words as soon as possible. The problem is that many of these words have complex spellings. This means that children may find it difficult to read and spell them until […]
Read MoreThis week I learned from Susan Godsland www.dyslexics.org.uk that the new term for ‘tricky words’ in the new National Curriculum is ‘common exception’ words. This term that is rather confusing. Firstly, why exception? Exception from what? Secondly, as Susan pointed out – it is not the word that is tricky/complex/ irregular/exceptional. It is the part of the word – the […]
Read MoreFluent readers may find it difficult to understand why beginner readers find some words difficult to decode. These are often called ‘tricky words’ – but what’s so tricky about them?
Read MoreThese days, we hear a lot about ‘tricky’ words, phonically ‘irregular’ words, ‘sight’ words and ‘high-frequency’ words. Do all these terms mean the same thing?
Read MoreNow that everyone is talking ‘Synthetic Phonics speak’, and it seems like Michael Gove will continue to do so, it may be a good time to clarify some of the terms that are being used.
Read MoreWouldn’t it be great if we could teach those high-frequency words strictly within the phonic progression of our programme?
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