If asked, many early years and special school teachers would probably say that one of the first things children should learn is to recognise, and later write, their name. One single word, yet many children seem to find this difficult and it can take a surprisingly long time to achieve. The main reason for this […]
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What do we mean by ‘sound it out’ and what does it entail? When a child gets stuck on a word we often remind them to ‘sound it out’. As fluent readers, we assume this is very straightforward. We recognise these words automatically and skip all the stages that beginner readers need to go through […]
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How important is it to cultivate the love of reading in children? Decodable books are an essential part of a structured literacy approach, but they have a specific purpose. They are decodable exercises which students can use to practise the phonics skills they have learned. They are not designed to compete with the huge variety […]
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During mental health week, we think it is important to highlight the link between mental health and illiteracy. Illiteracy causes poor life outcomes, poor health, depression and poverty leading to crime. The Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has just reported on the global problem of poor […]
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Although systematic, synthetic phonics teaching programmes are now a mandatory part of the UK National Curriculum for schools, one of the questions we are most frequently asked is still, ‘What are decodable books?’. Phonic Books co-founder, Tami Reis-Frankfort, provides a brief clarification of the meaning of the term, and explains why decodable books are so […]
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By Clair Wilson This article was originally published in the January 2023 issue of Dystinct Magazine. Click here for free access to this issue until December 2024. Reading is one of the most important skills we want our children to learn. We want our children to be able to read books and access information online, […]
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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 […]
Read MoreI read this post and thought it was really worth reposting. It explains in simple and sympathetic language why decodable books have an important role to play in learning to read. New Zealand has been slow in adopting Systematic Synthetic Phonics, but things are changing for the better. This is a really worth a read! […]
Read MoreRead another good article from the spelfabet blog about the confused notion of ‘balanced literacy’ http://www.spelfabet.com.au/2014/01/balanced-literacy/ (thanks Susan Godsland from www.dyslexics.org.uk for flagging this article)
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