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Dictation is a great activity for emerging spellers

Posted on 21st August 202027th May 2024 in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Decodable Books, Dyslexia, Learning to Read, Reading Difficulties, Reading Resources and tagged Article, beginning readers, decodable texts, decoding, dictation, emerging spellers, encoding, Phonics, struggling readersLeave a Comment

Most teachers approach teaching in a child-centered way so dictation goes against the grain. It may seem old-fashioned and yes, a bit dictatorial. But actually, it is a really powerful tool which is particularly useful for struggling or emerging readers and spellers. What more, kids enjoy it because it consolidates their learning and they experience…

The conveyor belt from reading difficulties to prison

Posted on 6th August 202022nd May 2024 in Reading Difficulties and tagged Article, Emily Hanford science of reading, Reading disabilities and poor behavior, Reading disabilities and prison, reading in prisons, struggling readersLeave a Comment

Emily Hanford’s most recent podcast, an audio documentary called What Words Say, is a must listen. Hanford explains how reading difficulties often find expression in bad behavior, and she points out that children of color who struggle with reading don’t typically get the help that white children do. Almost all the kids in the…

How we can help kids to self-teach themselves to read

Posted on 5th August 202022nd May 2024 in High-Frequency Words, Reading Difficulties, Science of Reading, Synthetic Phonics and tagged Article, beginning readers, graphemes, how to teach high-frequency words, how to teach sight words, orthographic mapping, phonemes, pronunciation, self teaching hypothesis, spelling-sound relationshipsLeave a Comment

Have you ever wondered how kids can read words they haven’t been taught to read? I recently came across the ‘Self Teaching Hypothesis’ Share, 1955. This hypothesis explains how kids use the sounds/spellings they have been taught and apply them to figure out new words. What does this theory say? “According to this hypothesis, beginning…

Why ‘structured’ reading instruction is not enough

Posted on 6th July 202022nd May 2024 in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources, Synthetic Phonics and tagged Article, beginning reader, blending, cumulative reading instruction, decodable books, good phonic programs, how to teach reading, Science of Reading, segmenting, structured reading, structured reading instruction, word-buildingLeave a Comment

diagram-of-what-cumulative-reading-instruction-should-look-like

Why we need to teach ‘structured and cumulative’ reading instruction In the bad old days before I learned how to teach kids to read, I taught kids to read in a structured way. That is, what I thought was structure: Week 1: letters a, b, c, d Week 2: letters e, f, g, h Week…

How to help your child read a decodable book

Posted on 28th May 202023rd May 2024 in Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources and tagged Article, automatic recognition, beginning readers, blending, decodable books, difference between phoneme and grapheme, graphemes, phoneme, phonemes, Phonics, segmenting, spelling, struggling readersLeave a Comment

Decodable books are books that a child can read once she/he has been taught the phonics in the book. It is really important to see decodable books as an experience that will be successful if enough preparation is made beforehand. First, do the activities that are recommended in the video below. Once your child is…

How to use decodable books

Posted on 14th February 202022nd May 2024 in Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources, Synthetic Phonics, Whole-Word Reading and tagged Article, blend, decodable books, decodable books for beginner readers, decodable books for struggling readers, fluency, graphemes, segment, sound seeking, spellingLeave a Comment

What are decodable books and how do I use them? 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 they allow them to practice what they have been taught and experience…

Does spelling matter in the digital age?

Posted on 14th February 202022nd May 2024 in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Dyslexia, Morphology, Reading Difficulties, Synthetic Phonics, Whole-Word Reading and tagged Article, beginner reader, morphemes, spelling, spelling sounds, spelling system, struggling reader, syllablesLeave a Comment

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 choose the…

What is a grapheme?

Posted on 3rd September 201111th January 2023 in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Synthetic Phonics and tagged difference between phoneme and grapheme, graphemes, phoneme, phonemes, what is a graphemeLeave a Comment

A grapheme is a letter or a number of letters that represent a sound (phoneme) in a word. Another way to explain it is to say that a grapheme is a letter or letters that spell a sound in a word. Some written scripts are simple in which 1 letter usually represents 1 sound. These…

What is a phoneme?

Posted on 17th January 201111th January 2023 in Synthetic Phonics and tagged blending, consonant digraph, digraphs, explain phoneme, high-frequency words, igh, phoneme definition, segmenting, trigraphs, vowel digraph, what are adjacent consonants?, what is a consonant digraph?, what is a digraph?, what is a grapheme, what is a phoneme?, what is a trigraph?, what is a vowel digraph?, what is blending?Leave a Comment

Now that everyone is talking ‘Synthetic Phonics speak’ it seems like a good time to clarify some of the terms that are being used.

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