graphemes

How to improve spelling: Five simple ways to improve kids’ spelling skills

Posted on in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Learning to Read, Reading Resources, Science of Reading and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on How to improve spelling: Five simple ways to improve kids’ spelling skills

  Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the phrase “some kids are just poor spellers.” I’ve got both hands and feet raised over here. Children are not destined to be poor or great spellers. All children can grow in their spelling, but we have to make sure we are giving them the proper instruction…

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Aligning decodable books with your phonics program

Posted on in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources, Synthetic Phonics and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on Aligning decodable books with your phonics program

Regardless of which program or approach to teaching phonics we use, teaching phonics systematically means we follow a particular scope and sequence with its own logic for introducing sound-symbol correspondences and spelling patterns. Many teachers are coming to recognize that when children are given reading material with words that match what they have been taught,…

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

Posted on in High-Frequency Words, Reading Difficulties, Science of Reading, Synthetic Phonics and tagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on How we can help kids to self-teach themselves to read

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…

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How to help your child read a decodable book

Posted on in Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on How to help your child read a decodable book

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…

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How to use decodable books

Posted on in Decodable Books, Learning to Read, Reading Resources, Synthetic Phonics, Whole-Word Reading and tagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on How to use decodable books
Phonic Books range

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…

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What is a grapheme?

Posted on in Approaches to Teaching Reading, Synthetic Phonics and tagged , , , , Leave a Comment on What is a grapheme?

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…

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