“Magic Reading Rocks” inspired by the Magic Belt Series

“The magic for these kids was finding a series that they could decode, that could keep their interest, that motivated hard work, and that made them sound and feel like successful readers.” ~Brin Tucker Last year I was serving as an instructional coach, intern mentor, and also ran some intervention groups. Our intern, Amelia Fontein…

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“Are we going to read today!?”

Jessica berg

“These decodables are the perfect addition to our ever evolving collection.” My name is Jessica Berg and this is my 3rd year serving as the instructional coach at Ellis Elementary. Ellis Elementary is one of 25 elementary schools in Rockford School District 205. We are an urban school with over 400 students K-5. We have…

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Teaching the Reading Rope

Scarboroughs reading rope

Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook for research in early literacy (pp. 97-110). New York: Guilford Press. Teaching the Reading Rope The Reading Rope was developed by Dr. Hollis Scarborough to provide a framework for understanding the different…

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Structured Linguistic Literacy

Dystinct magazine clair wilson

Supporting structured linguistic literacy at home with games and decodable reading books – 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…

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Holiday rereading

Pile of books with coffee cup, writing pad and pen

Over the holidays, we all need to take a break and enjoy time with family and friends. However, amongst the ribbons, reindeer and rejoicing, there may also be space for a little retrospection, reflection, reading… and even rereading. Reading specialist, Miriam Fein, explores the benefits of giving new consideration to an already well thumbed book.…

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Phonic Books stand out from your average decodable

Dandelion Launchers - Decodable Books

At Phonic Books, we know the importance of continuous and lifelong learning. We’re always delighted to hear from our customers, and feedback on our decodable books is especially welcome. Your comments help us to understand what we are doing right – as well as flagging up anything that could be improved. In this testimonial, Dyslexia…

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Reflections on Emily Hanford’s, “Sold a Story”

Image of Sold a Story Podcast

  Emily Hanford’s thought-provoking podcast, “Sold a Story” has created quite a buzz in the education community. Reading specialist and SLP, Miriam Fein, has been listening:   “It didn’t seem like they were teaching them to read. It seemed like they were teaching them to sound like they could read”.  (A parent, in “Sold a…

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Cultural shift from letter names to sounds

Happy Spring!! The weather is getting warmer, the flowers will be in bloom, and the Kindergarten Center teachers are wondering when it will be time to teach letter names! For those of you who did not read, “Lynbrook Takes the Lead on Long Island,” the Lynbrook School District is revamping its reading curriculum and is…

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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – scaffolding the teaching of multisyllabic words

Scaffolding the teaching of multisyllabic words –  simple to complex Many teachers are focused on teaching kids how to sound out graphemes (spellings) and to blend sounds together into words.  They will even be teaching kids how to manipulate phonemes in phonemic awareness activities. These are all essential underlying skills necessary for learning to read. …

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Why we need to teach the Alphabetic Code

What is the Alphabetic Code? English has a complex writing system.  It has 26 letters but roughly 44 sounds (this depends on pronunciation). There are roughly 160+ different spellings for these 44 sounds.  In order to teach them in a methodical way, they have been organised according to the 44 sounds they spell.  This organisation…

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