alpacas

Decodable Readers and Phonics.

Jj is for Jottings 80.  Decodable Readers.

What are Decodable Readers?

As mentioned in the previous article (see here), decodable readers support the teaching of phonics in a cumulative manner.  The rules and patterns of the English language are taught sequentially.  As the student learns the rules, he practices using decodable readers.  In this way there are no nasty surprises involving unknown words, because they know the rules  and every word can be decoded.  This gives the reader both skills and confidence, and makes learning to read much less of a challenge.

Most Children Learn to Read Without Decodable Readers, Don’t They?

Continue reading →

Literacy, Language and Prison.

Jj is for Jottings 79.  Literacy, Language and Prison.

Here are studies from three countries on the relationship between literacy, language and prison or young offender sentences:

1. USA.

Approximately 80% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate, and 47.8% of the inmates were deficient in word attack skills, according to reports.  (Texas, 2000) Continue reading →

Blending Sounds: A Simple Game For Everyday Life.

Jj is for Jottings 77.  Blending Sounds: A Simple Game For Everyday Life.

What is Blending?

Blending is “pushing” individual sounds or syllables together to make a word.  In early stages of reading the child will be blending sounds, but as they progress and begin to recognise chunks of words, they will also be blending syllables. Continue reading →

Voice Disorders and Vocal Nodules.

Jj is for Jottings 76.  Voice Disorders and Vocal Nodules.

Our brown alpaca, Manuel, is trying to open his mouth as widely as he can so we can see if he has vocal nodules.

Manuel is trying to open his mouth as widely as he can so we can see if he has vocal nodules.

 

In my last post I said I’d talk more about voice disorders and how they develop in children.  Vocal nodules, also referred to as screamer’s or singer’s nodules, are a likely result of misuse and abuse of the voice. Continue reading →

The End of a Word is Not Always the End.

Jj is for Jottings 70.  The End of a Word is Not Always the End.

In traditional tests of articulation (speech sounds) and when we are sounding out words in reading, we think very much in terms of sounds at the beginning, in the middle and on the end of a word.  In the case of early stage reading and spelling using 3-sound words, we are asking, “What sound can you hear at the beginning of the word?”  “What sound can you hear at the end of the word?   “What sound can you hear in the middle of the word?”  Continue reading →

What is Synthetic Phonics?

Jj is for Jottings 65.  What Is Synthetic Phonics?

We’re just taking a break from the series on How to Raise a Reader – we’ll finish it next time.

Synthetic phonics means “building words from individual sounds”.  For example, even if you had never seen it before, you could spell the word “step” Continue reading →

Raising a Reader Part 3: Emerging Readers.

Jj is for Jottings 63.  Raising a Reader Part 3:  Emerging Readers.

Continuing from the two previous articles

https://educatingalpacas.com/raising-a-reader-part-1-the-baby/  and https://educatingalpacas.com/raising-a-reader-part-2-toddlers/,

this next stage is the magical time when your child starts to take an interest in letters and words and begins to make out words for himself, in books or real life such as street signs. Continue reading →