We’ve all heard of “Bossy E”, “Silent E” or “Magic E” – but are those mnemonics helping or hindering learning? Shirley Houston unpacks what split digraphs actually are, how to teach them clearly and logically, and why there’s no need for wands or wizardry!
Not sure if your child is behind, on track, or racing ahead in phonics? This guide breaks down what to expect in Reception/Kindy, Year 1, and Year 2 — plus what can slow progress and when to stop phonics (if ever!).
In every classroom, there will be high-flyers who need extra challenge – but how can you stretch them without the headache? Shirley Houston shares her practical solutions for differentiating your phonics lessons to meet the needs of these high achievers.
Ari referred to them as “the fuzzy sounds,” which his teacher explained are actually “voiced sounds.” But what exactly distinguishes these fuzzy (voiced) sounds from their smoother (unvoiced) counterparts? Shirley Houston provides a clear explanation and practical tips for identifying these sounds, along with fun activities to help both children and adults sharpen their listening skills.
Think you know your vowels from your consonants? Think again! Shirley Houston takes a look at when a consonant is a vowel, and wh(Y)!
The term ‘mastery’ is used in nearly every teaching curriculum, but what exactly does it mean? What does phonics mastery look like? And once students have achieved it, how do you help them sustain it? Shirley Houston explains how to master…mastery!
Tick-tock, tick-tock…the clock is ticking and there’s geography, life skills, maths and phonics to get through today! Shirley Houston explores how much of the school-day you should ring-fence for teaching phonics.
With over 160 dialects spoken worldwide, English is a wonderfully diverse language. But what’s a teacher to do when one child says “to-may-to” and another “to-mar-to”? Shirley Houston explores key differences between accents in English and offers advice on respectfully navigating these differences when teaching reading and spelling.
The English-speaking world is FINALLY coming to a consensus that systematic, synthetic phonics is crucial to learning to read and spell, but when should you stop teaching phonics? When do you move children on from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’? Teacher Shirley Houston discusses.
Shirley Houston explains the logic (alongside some fascinating history facts) behind w-controlled vowels and gives teachers easy ways to help in their recall.
As the school year progresses, students start to fly through the basic phonics code – until they come up against the alternative spellings and it hurts even your head! How do you teach and embed the alternative spellings so that students’ spelling becomes more accurate? Teacher Shirley Houston explains.
As you read this, you are not sounding out each word – you are automatically reading the words. This is automaticity; it frees up your working memory to comprehend what’s written and is our end goal for the children we teach to read. Teacher Shirley Houston explains how to systematically teach phonics to ensure every child achieves automaticity and becomes a skilled reader.
Cognitive Load Theory helps explain why the reading progress of some students is slower than expected. Once the theory ‘clicks’ for you, your teaching will change – for the better! Teacher Shirley Houston takes teachers through the theory and practical applications of Cognitive Load. A must-read for every teacher.
When is the right time to introduce letter names? Is it in pre-school with the alphabet song or when phonics is done and dusted? Teacher Shirley Houston pinpoints the sweet spot.
When a child stumbles over how to read or spell a word, many parents feel stumped with how to help and end up just giving the answer. Experienced teacher, Shirley Houston, shows parents how to help when their child gets stuck.
What are the R Controlled Vowels and how do you teach them? A thorough explanation, plus ideas, resources and tips to ensure you effectively teach these sounds.
Phonemic Awareness is the strongest predictor of reading and spelling success. The schools who achieve incredible reading results are often those that have honed their student’s phonemic awareness skills. This blog post explores what phonemic awareness is, and how it sits alongside phonics. It also provides teaching ideas to incorporate it into your lessons.
Tricky words, like ‘the’ and ‘was’, often trip up teachers and students with their rare spelling choices. Shirley Houston explains tricky words, the steps to teach them systematically and explicitly, and offers ideas and free resources to put this into practice.
Over the years, logic, emotion and research have frequently clashed in the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping. Shirley Houston takes a look at the pros and cons of grouping by ability for spelling.
Teacher Shirley Houston, takes you through how to build the ultimate phonics lesson plan: effective practices, step-by-step instructions and a free template to take your phonics lesson to greatness!
The best teachers of reading start by teaching oral blending and segmenting skills first: lessening the cognitive load on children and making the leap to reading and spelling with letters all the easier!Â
Learning support teacher, Shirley Houston, explains oral blending and segmenting and gives you the step-by-step ‘how to’. Plus, you’ll find heaps of free resources included!Â
Vowel teams are probably the most common source of reading and spelling errors as one vowel sound may be represented by as many as 6 different vowel teams. Teacher Shirley Houston breaks down the vowel teams and how to teach them!
The schwa can be a cause of confusion and frustration in spelling and reading for a student. Teacher Shirley Houston will give you a simple way to explain it and some tips for helping students to decode and encode words containing a schwa.
What the evidence says about teaching upper or lower case letters first. Plus, practical tips!
What phonics assessment resources should you use? Here are our FREE phonics assessment resources to kickstart your phonics teaching!
When children are fluent readers, their comprehension takes off! We explain: what fluency is, why you need to be paying special attention to ‘prosody’ and how you can teach these skills.Â
