Term 2 in NSW was a short term and has flown by but everyone seems to be nearing the end of the term tired and definitely ready for a break. I have not set any home practise at all for my students during this school holiday because everyone needed time to refresh and relax. The… Continue reading School Holidays – Time for a Break
Many students find the concept of a word count terrifying, but it doesn't need to be that way. I encourage students to work with the following scaffold to build depth to their writing. 1. Start with a scaffold - by carefully examining the task at hand and developing a set of subheadings the writing can… Continue reading Eating into a Word Count
The internet is a wonderful resource to find out information about almost anything. The internet is also a horrible resource where you can become lost in a maze of website's claiming to be able to "cure" your child's learning difficulties with their unique program. I often receive calls from families who have spent hours searching… Continue reading The Website Cure Maze
This is really a mantra for life - too much of anything is not great and the best of outcomes are always achieved through balance. This is also the case with technology and in particular typing. New research is encouraging educators not to abandon paper and pencil tasks as they are integral to the process of… Continue reading Typing or Writing?
I would not get anything done without my to do list. Over the years I have kept these in hard copy as paper books and tried many different apps. It has taken some time but I finally feel I have a set of two I adore and am using all the time (some may say… Continue reading To Do List Apps
Here is the last part in my series on spelling instruction (for now!) For many students teaching spelling rules is the whole aspect of their spelling program, while for others it is a complement to a more comprehensive program. Regardless I have never met a student who does not need to learn common spelling rules so… Continue reading Spelling Instruction – Spelling Rules
These are both the traditional (commercial) sight word lists available including frequently occurring and exception words (and, to, as, me, he, they ...) as well as those pesky spelling errors students make in their own writing. I have found the tried and true (and fun!) way to address sight word spelling is to use “Multi… Continue reading Spelling Instruction – Sight Words
Following up on last weeks' post here are more details around spelling regular words. Regular words are the building blocks of spelling, being able to hear the sounds in a word and represent these sounds with the appropriate letter symbol. Regular word instruction is taught in a sequential manner, beginning with two letter words (vowel-consonant/vc), three… Continue reading Spelling Instruction – Regular Words
