Comprehension & Background Knowledge

posted in: Reading | 0

Good reading comprehension requires firstly that you can actually decode the words in the text.  Then you need to be able to make sense of each individual word, the sentences and the paragraphs.  Making sense of individual words requires good oral … Continued

Pre-Reading Activities

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This is the second of my “Back in the old days when I first started teaching” posts. As I mentioned in my previous post,  Year 1 was the first year of formal learning and there were three terms each year.  … Continued

The Comprehension Continuum

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Comprehension moves from the basic recall of information through to making inferences and finally making evaluative judgements.  Each of these types of comprehension have a place to play in our understanding of the text.  However, many comprehension activities don’t move … Continued

Letter Sounds Matter

posted in: Reading, Spelling | 0

Which is more important – knowing the name of letters or knowing the sound of the letters? The importance of knowing letter names versus letter sounds in early literacy development has long been debated. Similarly, should we be teaching letter … Continued

What do we Know about Fluency?

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There is no doubt that being able to read with fluency is an important component of reading. Hasbrouck (2020) provides a succinct overview of the information contained in the National Reading Panel report, published 20 years ago, and assesses it … Continued