Proper Nouns
When I ask students to define a noun, they will quickly tell me, “It’s a person, place or thing.” At the very least they need to add on ‘or idea’. I would rather that they use the definition: A noun … Continued
Importance of Working Memory
Reading comprehension depends firstly on our ability to decode the words on the page, and then to make sense of each individual word and groups of words joined into sentences, and then to make connections between groups of sentences. This … Continued
Skimming & Scanning
Once children can read competently, it is useful to learn the skills of skimming and scanning. Skimming is the process of rapidly reading text to obtain the main idea of the information presented, without necessarily reading every word. Scanning is … Continued
Orthographic Mapping & Sight Word Development
Let’s begin this discussion with a technical definition of a sight word. A sight word is any word that you can automatically and accurately recognise and associate with the correct pronunciation and meaning. It is not a word that must … Continued
Using Children’s Books to Teach Non-Fiction Writing
Expository writing is a key skill for students to learn as it is the most common form of writing that they will use as they progress through the education system and into the workforce. Steward and Young (2019) suggest that … Continued