Ruth’s Blog: Wired to thrive on repetition
It’s not the number of books you’ve got that matters, it’s how much you love them that counts. Young children are wired to thrive on repetition. They beg for their favourite stories and poems. “Please read Room on the Broom. Do your funny voices. Please, please, please!” The more you hold back, the more they beg. […]
Ruth’s Blog: ‘Again, again!’ Why reading to your child every day is a predictor of later reading comprehension
Did you know that being read to is the most powerful predictor of your child’s future reading comprehension? By reading aloud a story to your child every day, you are fusing the act of reading with comfort and love: when you love a book, your child will want to hear it again and again. Children are wired to thrive […]
Ruth’s Blog: Recycle your carpets – 6 good reasons to disband ‘carpet’ areas in Key Stage 2
For children from Nursery to Year 2, carpet time helps the teacher bring children together. Teachers read stories, set their expectations for behaviour and teach from the carpet. By Year 3, I urge you to rethink. Here’s why. 1. Carpet sessions promote poor discussion. The teacher and supporting adults can only listen and respond to children sitting […]
Ruth’s Blog: Teaching Comprehension Strategies Alert
You wouldn’t teach children to dance by telling them what dancers do. A whole research industry continues to grow to monitor the effect of “comprehension strategies” or “reading skills” to help children understand what they are reading. So, what are these comprehension strategies? We hear about monitoring comprehension, making inferences, active listening, graphic organisers, mental […]
Ruth’s Blog: Some joined up thinking about dyslexic children and joined up writing
Reception teachers show huge relief when I point out that Ofsted doesn’t require them to teach cursive writing. But then they say ‘Isn’t it good for dyslexic children?’ When I ask them how their weakest readers (i.e. potentially dyslexic children) are coping with cursive writing, they always say: Boys, in particular, find it massively harder than printing. […]
Ruth’s Blog: Teaching Handwriting in Reception
DO 1. Have enough tables available for children to practise at the same time (where have all the tables gone?). 2. Practise handwriting every day with the whole class for 10 to 15 minutes – that means everychild. 3. Provide books with plain paper for early formation and then wide lines when you teach them size and relative position. 4. Provide sharp pencils. […]
Ruth’s Blog: Handwriting Alert
Entry – and most exit – strokes hinder children’s handwriting I invented mnemonic phrases to help children form letters correctly. For example, “Round the dinosaur’s bottom, up his neck and down to his feet,” reminds them how to write the letter ‘d’. As the children write the letter they say the phrase and then […]
Ruth’s Blog: The Right Brain for Reading
Take two eight year-olds, Jack and Daisy: same age, but years apart in reading ability. Jack loves reading. He’s always got a book with him and reads it under the table when he thinks his teacher isn’t looking. By the end of a story he’s reading at over 200 words a minute, he writes prolifically […]
Ruth’s Blog: Whoopsy Daisy
Me: How’s Daisy doing? Mark: Not very well, actually. She’s in the bottom group. We’ve just had her end of Year 2 report – it says she’s great at maths but not at reading. The teacher thinks she’s probably dyslexic. Me: Do you listen to Daisy read? Mark: We try, but she doesn’t want to. She hates reading. […]
Ruth’s Blog: Why book bands block children’s reading progress
You’re creating a new reading programme. The first question you ask yourself is, ‘How can I get all children to read as quickly as possible?’ You know that the more quickly they learn to read, the sooner they’ll read fabulous books for themselves. You want the success of your reading programme to be judged on the speed of […]