Title Slide: Introducing Computing Shed

Introducing Computing Shed: The NEW Computing Scheme from EdShed 

Computing Shed, EdShed / By

Introducing Computing Shed… the new EdShed product designed to reduce workload, deliver a fully joined-up computing scheme in one place and improve computing outcomes. Coming very soon!  One of the major perks of running an EdTech company and also being educators ourselves is the number of educators we speak to on a daily basis. One thing that repeatedly comes up in conversation is the ever-increasing impact and influence of AI in our society and the importance …

Introducing Computing Shed: The NEW Computing Scheme from EdShed  Read More »

Title Slide: What Does the Writing Framework Say About Spelling? 7 Things You Need to Know

What Does the Writing Framework Say About Spelling? 7 Things You Need to Know 

Spelling Shed / By

Like many educators, we eagerly awaited the release of the Writing Framework with our highlighters and post-it notes at the ready. In this blog post, we share seven key takeaways from the spelling section, along with our thoughts and how Spelling Shed aligns with it.   1. Spelling is key in releasing memory space for writing   One of …

What Does the Writing Framework Say About Spelling? 7 Things You Need to Know  Read More »

Title Page: Using Spelling Shed Alongside Your Phonics Scheme

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Your Phonics Scheme 

Spelling Shed / By

Did you know that most SSP (systematic synthetic phonics) programmes do not meet the National Curriculum statutory requirements for Key Stage 1? Phonics schemes are designed to meet the National Curriculum objectives for word reading and often miss spelling objectives. Often objectives like those listed below are omitted from phonics schemes. These objectives need to be covered in order to meet National Curriculum requirements; therefore, …

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Your Phonics Scheme  Read More »

Title Page: Using Spelling Shed Alongside Read, Write, Inc. Phonics

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Read Write Inc. Phonics  

Spelling Shed / By

When schools choose to use Spelling Shed alongside Read Write Inc. Phonics, they often ask how it aligns. Spelling Shed can work hand-in-hand with Read Write Inc. Phonics.   Remember that phonics schemes are designed to meet the National Curriculum objectives for word reading and often miss spelling objectives. Therefore, we recommend using Spelling Shed from Years 1 and 2.  What do you need to consider?  …

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Read Write Inc. Phonics   Read More »

Title Page: Using Spelling Shed Alongside Little Wandle Letters and Sounds

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Little Wandle Letters and Sounds  

Spelling Shed / By

Lots of schools who choose to use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds also choose Spelling Shed as their spelling programme. This is because they align well together. It is important to use a spelling scheme alongside your phonics programme, as phonics schemes are designed to meet the National Curriculum objectives for word reading and often miss spelling objectives, therefore we recommend schools …

Using Spelling Shed Alongside Little Wandle Letters and Sounds   Read More »

Title Image: How to Launch and Relaunch Spelling Shed with Dress as a Word Day! Images include a boy dressed in a football kit, a lady dressed in a tropical outfit, a lady dressed in pyjamas and a boy with bubble wrap around him.

How to Launch and Relaunch Spelling Shed with Dress as a Word Day!

Spelling Shed / By

Big words, bold outfits and buzzing classrooms. Spelling Shed Launch or Relaunch Day is all about enthusiasm for vocabulary. It’s more than rummaging around and getting creative to dress up as a word, it’s the start of encouraging curiosity with words, showing pupils that spelling is genuinely fun.   From clever puns to full-character transformations, teachers and pupils bring language to life in ways that last …

How to Launch and Relaunch Spelling Shed with Dress as a Word Day! Read More »

Blog title image: How to Teach Spelling Effectively - Part Four : Morphology and Etymology

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Four: Morphology and Etymology 

Spelling Shed / By

What is morphology and does it really matter? Where does etymology fit into the teaching of spelling? Here are some key takeaways.   You can read part 1 of this blog series here, part 2 here and part 3 here.  What is morphology?  ‘Morphe’ means ‘form’ and ‘-ology’ means ‘the study of’, so morphology is the study of how words are formed.   A …

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Four: Morphology and Etymology  Read More »

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Three: Orthographic Knowledge (9 Key Takeaways) 

Spelling Shed / By

What should every teacher know about orthographic knowledge? Why is it so important to effectively teach spelling? Here are nine key takeaways.  You can read part 1 of this blog series here and part 2 here.  The diagram below shows the elements that build up our linguistic knowledge, including orthographic knowledge. The more times this process is repeated, the more solidly …

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Three: Orthographic Knowledge (9 Key Takeaways)  Read More »

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Two: Phonics for All (8 Key Takeaways)

Spelling Shed / By

When we think of phonics, we might think about our systematic, synthetic phonics programme that often ends at Key Stage One, but should phonics really end there? The simple answer is no. Phonics is a key part of reading and spelling beyond Key Stage One. Here are eight key takeaways of why phonics is important for all children.   Read part one of this blog …

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part Two: Phonics for All (8 Key Takeaways) Read More »

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part One: Spelling Skills (9 Key Takeaways)

Spelling Shed / By

How do you teach spelling effectively? First, we need to look at spelling skills and what is current common classroom practice. Here are nine key takeaways:  1. There are lots of influences on our spelling system.   “It’s just spelled that way”, “it’s just a strange spelling”, “the English language is complicated”. These are many things that people say. Often the reason for this folk …

How to Teach Spelling Effectively – Part One: Spelling Skills (9 Key Takeaways) Read More »

Supporting Our Dyslexic Learners: 10 Things All Adults Should Know

Supporting Our Dyslexic Learners: 10 Things All Adults Should Know

EdShed, Spelling Shed / By

Neurodivergent Educational Psychologist Dr Joanne Riordan shares her top tips for supporting learners with dyslexia. Dyslexia is not a deficit — it’s a different way of thinking, learning, and experiencing the world. As an Educational Psychologist, a neurodivergent person, and a parent to a dyslexic child, I see the full picture — from the classroom …

Supporting Our Dyslexic Learners: 10 Things All Adults Should Know Read More »

Title Page: How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 4: Writing Scanner

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 4: Writing Scanner

Spelling Shed / By

Part 4 of ‘How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription’ focuses on Spelling Shed’s writing scanner. Read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.  Writing Scanner        Spelling Shed’s writing scanner is a great assessment tool. You can upload an image of a pupil’s work to their …

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 4: Writing Scanner Read More »

Title Page: How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 3: Grammar and Punctuation

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 3: Grammar and Punctuation

Spelling Shed / By

Spelling Shed’s subscription includes a full research-based spelling scheme, spelling games, a full grammar curriculum, grammar games, Mastery Zone, end-of-term assessments, data and assessment tools, leagues, challenges and a writing scanner!    Part 3 of ‘How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription’ focuses on all thing grammar including Spelling Shed’s Grammar …

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 3: Grammar and Punctuation Read More »

Title slide with data image. Title: How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 2: Data and Assessment

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 2: Data and Assessment

Spelling Shed / By

Spelling Shed includes everything you need to teach and lead spelling effectively. Part 2 of ‘How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription’ focuses on data and assessment, leagues and challenges. Read part 1 here. Data and Assessment  Spelling Shed includes a full suite of tools to enable schools and educators to …

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 2: Data and Assessment Read More »

Title page with images of Spelling Shed games, a lesson plan and a morphology matrix from Spelling Shed's scheme.

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 1: Spelling Scheme and Games 

Spelling Shed / By

Whether you’re new to Spelling Shed or have used Spelling Shed for years, it’s always useful to make sure you are getting the most out of your subscription, especially because there are always new features being released to enhance your experience.  What once started as an app has escalated into a full multi-award-winning, innovative spelling …

How to Make the Most Out of Your Spelling Shed Subscription Part 1: Spelling Scheme and Games  Read More »

Title Slide: The Impact of Phonics Shed and Spelling Shed at Cornerstone C of E Primary School

The Impact of Phonics Shed and Spelling Shed at Cornerstone C of E Primary School

Phonics Shed, Spelling Shed / By

Cornerstone C of E Primary School is a wonderful Phonics Shed and Spelling Shed Showcase School based in Fareham, Hampshire.  We spoke to them to find out the impact that EdShed has had at their school. We are a rapidly growing primary school, set to become a full three-form entry institution. Currently, we have approximately …

The Impact of Phonics Shed and Spelling Shed at Cornerstone C of E Primary School Read More »

Building the Foundations for Phonics: How Parents and Educators Can Develop Vital Pre-reading Skills title with Phonics Family Image

Building the Foundations for Phonics: How Parents and Educators Can Develop Vital Pre-reading Skills by Katie Whitehead

Phonics Shed / By

Early Years educator, phonics specialist and author, Katie Whitehead (known to her followers as Phonics Family), shares her advice for developing vital pre-reading skills. In the UK, conversations about school readiness are louder than ever. The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has declared it a national priority with ambitious targets. For example, 75% of five-year-olds being …

Building the Foundations for Phonics: How Parents and Educators Can Develop Vital Pre-reading Skills by Katie Whitehead Read More »

We Won a Bett Award!

Spelling Shed / By

We’re delighted to announce that Spelling Shed is the winner of Bett’s Primary Digital Learning Product Language & Literacy Award.   What Did the Judges Say?  “This is a comprehensive resource for teachers to support teaching, learning and assessment of spelling. Its assessment tool is effective and reduces teacher workload. Parents can see their child’s learning …

We Won a Bett Award! Read More »

Images of Spelling Shed's baseline assessments

Using Spelling Shed’s Baseline Assessments

Spelling Shed / By

Spelling Shed has launched baseline assessments, designed for use at the beginning of the academic year. How to Assign Spelling Shed’s Baseline Assessments This handy video shows you how to assign Spelling Shed’s baseline assessments and how to view data. Assigning baseline assessments is easy.  1. Create an assignment like you usually would by clicking …

Using Spelling Shed’s Baseline Assessments Read More »

Using Spelling Shed alongside your phonics scheme

Phonics Shed, Spelling Shed / By

Does your Systematic Synthetic Phonics scheme meet the National Curriculum statutory requirements for KS1? Does it prepare your children for the more complex code they will encounter in their reading and writing in Year 3 and beyond? The simple answer is that almost all Government Validated Phonics Schemes do not adequately cover the National Curriculum …

Using Spelling Shed alongside your phonics scheme Read More »

Top tips for using formative and summative assessment in phonics

Uncategorised / By

What is summative and formative assessment? Formative assessment •Observation-led – responses to tasks and questions – assessing their input, instigating peer discussions, and completing a review of work covered during the plenary. •Planning prompts – For example, recapping the grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC) taught, particularly as part of the plenary. Each lesson plan has an assessment …

Top tips for using formative and summative assessment in phonics Read More »

Etymology

Spelling Shed / By

How to use etymological information can improve understanding in reading and aid spelling Morphology and etymology go hand in hand and when joined together with orthographical mapping, they become a powerful trio in the learning of spellings.  Other words with Greek origins: dolphin elephant alphabet hyphen triumph How do we use etymology in Spelling Shed …

Etymology Read More »

Using Actions to Support Your Phonics Teaching

Phonics Shed / By

Why use actions in phonics sessions? •Promotes active engagement and participation – research suggests that the longer a child is actively participating in a lesson, the higher their academic success. •Targets kinaesthetic types of learners – movement •Helps to distinguish between similar sounds •Visual prompt – if a child is unsure of the GPC they …

Using Actions to Support Your Phonics Teaching Read More »

Choosing and Using Flashcards to Accelerate Learning in Phonics

Phonics Shed / By

Why flashcards? The scientifically proven best way to learn is practicing recall by spaced repetition. You repeat the process of recall in certain time intervals (every day, every weekend etc.), and that’s how information gets stored in your long-term memory. Spaced repetition indicates that it’s better to learn every day for one hour, than one …

Choosing and Using Flashcards to Accelerate Learning in Phonics Read More »

How to use Orthography to get the Most out of Phonics for Spelling

Spelling Shed / By

What is Orthography? ‘The conventional spelling system of a language.’ ‘The study of spelling and how letters combine to represent sounds and form words.’ (Oxford English Dictionary) High quality SSP ensuring children have a solid foundational knowledge of GPCs The first way we use orthography is when teaching pupils phonics in KS1. We advocate the …

How to use Orthography to get the Most out of Phonics for Spelling Read More »

Year 4 MTC Ready: How to build recall and conceptualisation of times tables with your class

MathShed / By

What is the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check? Designed to determine whether children can recall times tables facts fluently. Allow schools to identify children who need more help becoming secure in their times tables knowledge, but not specific gaps (sadly!). There is no pass/fail for the test, so no resits required (unlike Year 1 Phonics …

Year 4 MTC Ready: How to build recall and conceptualisation of times tables with your class Read More »