Etymology

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 …

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Using Actions to Support Your Phonics Teaching

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 …

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Choosing and Using Flashcards to Accelerate Learning in Phonics

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 …

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

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 …

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

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 …

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Using GPC Characters for Engaging Phonics Teaching and Learning

Why use GPC Characters? Associating the characters with GPCs lends itself to story telling and putting these characters in meaningful contexts, which the pupils can relate to. These characters underpin the whole of the scheme and are referenced in the flashcards, decodable books, lesson plans, interventions, teaching books and formation rhymes. The characters are used …

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What are bar models and how to use them to solve problems

What are bar models? Where did they come from? Bar models have been part of the Singapore Ministry of Education’s mathematics’ concrete, pictorial, abstract process since the late 1980s. Their origins date back further than the late 1980s, though. They were used as part of the American psychologist and educationalist, Jerome Bruner’s three-part lesson process …

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