ELF Module 4 – Animals

ELF Module 4 – Animals ELF Module 4 is themed around animals. Students continue to build their knowledge of initial sounds in words. Learning Activities What’s the sound Mr Wolf? A variation of this game is played which involves showing the student a phoneme card e.g. ch. The students say all the Spalding phonograms for…

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ELF Module 3 – Long and Short

ELF Module 3 – Long and Short ELF Module 3 continues to build on the students phonological awareness skills. Learning Activities Following directions. Students follow simple 3 step instructions where the third instruction is the same as the first. e.g. clap, turn around, clap. Students are encouraged to attend to the instructions before carrying out…

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ELF Module 2 – Nursery Rhymes

ELF Module 2 – Nursery Rhymes Elf Module 2 uses the theme of fairy tales and nursery rhymes to develop phonological awareness skills. Learning Activities It assumes that children have a knowledge of common fairy tales and nursery rhymes. This is not always the case and we need to take a step side ways and…

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ELF Module 1 – Bodies

ELF Module 1 – Bodies Introductory Group Working Skills During ELF module 1 we set the tone for the sessions. This includes discussions about how to work in a group together with their peers. In 2019 this will include working through We Thinkers 1 from Social Thinking by Michelle Garcia Winner. We Thinker Module 1…

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Back to School

Back to school day is only a week or so away. How can you help your child this year at school? What you will learn: 3 key ways to help your child succeed at school Why 5 minutes reading a day is vital to success Are you ready for back to school? As you prepare…

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Handwriting Without A Pencil

Handwriting without pen and pencil

I am often asked how parents can work with their children to improve handwriting and letter formation. Here are some simple and effective ideas. What you will learn Ideas for letter formation without using pen and paper Ideas to develop fine motor skills that will support hand strength Handwriting without pen and paper Schools are…

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Summer Reading Regression

Summer Reading

The school summer holidays are here. Summer reading ideas to help your child maintain their reading. What you will learn: Why reading deteriorates through the summer holidays  Key strategies to maintain reading progress this summer Summer Reading Regression It is well known that children’s reading regresses through the summer holidays. Like any skill if we don’t use…

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Using Prefixes and Suffixes to Read and Spell

Prefixes and Suffixes

A simple strategy for decoding longer words is by using prefixes and suffixes. Read on to learn how. What you will learn What is are prefixes and suffixes How to remover prefixes and suffixes from words to help with reading and spelling What are prefixes and suffixes? A prefix is a letter or group of…

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What Are Open And Closed Syllables?

open and closed syllables

Your children may have come home from school talking about open and closed syllables. They may have come home talking about long and short vowels. Confused? Read on… What you will learn: What exactly are open and closed syllables How to spot open and closed syllables How open and closed syllables change the vowel sounds in words Long…

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Starting Syllable Division

syllable division

When reading we encounter many multisyllable words. How do we teach our children to break them up for themselves.  What you will learn: the first 2 rules for syllable division tips for practicing syllable division Syllable Division – Rule 1 The simplest way to break down a word in to syllables is to look for…

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