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Part 2: Celebrating Growth in Literacy
Starting a Literacy Journey: Jess Kneebone and Sharon Callen Reflect on Growth in Literacy Teaching Five years ago, a young teacher named Jess Kneebone began her teaching career fresh out of university. It was during her first year at Mount Barker South Primary School in Adelaide that she joined an...
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Part 2: The Essential Classroom Setup in 2025
By Sharon Callen As teachers, we constantly seek ways to improve the learning environment for our students, making literacy engaging and effective. This blog, inspired by my latest podcast episode, brings together ideas to set up your classroom for success in 2025. Whether you're a seasoned teacher or just starting...
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Part 1: The Essential Classroom Setup in 2025
By Sharon Callen As teachers, we understand the importance of setting the tone for a productive, inspiring school year. Creating a literacy-rich environment isn't just about the aesthetics of your classroom—it's about equipping students with the strategies/ tools they need to explore, create, and grow. In this blog, I'll introduce...
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Empower Your Teaching with Personal Word Walls!
Looking for a fun and effective way to boost your students' vocabulary? Say hello to Personal Word Walls! These nifty tools are like personalised dictionaries designed to bring high-frequency words right into your students' hands. Just like regular Word Walls, Personal Word Walls alphabetically organise words, but here's the twist:...
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Unlocking the Power of High Frequency Words: A Guide for Teachers
Unlocking the Power of High Frequency Words: A Guide for Teachers In the world of literacy, one of the foundational skills for young learners is mastering high frequency words. These are the words that appear most frequently in all types of writing and are essential for both reading comprehension and...
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How to Evaluate Letter Name Knowledge in Students
LATEST BLOG: Teachers can evaluate letter knowledge through asking questions, observing, using shared reading and using students’ names in activities. When teaching letter names, it is crucial for teachers to identify the different stages their students are at in order to effectively engage with the entire classroom. In Episode 73...
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Top Tips for Teaching Letter Names
LATEST PODCAST, Ep 73: Teaching letter names is a big challenge for teachers. We have children coming to us at different levels of letter name knowledge, and then we have children learning at different stages and rates of growth, as well children whose first language is not English. So we...
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How to Teach Letters and Sounds to Early Learners
LATEST BLOG: Teachers need to use clear statements and shared readings when teaching the different sounds of letters to early learners. Establishing the best steps for teaching letters and sounds to early learners can be tricky, but Diane Snowball believes the key is honest, clear statements. Diane is a renowned...
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How to Teach High Frequency Words Through Student Exploration
Top educator Diane Snowball says exploration allows young students to meaningfully learn high frequency words. The key to teaching high frequency words, and in fact anything in literacy, purposefully and meaningfully, is to allow for student exploration. This is the advice of highly-regarded literacy leader Diane Snowball on Episode 61...
