reading by six- mary gladstonme

 

Please note that supporters of the Reading By Six campaign are united to raise awareness about why it is important that children are given the best opportunity to learn to read early. All however have differing views and strategies, and so comments made may not necessarily reflect the 'general consensus'
Indeed, the very idea of this 'campaign' is to show that regardless of view points or preferences regarding the teaching of reading (writing and spelling) it is possible for us to unite for the sake of children across Australia. It is possible for us to have differing ideas and still work together. It is time to end the 'reading wars', for our children.

 

Reading by Six advisor mary gladstone

Why does Mary Gladstone support the 'Reading by Six' Campaign?

Article here soon

Sounds~Write in Australia


Sounds-Write offers the classroom and special needs teacher an instructional method that works because, as the Rose Review recommended, it is a structured, cumulative, sequential, explicit and code-oriented instructional programme for teaching all children to read and spell.

Sounds-Write provides the classroom practitioner with rigorous training in how to teach reading and spelling from the moment children begin their schooling in the Foundation Stage, throughout Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2. In addition, the programme also provides a highly successful intervention for special needs teachers working at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.

Sounds-Write’s sound instructional method works effectively because it:

  • can be easily implemented in the classroom with the minimum of expense, planning and preparation
  • provides clearly structured, easy-to-follow lesson plans
  • is developmentally appropriate for beginning readers in YR, Y1 and Y2
  • offers fast and highly effective intervention for children at all levels who have fallen behind in their reading and spelling
  • is a real phonic programme that teaches in simple steps how the sounds of the language are represented by the writing system
  • places emphasis on giving practice that is grounded in physical, concrete experience of the ideas and conceptual understanding the pupils need to assimilate
  • teaches all three essential skills necessary for reading and spelling throughout the programme on a daily basis until all pupils achieve the automaticity that underlies the fluency of every successful reader

How it Works

Sounds-Write is effective in teaching pupils to read, spell and write because it starts from what all children know from a very early age – the sounds of their own language. From there, it takes them in carefully sequenced, incremental steps and teaches them how each of the 44 or so sounds in the English language can be spelt.

The words used in the teaching process and the conceptual knowledge of how the alphabet code works are introduced from simple to complex, in accordance with the fundamental principles of psychological learning theory. For example, at the start, simple, mutually implied (one sound, one spelling) CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) only are introduced. Pupils quickly learn to read and spell words such as 'mum', 'dog', 'jam' and 'sit'. When all the single-letter sound-spelling correspondences have been introduced and established, Sounds-Write initiates the concept that the sounds '<f>', '<l>', '<s>' and '<z>' can be spelt with the two letter-spellings '<ff>', '<ll>', '<ss>' and '<zz>', respectively.

As the programme progresses, the complexity of one-syllable words is carefully increased through a variety of VCC, CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC and CCCVC words, such as, for example, 'elf', 'hand', 'swim', 'trust' and 'scrub'.

After this, pupils' understanding of the concept 'two letters - one sound' is further developed through the introduction of the most common consonant two-letter spellings: '<sh>', '<ch>' and '<th>', in words like 'shop', 'chimp' and 'thin', for example.

Finally, two, three and four letter spellings of the vowels are introduced and pupils are taught how to read and spell polysyllabic words, starting with simpler words (such as 'bedbug') and gradually moving to the more complex (such as 'mathematical').

All of this is taught within a well-structured, incremental and coherent framework based on the knowledge - both conceptual and factual (see below) – on which the alphabet principle and thus the writing system is based and the three key skills needed to enable learners to use the principle effectively.

Our approach teaches the conceptual understanding needed to become an effective reader:

  • that letters are spellings of sounds: visual language is a representation of spoken language
  • that a spelling can contain one, two, three, or four letters - examples are: s a t, f i sh, n igh t and w eigh t
  • that there is more than one way of spelling most sounds: the sound 'ae', spelt as <a-e> in 'name', can be represented as <a> in 'table', <ai> in 'rain', <eigh> in 'eight', <ay> in 'play', and so on
  • that many spellings can represent more than one sound: <ea> can be the sound 'e' in 'head', 'a-e' in 'break', or 'ee' in 'seat'

Within this conceptual framework, we teach the factual knowledge required to become an effective reader and speller: the approximately 176 spellings that represent the 44 or so sounds in English, starting with the most simple one-to-one correspondences.

Reading and spelling also requires expertise in the skills necessary to make use of the alphabet code and pupils need to be able to:

  • segment, or separate sounds in words
  • blend, or push sounds together to form words
  • manipulate sounds: take sounds out and put sounds into words

Sounds-Write provides opportunities for practising these skills on an everyday basis until pupils achieve the automaticity required for fluent reading and spelling.



Mary Gladstone

Mary is a Registered Trainer and tutor in the Sounds~Write method and trained with John Walker and Susan Case, the authors of the Sounds~Write programme. Mary is a qualified primary school teacher with 28 years experience both in Australia and the United Kingdom, twenty-four of which have been in working with children who have learning and behavioural difficulties.

She holds a Diploma to teach pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) and is an accredited trainer for Protective Behaviours.

Mary lives in the rural city of Lismore, located on the eastern side of Australia, on the far north coast of New South Wales. Lismore is conveniently located only 2½ hours south of Queensland’s capital Brisbane (by car) and a 3-hour flight from Sydney, capital of New South Wales. Training for groups of up to six people can be accommodated at the family home, the ground floor converting to a conference centre, or at nearby venues for larger groups. Delegates normally make their own accommodation arrangements, but nearby hotels/motels are reasonably priced, and details can be provided on request. Local schools who desire training normally provide a room for the duration of the course.

 

Australia is a large country; therefore an “on the road” training facility is also available. Mary is happy to travel to interstate venues; reasonable travelling and accommodation charges will apply. All display equipment is provided, unless facilities are available at the venue.

Contact:

Email: mary@sounds-write.com.au
Telephone: (02) 6624 3909
Mobile: 0427 542420