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Prevention is better than cure

Pre-Primary grades RRR, RR, and R

Pre-Primary school teachers hold a key role in determining future reading and spelling success of their students. Leading brain research confirms: future reading & spelling success can be expected when neural pathways, which are malleable at this critical age of learning, are stimulated correctly. At this early age, the focus of instruction should be on developing the vital skills which underpin the prevention of later reading and spelling disabilities.

The focus of this course will be to gain a concise understanding of:

  • Reading & spelling development: Why do some children struggle to read & write while others don’t?
  • Brain research: Why the Pre-Primary ages are so critical to future reading and spelling success.
  • Detecting early signs of potential reading/spelling failure before formal reading and spelling is taught.
  • A multi-sensory approach to facilitate the learning of symbols.
  • Specific age norms for the 3-6 year old child relating to reading & spelling development.
  • Synergy across the Pre-Primary years – specific, systematic and explicit skill building during specific grades.
  • Informal assessments aimed at tracking individual learners as they develop.
  • Practical implementation ideas for your Pre-school classroom.
  • Engaged activities: Developing pre-reading and writing skills through play.

Methodology overrides programme

Junior Primary – Grades R-3

We are all familiar with the fact that reading & spelling success opens the door to functional & purposeful participation in a literate society.

Through vigorous research, reading scientists are in agreement: PROGRAMMES do not determine reading & spelling success. While specific programmes can be very useful means to an end, they tend to be expensive and sometimes difficult to follow. Reading scientists clearly ascribe reading & spelling success to THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF SOUND INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS. Any reading & spelling programme used at a school or in a classroom should be underpinned by a strong, scientific methodology without which even the most expensive programmes become useless.

Tools and technologies of the 21st century have also been able to clearly pinpoint WHY – despite our very best efforts – some children in our classrooms keep on falling through the cracks year after year. Time2Read invites you to stay adrift with the latest developments in reading science and rediscover the love and passion for teaching the written word. Attending this Time2Read course will equip you and your school with a powerful method of reading & spelling instruction which will enable you to understand

  • The significance of synergy across the Junior Primary grades
  • The vital role of the Pre-Primary teacher in the prevention of future reading & spelling failure
  • The development of written language and why this knowledge is vital for effective reading & spelling instruction
  • The code-nature of the English writing system
  • The limitations of traditional methodologies and how to address/overcome these
  • The 4 phases of teaching written symbols
  • The systematic building of reading & spelling skills across the Junior Primary years
  • The specific skills and knowledge which support strong reading & spelling skills
  • WHAT to teach: Skill building across the 4 Junior Primary years
  • HOW to teach: Explicit teaching across the 4 Junior Primary years
  • Assessing reading & spelling: keeping track of every learner

After training, teachers will be provided with a Google Drive link containing:

  • A 160 week – or 4 year – reading and spelling plan. This plan helps Junior Primary teachers to have an overview of all the learning with regards to reading and spelling for the Junior Primary years hence ensuring systematic learning and prevention of duplication or omission of skills.
  • Slides containing all practical/hands-on activities of the training.
  • Flash cards of both sound/symbols and traditional sight words.
  • The Time2Read Sound Poster for classroom use.
  •  Other sound posters covered in the training.
  • A summary of the inflectional suffixes relating to the Junior Primary year.

Senior Primary reading and spelling intervention programme

Equipping your school to help your own children

At the heart of every Junior Primary teacher is teaching children to become confident readers and spellers. Senior Primary teachers however consistently express their concern about the huge number of children struggling with written language.

At Time2Read, we have developed a systematic reading and spelling course which addresses the needs of Senior Primary learners in terms of the written word. This course aims to help Senior Primary learners to catch-up the SKILLS lacking at this stage of their learning. Learners are taken right back to the beginning of written language and through intentional, systematic and explicit instruction build up the necessary skills and understanding needed for their present and future learning (relating to reading and spelling).

AIM OF THE SENIOR PRIMARY TRAINING

The idea behind this training is for schools to become empowered in helping their own children overcome reading and spelling difficulties. A teacher/therapist working at/closely with a specific school can be selected to attend the Senior Primary Reading & Spelling course. This course will empower the trained teacher/therapist to start a 30-40 week reading and spelling intervention course for senior primary learners presenting with reading and spelling challenges.

WHAT WILL THE TRAINING PROVIDE?

The 4 hour training will provide the teacher/therapist with a CD containing the following:

  • A complete workbook for learners. This can be provided in booklet form to each child at the beginning of the course, or it can be divided into weekly lessons, copied on a weekly basis.
  • 30 lesson plans for the trained teacher/therapist. Each lesson plan highlights
    – an emphasis on prior learning,
    – introduction of new skills,
    – typical difficulties children encounter within each skill,
    – eliciting these difficulties,
    – remediating these difficulties.
    – Power Point presentations for each lesson – while these are enjoyable for the children, these presentations are complementary rather than compulsory. Children should be provided with the weekly Power Points for homework, should they have access to a computer at home.