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During April and May 2015, Emeritus Professor Bill Louden investigated and prepared a case study report on the school operations and pedagogical practices in place in nine high-performing primary schools as measured by NAPLAN to establish the top literacy programs in Australia. The intention of the investigation was to inform the Department of Education’s understanding […]

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Look-Cover-Say-Write-Check is a great strategy for children learning to spell. In this PLD insight, Diana Rigg discusses how to gain the maximum benefit from this technique and other PLD spelling activities. The video demonstrates how to slow down and focus children on the process of learning to spell. You can download the “Look-Cover-Say-Write-Check” poster here. […]

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PLD’s Founder Diana Rigg reviews the use of technology by children and specifically how much technology time is appropriate for children. Following a thought-provoking article released in the West Australian Newspaper, communicating Telstra’s recent research on smartphone use in 3-17-year-olds, Diana Rigg discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by the proliferation and widespread adoption of technology […]

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Welcome to another PLD literacy and learning insight. Following the popular blog on Teaching Spelling in the Junior Primary, this blog outlines teaching spelling concepts in the Middle and Upper Primary and how to use the PLD spelling lists. The short 5-minute video below is designed to assist the teaching of literacy development to improve spelling. […]

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Welcome to another literacy and learning insight. Today’s blog is about teaching PLD spelling programs in the Junior Primary which are designed to assist with teaching spelling and literacy development principles. The use of PLD spelling resources is discussed in the short video below. How to slow children down to ‘sound-out’ as they spell and write. […]

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Today’s literacy and learning insight is about students in Year 2 and 3 with low literacy skills who are missing some of the basics in early literacy and may have gaps in their Year 1 skill level. My stance when dealing with young children is always “when in doubt always do check things out”. Small […]

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The Junior Primary Spelling Activities resource is intended to provide a definition of synthetic phonics and related skills, an understanding of the importance of synthetic phonics, and practical suggestions for how to teach synthetic phonics within the classroom.

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There is currently insufficient handwriting instruction in Australian schools and children’s handwriting has become slower because they practice less.When handwriting becomes automatic, children can concentrate on what they are writing not how they are writing. A multisensory approach appears to have significant advantages in developing handwriting skills and a consistent reading and handwriting font is recommended to enhance children’s handwriting and literacy acquisition. Through establishing ideal handwriting technique, each student’s potential for academic success will be maximised.

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As children reach middle primary school, developed language skills are critical for gaining academic understanding of content and information as well as communicating socially.In this era, many daily activities do not require children to have to use language. For example: watching tv, playing computer games, using a playstation, sitting quietly on their DS, watching DVDs whilst driving…

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At what age should children be able to aurally discriminate between “th” and “f”? This is a great question which we are often asked. The aim of this post is to help provide strategies which you can adopt when working with children who struggle with the differences between these sounds.

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We love getting such great feedback on the PLD literacy development program and its materials. The following testimonial demonstrates how even with poor student entry levels a quality program with quality instruction and delivery can still produce positive outcomes.

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We love getting feedback from users of our programs and learning the impact these programs can have in everyday classroom situations. We recently received the following email regarding our Developing Narrative Skills Program which we have shared with you today.

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This post relates to a discussion on a whole of school approach to spelling. The original poster is an existing user of PLD resources for stage 1, grade 1 and was required to assist the school with expanding the PLD across the entire school.

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Its great to know that you are having an impact, particularly on our new wave of teachers graduating each year. We were on forwarded this status update from the ECU M17 Class of 2010 – They saved the best for last! student Facebook group by the wonderful Dr Lorraine Hammond – Course Co-ordinator graduate diploma of education (primary), at the ECU school of education.