Education

Jj is for Jottings 153.  Speech Sound Problems: /k,g/ We have previously learned about /s/ as a speech sound problem.  Let us now focus on speech sound problems: /k,g/.  As always, if your child makes speech errors, you need to know whether the error is actually appropriate for age.  (In which case, is it actually […]

Jj is for Jottings 84.  Vowel Discrimination Activities. Vowel Discrimination Activity 3. Identifying /i/ and /e/. As promised in the previous article, here are some vowel discrimination activities to help your child to hear the difference between vowel sounds, in particular the tricky pairs of a/u and i/e.  At the same time these activities reinforce […]

Jj is for Jottings 48.  One Letter Doesn’t Always Equal One Sound. If you have read “Aa is for Alpacas” you will already know this, but just in case you haven’t… the letter x is actually two sounds /ks/.  (Remember that the slashes mean the sound rather than the letter name/s.)  The other thing you […]

Jj is for Jottings 54.  Should I Correct My Child’s Speech? This is Linguine, Kieran’s Murray Darling carpet python. The pic I really wanted was too blurry. Shikha caught a 23 cm long baby brown snake last week and brought it to the front door step to play with. Having just stepped out of the […]

The alpacas and all of us here Wish you and those you hold dear: Christmas cheer, joy and love, P’raps a peaceful white dove, And we hope that you’ll join us next year. You can see that Shanti isn’t feeling very angelic wearing a halo. Shikha batted it off with his paw every time. And […]

Jj is for Jottings 133.  Vocabulary: Homonyms, Heteronyms and Homophones. Following on from learning vocabulary and direct vocabulary instruction, it is useful to consider another aspect of vocabulary: homonyms, heteronyms and homophones.  These categories are often either unknown or confusing for many people, so this is a good time to sort them out.  We can […]

Jj is for Jottings 104.  Sound-Letter Links and Less Regular Words. Once children know their sound-letter links thoroughly, they are then able to sound out any 100% regular word.  These could be real words or nonsense words of any length, as long as one letter equals one sound (with the basic exceptions here).  But what […]

Jj is for Jottings 62.  Raising a Reader Part 2.  Toddlers. Continuing from the previous article (here), you cannot overestimate the importance of reading with a child at the toddler stage – for intellectual, social and emotional development.  They take in everything: vocabulary and language structure, numbers and math concepts, colours, shapes, opposites and many […]

Jj is for Jottings 54.  Should I Correct My Child’s Speech? This is Linguine, Kieran’s Murray Darling carpet python. The pic I really wanted was too blurry. Shikha caught a 23 cm long baby brown snake last week and brought it to the front door step to play with. Having just stepped out of the […]

Jj is for Jottings 142.  Critical Thinking. I was thinking the other day about how the world would be much better if more people applied critical thinking skills in their daily lives.  Also about how we can introduce critical thinking to children.  Funnily enough, the very next morning I read an article in the newspaper […]

Jj is for Jottings 113.  Neuroplasticity and Complaining. Following on from the previous article on neuroplasticity, we will now be more specific – how complaining rewires the brain for negativity.  Research shows that most people complain once a minute during a typical conversation.   Although complaining might feel good, but just like smoking or eating a […]

Jj is for Jottings 148.  Other Effects of Noise. Most of us know about the effects of noise on our hearing, discussed in the previous post.  Spending much time in noisy environments can cause long-term damage to your hearing.  Examples are working in a noisy factory or living near an airport.  Exposure to loud music […]

Jj is for Jottings 80.  Decodable Readers. What are Decodable Readers? As mentioned in the previous article (see here), decodable readers support the teaching of phonics in a cumulative manner.  The rules and patterns of the English language are taught sequentially.  As the student learns the rules, he practices using decodable readers.  In this way […]

Art meets photography in Glenda Cornell’s Whistle Stop Studio Gallery. Jj is for Jottings: 8. Effects of Screens on Children – My Observations, Part 2. Here is the list of some of the changes I have seen in children and families, partly as a result of technological growth: Continue reading