What is the Word Gap?

Hart and Risley’s landmark study found that each year, early years providers work with 3 year old children who may have heard 30 million fewer words spoken to them than their most word-rich peers. The children with this vocabulary advantage will be better prepared to access those words when they start school and ultimately they are able to pick up…

Prosody: How to help children read with fluency and expression

Reading aloud with fluency and expression, or prosody, is not a new concept in Primary education. But a closer examination of the reasons why we teach it, its features and relationship to other reading skills is needed to make sure we’re teaching prosody effectively. Fluency, prosody and comprehension Fluent and expressive reading (prosody!) is inextricably linked to comprehension. Why? Because…

Bring Back Story Time – Every Day!

People have been telling stories since the beginning of time. They challenge us, connect us, help us make sense of the world, and activate both our imagination and creativity. As a species, story may very well be our greatest invention. This is what makes story time so important to a child’s development. Reading stories aloud helps children fall in love…