Today, the 5th of March 2015 is World Book Day; a celebration of all things literary, be it authors, poets, books, illustrators or anything else related to the written word. Above all, i...
Meet Benzo, Stan Spit's surf instructor, poet, amazing surfer and most importantly the author of our PhonicsThruMusic books! To find out more about Benzo and his adventures with Stan...
Just about every blog we’ve ever written has waxed lyrical about the importance of reading, and whilst we do have a vested interest in the subject matter given the nature of our busine...
Many of us know what it’s like to be in a foreign country where no-one speaks your language, the items sold in the shops are unidentifiable because of the strange writing and you strug...
Book Guide For Reluctant and Dyslexic Readers Very few people are born into this world with pre-loaded talents and abilities, and indeed for most of us it takes a lot of hard work to...
7 Unconventional Reasons Why You Absolutely Should Be Reading We all know how essential reading is to our everyday lives; in fact, many of us couldn’t perform our jobs properly, ca...
Tips for Teaching Adults to Read In yesterday’s blog I provided some frankly shocking statistics about adult literacy levels here in the UK. To think that 5 million adults in England...
According to the National literacy trust website 5.2 million adults in England are functionally illiterate and this figure doesn’t even take into account the rest of the UK. This accounts...
Ever wondered how exactly our PhonicsThruMusic e-books actually work? Check out this video - better still, try it out for yourself… for free!! Sign up for a free trial today at www.pho...
1. Reading can improve memory: "Just like muscles, the brain benefits from a good workout" 2. Reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s Disease: A recent study has found that people that...
Meet Stan Spits. An aspiring hip hop artist on his quest to stardom. Here are some fun facts about Stan: Name: Stan Spits Age: 18 Hobbies: Rapping, Reading, Surfing, Chilling with f...
Premier League Reading Stars On-line Challenge If you’ve ever wondered what some of your favourite Premiership footballers read when they’re relaxing off the pitch, or if you want to hea...
Teaching an old dog new tricks The benefits of a synthetic phonics approach of teaching children to read are well documented and it is now the standard approach endorsed by the government...
As I’m sure we all know, there has been much debate about whether synthetic phonics is the correct and most effective approach to teach reading at school. But whether you’re a detrac...
6 Steps to get your child interested in reading Encouraging your child to read can be one of the most important gifts a parent can give to a child. Many children need little encour...
10 easy steps to teaching your child to read Teaching your child to read can be fraught with worry for parents. What level should my child be at for the age? How can I make it an en...
Can you tell the difference between hip hop lyrics and Shakespeare’s sonnets? In this amazing Ted Talks video, English rapper Akala explores the connections between Shakespeare...
"Government’s phonics check sees 5% rise in number of five- and six-year-olds passing, with 74% of pupils in England reaching expected standard" via: The Guardian A recent article published...
Blended learning is a core part of P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School, and a recent article from Edutopia gives a straightforward overview on how to implement it. Blended learning...
Dr Jennifer Buckingham, a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, said very few teacher education courses provided good guidance for teachers on how to teach phonics....
We've previously blogged about our position in the finals of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, and want to share today's coverage in the Evening Post. You can read the full article...
We're so excited to announce that we've made it through to the final stage of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, with Nate in the running for Micro Entrepreneur Of The Year. The awa...
Why learn through Phonics? What does pronunciation have to do with reading? A study conducted by Linnea Ehri (2002) provided insight on how readers can look at thousands of words and...
The present government has continued to emphasise the importance of SSP (systematic synthetic phonics) and has sustained a focus on this in Ofsted’s inspections of teacher training. T...
The government’s phonics check sees 5% rise in number of five- and six-year-olds passing, with 74% of pupils in England reaching expected standard. The results of the phonics check...
A recent phonics study published via Scotland.Gov.uk had some interesting findings on gender differences as well as some fantastic feedback from teachers. The summary of the study...
We're buzzing over here at PhonicsThruMusic HQ, with an article published this morning in the Huffington Post naming MD Nate as the 'Entrepreneur Of The Week'. You can read the articl...
Dyslexia action have recently spoken out on the benefits the synthetic phonics approach for dyslexic sufferers. Dyslexia Action’s Head of Research, Development and Policy Dr John Rack sa...
The synthetic phonics debate has moved on a long way over the past decade, and in so far as teaching reading in primary schools goes, it is now the accepted norm with full governmenta...
New to PhonicsThruMusic – Stan and friends join Facebook. For those of you already enjoying our PhonicsTHruMusic packages, know someone who’s using them or are planning to use them i...
At last, I’ve managed to uncover an article written by someone who seems to take a diplomatic view of the various approaches to teaching reading in primary and secondary schools and...
Volumes of reports and articles have been written over the past decade concerning the government’s approach to synthetic phonics methods of teaching reading in schools in England and W...
We're pleased to announce that our founder and MD, Nathan Dicks has been featured as one of the top 35 entrepreneurs under 35. You can read the WalesOnline article here. Under the Rew...
Alarming statistics suggest that half a million children will be left behind in reading by 2020 if they aren't encouraged to read more. However, teachers had mixed views on whether the re...
Not only are students reading more when books are in digital form, but their reading ability is shooting up, according to school heads. The internet is here to stay as the student’s m...
We recently read a piece in The New York Times detailing how the combined phonics approach is the key to literacy. What is the combined phonics approach? It includes some phonics, ch...
We recently read a TES article on age appropriate phonics and the benefits, with interesting points made by phonics supporters; ' “The simple view of reading, which is widely accep...
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching chi...
We found this GOV.UK document on what works for pupils with literacy difficulty really useful. We've posted the conclusion, and were happy to see the phonetic approach included as th...
GOV.UK have published their findings on 'Research evidence on reading for pleasure'. There is a positive correlation between reading for pleasure and reading levels and attainment, which...
As discussed in previous posts, recent evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship between reading frequency, reading enjoyment and attainment. So how can we encourage in...
We've recently tested our set of phonetic e-books with 16 year old Corey from Swansea EOTAS. You may have heard the term EOTAS before, it simply means Educated Other Than At School and...
The recent phonics screenings has resulted in a TES published letter to Michael Gove calling for the abolishment of the Year 1 ‘phonics check’. Signatories included the general secret...
PhonicsThruMusic recently attended a SENco conference in Swansea Met, and listened in on a really interesting lecture by Michael Jones on the importance of talking positively to and about children...
Fewer and fewer children across the UK are reading in their own time and one in five is embarrassed to be caught with a book, a survey suggests. Just over a quarter of 35,000 children...
'What is Phonics?' is a question frequently asked outside of the edtech circle. To explain, we've made a short video demonstrating how it works. If you'd like to try a demo you...
A survey of more than 1,000 teachers and literacy specialists at primary schools found that 72% agreed the phonics check was useful for identifying children who were struggling. But...
Phonics has primarily been associated with teaching young children to read, which has resulted in teachers working with older learners neglecting use of it. There has been a widespread as...
Today we have a lovely post written by Janine Barnett-Phillips, who helped inspire the creation of PhonicsThruMusic. Here she talks of how she met Nate, the creator and became involved...
Just in ; Phonics improves reading skills and text message slang boosts spelling. Who'd have thought? It's thought texting may improve children’s spelling and grammar because using ab...
As we've blogged previously, there are problems with prejudices when it comes to the systematic synthetic phonics approach. Nick Gibb, the MP and former school's minister claims its...
It has long since been an argument of the anti-phonics lobby that synthetic phonics approaches to reading hinders learners when it comes to understanding the text. They say learn...
Advocators of the systomatic Phonics approach to learning have been long aware of this research, so we're glad to see it hitting the headlines today. A recent study conducted by Marlynne G...
A long held battle between the pro-phonics and anti-phonics brigades continues to rage in spite of the overwhelming evidence in favour synthetic based phonics approaches to read...