Read3 Newsletter (June 2023)
With the holidays just weeks away, it’s time to reflect on what a HUGE term it’s been!
SPA Conference and Tasmania Road Trip!
A typical day at Read3 involves a lot of computer, phone and Zoom time… and perhaps that’s why the prospect of a trip south had us so fired up!
We kicked off May visit to Hobart with a free Read3 information session. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet our Tassie-based teachers and speechies face-to-face, and spread the word about Read3 with some newcomers as well. Our heartfelt thanks to Hockley Speech Pathology for hosting the evening for us.
As luck would have it, Jocelyn Seamer Education was presenting a “Practical Phonics for the Early Years Classroom'' workshop in Hobart that weekend, so Kate couldn’t resist popping along to that one. It was inspiring to be amongst so many educators, all keen to further their knowledge on quality classroom instruction.
We also visited Illawarra Primary School, Margate Primary School and Waimea Heights Primary School. Each school is at a slightly different point on their Read3 ‘journey’ and it was wonderful to be able to answer specific questions from team members. Seeing the Easy Alphabet up on the wall in every Prep Classroom at Margate was icing on the cake - a proactive approach to early intervention always makes us smile. 🙂
As luck would have it, Jocelyn Seamer Education was presenting a “Practical Phonics for the Early Years Classroom'' workshop in Hobart that weekend, so Kate couldn’t resist popping along to that one. It was inspiring to be amongst so many educators, all keen to further their knowledge on quality classroom instruction and see Jocelyn in action with some practical application.
And, of course, we attended the annual Speech Pathology Australia Conference!
Over the three days we had the opportunity to chat with almost a hundred speech pathologists from all over the country. We caught up face-to-face with some of our Read3 speechies as well! 😍 Of course with our snazzy new fluoro shirts we were pretty hard to miss! Helen immersed herself fully in conference sessions, which explored a wide range of topics and special interest areas, and has been sharing content with fellow speechies ever since. 🙂
All in all it was an incredible trip and we thank each and every one of you who connected with us during our stay.
Read3 User Training for Professionals
I think if you asked anyone in the Read3 team which word best describes our focus so far in 2023, the answer would be... training!Designing and implementing formal Read3 training, tailored to the unique needs of speechies and teachers, has been our focus for some months now.
With four training blocks held so far, we’ve been popping on to Zoom every week. And what a delight it has been! During these training blocks we have met over 130 professionals, all keen to learn more about how to best support our struggling readers using the Read3 program.
We would like to give a special shout out to Toowong State School, who braved the camera (that is to say, our limited iphone skills) to provide us with some wonderful ‘live’ footage of Read3 in action in a small group setting. Our heartfelt thanks to Leonie and Carla for being such incredible models, and to Teisha for making it all happen! Participant feedback tells us that having ‘real life’ footage of kids in action was certainly a highlight of training.
Upcoming Training for Speech Pathologists
Our next training block for kicks off on 21 July.
Don't miss out!
This block consists of four sessions.
CLICK HERE for details.
Upcoming Training for Schools
CLICK HERE for details and registration.
Dr Elizabeth Norton discusses RAN
(and Robyn summarises it for us)
Dr Elizabeth Norton is a guru when it comes to RAN and reading. Her latest video presentation "RAN and the Reading Brain" is a must-view for anyone interested in early intervention and helping children at high risk of reading difficulties. Not only does Dr Norton explain what RAN is (it’s a test of speeded naming ability), she clearly sets out the reasons for including RAN tasks in our early literacy screeners and diagnostic testing.
RAN tasks are like a mini-version of the cognitive and linguistic processes involved in reading. Just like text in a book, a RAN task is presented as an array of items in rows. The items must be very familiar to the child, such as colours, objects, letters, or digits.
Only about 5 – 7 items are used in the task. These are distributed randomly across 4 or 5 rows with 10 items in each row. The objective is for the children to name the items in order as quickly and as accurately as they can while being timed. The timing is the key measure and that time helps us understand a little more about the reading process in the brain.
Click below to watch the presentation and read Robyn's take on the key points from the video. She recommends you listen to the entire video including the Q&A where many of the questions we all ask on this topic are answered by Dr Norton. Enjoy!
SPELD SA phonic books curated to Read3 scope & sequence
100 x FREE decodables matched to the Read3 Scope and Sequence
One of the challenges when supporting a struggling beginner reader is finding enough decodable readers at a suitable level to get that much-needed practice. This collection of FREE decodable readers from SPELD SA is a great place to start.
Sticking as close as possible to the exact code that a child is currently working on is very important, particularly in the early stages of learning to read. But of course, every series has a slightly different sequence! And that’s why Kate has reviewed every one of the 100 titles in this series and matched them as closely as possible to each Step (or Lesson) of the Read3 program.
Click to DOWNLOAD CURATED LIST , then follow our recommendations to ensure your child is reading the right title at the right time as they progress through Read3.
Want to know more about Read3? Just Ask!
If you are not yet using Read3 but are keen to know more, reach out any time via email or phone 0473 233 800. We're always happy to help.
Until next time,
Kate & Robyn
Read3 Co-Creators