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Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

NAPLAN shows that one in seven Yr 9 boys can’t read at a basic level

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Punctuate like a Pro: from dashes to colons and more!

How do your kiddos do with punctuation? Do they typically forget basic punctuation marks? Do their sentences lack pizazz? Punctuation is one of the key elements to complete and accurate sentences, and many students:

1) don’t know the different types they can use, and

2) don’t know how those different types even work!

Yes – proper punctuation is a crucial component of effective writing. However, teaching punctuation can be challenging, as it requires not only a strong knowledge of the rules but also effective communication and engagement strategies. That’s why I wanted to share with you some tips on how to teach punctuation in a way that will engage and educate your students!

#1) Start with the basics

Before launching into more complex punctuation rules, make sure that your students have a solid understanding of the basics, such as full stops, commas, and quotation marks. Once this is familiar, begin adding in other types one-by-one.

#2) Use real-life examples

Punctuation is all around us, from the signs on the street to the books we read. Use real-life examples to demonstrate the importance of punctuation and make it relevant to your students. You can make this fun and go on a punctuation hunt!

#3) Make it interactive and relevant

This is what our programs – Literacy for Boys and Literacy for Kids – do well! Punctuation can be a dry topic, but it doesn’t have to be. Every punctuation quiz in our program is linked to the topic – this simple technique keeps your students engaged and helps them internalize the rules. The quizzes are varied too: click and drag, multiple choice, short answer.

#4) Hone in on common errors

Identify the most common punctuation errors that your students make and focus on addressing those specifically. This will help them avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

#5) Practice, practice, practice!

The best way to improve punctuation skills is through consistent practice! Provide regular opportunities for your students to practice their punctuation, whether through in-class exercises, homework assignments, or writing prompts.

#6) Provide scaffolds

Your students can practice creating a sentence with a specific punctuation like a semi-colon, hyphen, or quotation marks EVEN if they borrow from the example you give and just alter a few parts!

Remember: Teach the more common types to all of your students and give them access to display charts or scaffold reminders for accountability and success. Teach the more complex forms of punctuation to students who need a challenge – this will spice up their writing and provides a new experience to their audience: the reader!

We hope that these quick tips will be helpful in your efforts to teach punctuation effectively!

Needing extra help with improving a child’s literacy? Students from Year 3 to 9 wanting extra practice with their comprehension, spelling, grammar and punctuation can enrol in our program Literacy for Boys.

or Literacy for Kids

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

How do I use an online literacy program successfully at home with my child?

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Disengagement – do you think your son ‘switches off’ in the classroom?

Firstly, let me say that disengaged students are not necessarily unmotivated to achieve in all subjects. I think this is important to note. But if you are worried about your son’s underperformance in the classroom, let’s look at some ways that you can help him focus and achieve.

Students who are motivated to learn attend school routinely, perform better academically and display good classroom behaviour. Unfortunately, a recent study showed that up to 20% of students in any year level are described as ‘disengaged’. Sadly, many do not catch up academically in the later years.

Two examples

Let’s look at two examples in a typical Year 6 classroom during an English lesson. Josh is meant to be completing a worksheet but instead, he is talking to his friend about what they’ll play at lunchtime. Josh is an example of a student who is ‘actively’ disengaged because he is chatting and off-task. Aiden is on the other side of the room. He is watching the clock and counting down the minutes until the end of the lesson. He’s also avoiding the worksheet before him. Aiden can be described as ‘passively’ disengaged. Both are a concern, however, the ‘Aidens’ tend to go unnoticed by teachers. If you feel either of these could be an example of your son, let’s look at what parents can do to help increase concentration in class:

1) Getting organised

This is a challenge for boys of all ages. Disorganisation is a big concentration-killer for students. Help your son to organize his notes so they are easy to find—colour-coded tabs or folders for each subject are a great option. Throw away any unneeded equipment (like that pencil that measures 2cm long!) or old worksheets. Is their desk in order? Is their pencil case stocked with everything they need (especially gluesticks, pencils, pens)?

Try to make sure that your child’s class notes are neat as well. Incomplete notes also contribute to disengagement. Click here for ideas on how to take effective study notes so that your child can spend their time reviewing the content, rather than looking for missing information.

2) Focus on one thing at a time

Multitasking doesn’t come easy to many children. Leaping between tasks loses momentum. Discuss with your child how they need to tackle one thing at a time and to focus their mind on the lesson. A useful strategy that I use with all of my tutoring students is to find out the topic ahead of time. If you know that your child struggles with maths, ask the teacher for the term outline and revise topics before the lesson. The same goes for English – is the focus on creative writing? Then look at some features of a good story. This way, your child is more ‘switched on’ and ready to learn to new content.

3) Hydration, good food and rest

It is important to encourage breakfast, because a goodnight’s sleep followed by food in the morning helps your child to concentrate at school. Snacks are essential for growing bodies so offer nutritious as well as high energy snacks. Drinking lots of water helps as well.

4) Learning Issues

Some students who are disengaged or lacking motivation may hide learning difficulties or giftedness to fit in with peers. Speak with your child and their teacher to see if this is a cause.

5) Sit further away from distractions

Ask your child about the common distractions that he/she struggles with while in class. Is it the chatty friend? Is sitting beside a window causing them to lose focus? You can find out about these distractions by talking to their teacher and your child. If you can pinpoint any distractions, then you can form a plan to overcome them.

6) Goals and direction

Perhaps it’s not that your child isn’t focussed – it’s that he doesn’t know what to focus on. Check that your child understands the task. Break down what they need to learn by creating a list of goals, for e.g. Do you need to revise chapter 1 first? Should you read a bit about the topic? Do you need to take down some notes? Remember that the overall goal is to empower our kids to have greater ownership of their learning.

With these tips, your child can start building his or her focus skills and get on track to learning success. And if he or she needs a bit of extra help, our online learning program can definitely help!

Check out our blogs for more ideas and tips.

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Seven things you can do to get boys reading in your classroom

It’s a challenge for teachers to get their students excited about reading. Yet strong reading skills are a crucial component for success. If you have boys who are struggling with reading (or who are disengaged or even require extension) try a few of these easy-to-implement ideas in your classroom. The results may surprise you!

1) Start a boys book club

Let the members choose books that they will all read. Encourage boys to share their favourite books with each other. Food can be a winner here so plan to have snacks! Allow time for discussion and design an activity that relates to the book.

2) Make boys “reading pros”

Placing them in the role of “reading pro” will give them a boost in their reading confidence, and provides role models for the younger boys in the school. Try inviting the boys to assist in the library shelving books, helping other students to find books or putting forward ideas to the librarian for new books.

3) Get coaches and other popular staff on board

Enlist the help of your colleagues. Ask coaches and other popular staff to visit your classroom and give brief talks, promoting books that could be of interest to your students. Consider recruiting pupils from older grades or local university students to come into your classroom to share their favourite books or even read to younger students.

4) Host a monthly themed workshop

Organise a monthly reading program that appeals to a variety of interests. Hosting a themed workshop or “ask an expert” event can inspire boys to read and look for books for more information. Ensure that you have related books available to boys before, at, and after each event. Some ideas include: Under the stars, Insects, Underwater, Scales and Tails, Real Life Escapes/Survival Stories, Dangerous Jobs.

A good one to start with might be a standup comedy show where a local comedian does a brief performance and is followed by boys telling some of the best jokes that they have found in a joke book.

Covid has shown us the value of connecting online so consider engaging with an expert via Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Hangout.

5) Connect with dads and other male family members

We have to encourage male role models to let their sons “catch” them reading at home. Males can read to young boys or read the same novel as older boys (this is invaluable if dad can do these two things!). As a teacher you might want to provide guidelines for families to help them engage boys and give them suggestions such as reading aloud with them and asking questions about a shared book.

6) The Crazy Professor game

Credit goes to Chris Rekstad for this unique, entertaining game that brings text to life. Here are a few ideas:

Read orally with hysterical enthusiasm
Reread with dramatic hand gestures
Partner up with a super-stoked question-asker and – answerer
Play ‘Crazy Professor’ and ‘Eager Student’ in a hyped-up overview of the text (Click here for more information)

7) Teacher Read-Aloud

Julie Adams of Adams Educational Consulting writes that teacher read alouds are, “perhaps one of the most effective methods for improving student fluency and comprehension as they allow students to witness what “expert” reading performed by the teacher looks like.”

“The teacher is the expert in reading the text and models how a skilled reader reads using appropriate pacing and prosody (inflection).”

Playing an audiobook achieves similar results. You may consider Shared Reading: here the students will follow along in their own books as the teacher reads. This is another example of modelling fluency and a chance to pause to show comprehension strategies.

Contact us

Want a literacy program that you can use at home? Here is feedback from one of our parents:

“Your website is wonderful. I am so glad that I discovered it. Our two boys love the topics.” (Amelia)

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

2020/21 Reading Challenge for Kids and Teens

Dear Teachers and Parents, do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

Your 13 year old only wants to read fantasy. If you see another book cover with a dragon on it, you’re going to hide it!
You see all the reading challenge posts popping up, but your kids don’t enjoy reading ……….you feel like a reading challenge will never happen.
Your fourth-grade class (insert any year level here!) is doing so well with their new reading and comprehension skills! But how to encourage them to build that critical reading fluency across a wide variety of books?
You want to challenge your middle/upper school students to read broadly, but how to go about that?
Your teenager is into sports. Why read?
Your family loves audiobooks, but you’d like to try to diversify your read alouds a bit. Historical fiction is great, but what about listening to a nonfiction title?

If any of these resonate with you, then check out our ideas and free printables where we promote quality literature for kids and teens.

Remember that All Books Count!

Graphic novels, picture books, easy readers, read alouds, audiobooks, short books, long books, old books, new books, …. Our one rule is “no double dipping!”

Get your reluctant readers excited to pickup a book or checkout a different genre with these fun activities and printables!

# Monster Reading Challenge (younger readers)

Click here for the Monster Reading Challenge – with BONUS bookmarks! A good one for kids to colour as they go.

# Going Pro Challenge for 2020/21

Reading Challenge 2020/21 Free Printable – Want to expand your reading for this year and next? See Older readers Reading Challenge for suggestions of different types of books.

# Grand Slam Books for Teen Boys

I’m a mum of a sports-mad teen boy and I tutor other boys who fit this description – it’s hard to get the ball out of their hands and replace it with a book! Fortunately, many young adult authors are now writing teen books that rank high in guy appeal. Here is a link to some of the most popular young adult books for teen boys. (I’ve read many of the Top 10 and LOVED them – I can see their appeal to teens.)

# 35+ Books for Teen Readers who are reluctant

We did the groundwork in sourcing books for readers in the 11+ age group. We’ve got the ‘reluctant readers’ and book ‘haters’ covered here! Click here

(TIP: Have a few books available, so if one doesn’t captivate his attention, he can switch to another title.)

# Reward Certificate

Certificate of Reading Achievement – a reward for your young person for their dedicated reading effort!

# Reading Online

Getting boys interested in reading is my passion. As a teacher, tutor and mum it was difficult to find engaging content. So with this in mind, I developed Literacy for Boys – full of topics that boys love!

Contact us

Looking for a new literacy program to boost student success in literacy? Students from Year 3 to 9 wanting extra practice with their comprehension, spelling, grammar and punctuation can enrol in our program Literacy for Boys.

Want a literacy program that you can use at home? Here is feedback from one of our parents:

“Your website is wonderful. I am so glad that I discovered it. Our two boys love the topics.” (Amelia)

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Designing a Literacy Program for Schools and Parents

What does it take to create and maintain a successful school literacy program? How do you engage the low achievers? Extend those with higher abilities? Help students to make it clear what they need to improve? How can I make Grammar and Punctuation ‘fun’? I found out not so long ago when I was frustrated at trying to find English activities that appealed to my students.

As a teacher and tutor, I was passionate about raising literacy and comprehension results, especially with boys.

1) Understanding Learners’ Needs

Learning is more enjoyable and rewarding when it is an active process. Our belief is that unless boys are engaged with the material they will not learn. Our LFB model relies on and revolves around the successful integration of 3 core elements:

a) Content which is targeted and relevant to the audience and will generate interest.

b) A delivery mode that that appeals to the user.

c) An education platform that can provide the learning outcomes.

Literacy For Boys operates on an engagement model which we call ‘LFB’.

Learner specific – Fun content – Boy centric

2) Understanding a School’s Needs

I spent a lot of time sifting through teaching/learning research, online programs, techniques and tools. I did not find a program that catered for students from Year 3 through to high school, that focussed on each of the core literacy areas. I set out to design a program that could be used by all teachers in a school and could:

provide instruction that targets the individual learning needs and potential of students
cover all literacy concepts – comprehension, grammar, spelling, punctuation
provide students, teachers, and parents with accurate, validated and centralised data that could be owned by students and used by teachers to plan teaching concepts
capture the students’ interest as they examine text, spelling and grammar and acquire skills in manipulating them.

3) Tracking, sharing and communicating data

An engaging literacy program with ‘cool’ topics was not enough by itself – it had to be supported by a data tracking system.

For students and parents, this meant it had to show what they were learning and why and how they were improving. As John Hattie (Professor and researcher in education) describes it: what am I doing; why am I doing it; and when will I know if I’m successful?

Reciprocally, a program should hold students accountable for their decline or lack of engagement.

For teachers, it meant that the data needed to be collated, centralised, and communicated easily, so that they could understand each student’s strengths and areas for literacy improvement. Analytics track each student’s literacy assessment data and summarises a student’s literacy competencies.

4) Evidence and results

The evidence speaks for itself. Independent trials in schools (using standardised testing prior and post using the program), showed that students (boys and girls) made an average improvement of 18 months in their reading, comprehension and spelling results after only 18 weeks on the program. Click here for data results. An average jump of 18 months after only two terms! 100% of our schools renewed their subscriptions for the 2020 year.

5) For Parents

Getting boys interested in doing their literacy homework is tough! It becomes an almost impossible task when a boy cannot relate to or is not interested in literacy activities. So with this in mind, Literacy for Boys developed material that boys will love.

Contact us

Want a literacy program that you can use at home? Here is feedback from one of our parents:

“Your website is wonderful. I am so glad that I discovered it. Our two boys love the topics.” (Amelia)

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Improving Childrens’ Writing Skills: 10 Easy Tips

Aside from COVID, Australian students’ writing performance has gained a lot of attention this year, especially in the middle years where NAPLAN data is analysed.

While the junior and middle years are the building blocks for writing, it is the senior years where our students are faced with high-stakes English exams.

So it’s important to understand why effective writing skills can make all the difference in enhancing students’ enjoyment of writing and their end product.

Firstly let’s look at the words from Donald Graves, a pioneer in literacy education, who wrote in the 1970s, “Children want to write. They want to write the first day they attend school. This is no accident. Before they went to school, they marked up walls, pavements, newspapers with crayons, chalk, pens or pencils…anything that makes a mark. The child’s marks say, ‘I am’.”

Try to remove some writing roadblocks with these simple tips:

#1) Read Up

Regular reading is a building block to better writing. Try to introduce variety in their reading choices and expand their horizons. Include magazines, comics and books from different authors.

#2) Stock up

Add fun to the writing process! Stock up on paper with funky designs, lots of colourful pens and pencils. Sticky notes are great to jot down ideas. My son loved the novelty of the Pilot friXion pens, which allowed him to write, delete and rewrite without having to wait for correction fluid to dry. He’s now 15 and still prefers them!

#3) Distraction-free zone

It does take children time to learn good writing skills. But the process becomes a lot harder if there are distractions which steal their attention. Create a distraction-free zone without electronic devices or phones so they can really concentrate on their writing.

#4) Create story prompts

Stories don’t always have to be pages long. Writing short stories can be fun! Try these ideas:

cut out pictures from a magazine with different characters or locations
write down interesting words
try some story starters to tap into their creativity (click here for ideas)
download and print pages with interesting borders/themes, for e.g. space, danger, fantasy

Paste the above ideas onto cards and place them in a container. Use them as writing prompts. This can be a fun activity for the whole family.

#5) A word a week

If your son isn’t a reader then this technique will help to build his vocabulary. It’s important for kids to learn new and exciting words. Choose one or two words a week and get them to build them into a story. I like the words that feature on this Word Ninja site.

#6) Link writing to other areas

Writing is a huge part of every child’s education. Yet for many kids, writing can be viewed as hard and laborious. So aim to make some writing experiences unique. For e.g. you could perform a science experiment – even something simple like adding baking soda to vinegar – and then ask your child to record the results.

#7) Praise their work

Show lots of interest in their writing and stories. Ask questions, celebrate when they bring home a good piece from school, and encourage their writing as much as possible. Ensure to continue this in the older years – stay involved by asking what they are covering in English.

#8) Model it

Modelled writing can be done formally or informally. When writing is a normal part of daily life, it will come more naturally to them. Simple examples include: written letters, a list, a thankyou card or a note.

#9) Invest time and check in regularly

Ensure that your child knows you’re available to help with spelling or proofreading whenever they need it. When you make writing time a priority for you, it will make it easier for your child to improve their writing skills.

#10) Use technology to your advantage

Boys respond to technology and it is increasingly becoming an essential part of our lives. Our young people – often referred to as ‘digital natives’ – haven’t known it any other way.

The basis for our website, Literacy for Boys, was to create good quality, boy-centric content and expose them to great writing.

Hopefully, these strategies have shown you some ways you can engage your child/students to help improve their writing skills, which will also give them a head start when it comes to their education.

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Beat the Study Stress: Top 5 tips for student organisation

Helping our students to study smarter and not harder is the goal at the tail-end of every term. Many students say that they are stressed and overwhelmed. Let’s look at how can we equip our students with better organisation and time management tools to reduce their stress. The ‘tools’ to add to their toolbox include goal setting, note-taking, planning, self advocacy, test/exam preparation and effective study/revision strategies.

Top 5 Student Organisation Tips:

1) Have designated homework station

Ensure that the area is well lit, has accessible supplies, a good study chair and is free of distractions.

2) Use something to manage time

Students need to stay on top and be ahead of due dates. Use some form of a diary or a planner. Our family posts exam timetables on the fridge – this way we can keep track of important dates and monitor revision.

3) Complete all tasks to the best of your ability and hand it in on time

Try to answer all the questions, remembering to leave extra time for the more difficult questions at the end of a test. The excuses “The printer didn’t work”, “My work was wiped from the computer” or “My assignment didn’t upload” will mean penalties. A tip that we learned is to upload your assignment to another device (even emailing it to a parent) – no one enjoys having to re-write an entire assignment at the last minute! (We’ve done this before and I don’t recommend it.)

4) Seek help as you need it

Be a good self advocate. If you don’t understand something, ask about it at the time, not just before a test or exam as this is too late. Some schools offer free tutoring before/after school – make use of this resource.

5) Avoid distractions and procrastination

This is particularly relevant to our tech teens. Our advice? If you don’t need a device to complete your work, move it to another room to avoid temptation. Beeping notifications is very distracting.

Hopefully these strategies will assist students in preparing for the busy part of the term. I find these tips great for secondary students, but also for my students who are transitioning from Year 6 into high school.

Wanting to boost your English mark? Students from Year 3 to 9 wanting extra practice with their comprehension, spelling, grammar and punctuation can enrol in our program Literacy for Boys.

Feel free to contact us info@literacyforboys.com.au to enrol for a FREE 2-week trial.

Comprehende? Helping kids ‘get it’: 6 Reading strategies for Teachers and Parents

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy

Noticed gaps in your child’s learning since remote learning? We offer the solution

Brought to you by Tanya Grambower

Helping boys close the reading gap

Up to 25% of children struggle with learning to read. It’s not their fault. We offer a solution for schools and parents.

Our program, for use in primary and secondary schools, is uniquely placed to be effective as it caters especially to boys. Literacy for Boys offers a variety of engaging topics that appeal to boys’ interests and learning styles. Our program is grounded in evidence-based results – this explains why 100% of our schools renewed their subscriptions in 2020!

Our Mission

Our mission is to ensure that every boy reads and comprehends effectively.

The comparably low levels of reading performance of boys in primary and secondary schools compared to girls has been high on the agenda of policy-makers and education professionals for many years.

Check out our video to learn more

Testimonials from our teachers

“Literacy for Boys is the only program that I have used in my 12+years teaching career that boys have used willingly. It is also the only program that has grammar, punctuation and spelling activities that match the reading comprehension. Our boys have benefitted greatly from Literacy for Boys and feedback is very positive.” (T Hill, Aquinas College)

“Our school commenced using the LFB program in 2018 as a tool to assist students to develop their literacy skills and foster a positive attitude towards reading. We initially trialled the program with different pockets of students and performed pre and post-assessments in reading, spelling and comprehension. Students found the program fun, interesting and engaging. A majority of students had significantly improved their literacy skills. We will definitely be using the program again.” (S Eltis Learning Support teacher, Eatons Hill State School)

“Since using Literacy for Boys I have not only seen large gains in boys’ literacy but also their confidence. Teachers are time poor and the program offers students instant feedback, where they can correct mistakes. All the students find the activities interesting and engaging. Having all the activities align with ACARA is a bonus. Our school have renewed our licences. It is so lovely to come across a program that has a child’s best interest at heart.” (C Simons, St Augustine College)

“One of my biggest concerns during COVID shutdown was how will I continue to engage students in literacy and keep an eye on their progress from afar? LFB was valuable in providing fun literacy content for my students. I could set units of work and monitor their progress.”

We welcome both new and existing schools

Parent and teacher feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with 100% of our schools renewing their subscriptions in 2020. We are excited to welcome our new schools as we collaborate to help lift literacy rates in their students.

We are offering a FREE 2 week trial of Literacy for Boys. Try it for yourself and see how it works for your class and children (8 years to 15 years). Contact us today: info@literacyforboys.com.au

Boys don’t read enough: changing the non-reading mindset

How LFB is gaining real results in improving literacy