English - This week we will introduce our new unit. We will be looking at an explanation text on the life cycle of a broad bean. We will become familiar with our WAGOLL and think about its key features and importance of structure.
Maths - we will begin to look at volume and capacity. We will be learning what these terms means and look at finding and comparing volume and capacity.
Science - we will be updating our bean diary and see how much they have grown! We will also be going on a tree hunt to find and name the different trees on our school ground.
REMINDER: Sports Day is Thursday 20th June
Children will need to come to school in their uniform and bring their PE kit with them.
English - We are innovating the Snail and the Whale by adapting the main character, changing the destination, problem and solution. We will be doing this using a story mountain, creating our own text map and working on our sentence writing in preparation for writing our adventure stories next week. The children are really enthused by this unit so please ask them at home about it, I'm sure they will be keen to tell you!
Maths - money, money, money! This week we are learning to recognise and name different coins and notes. We are focusing on recognising them by size/colour/shape and ensuring we are using pence and pound correctly. Try to question your children about this at home and see if they can name some coins to you!
Science - this week we will be planting a broad bean and setting up a diary to track its progress and growth.
This week the children will be taking part in the Phonics Screening Check.
English - We will continue to familiarise ourselves with the WAGOLL of The Snail and the Whale. We will be using the illustrations to retell the story as well as learning about speech and using the appropriate punctuation. We will then begin to change the story starting with the characters.
Maths - we are continuing to work on telling the time to the o'clock and half past to ensure this is embedded.
Science - we will be going on a plant hunt to find and name different plants in our outside areas.
English - we are introducing our new key text 'The Snail and the Whale' by Julia Donaldson. We will become extremely familiar with this text and have a created actions to help us remember a reduced version of the story. Take a look and see if your child can retell it to you using the pictures and actions for support.
Maths - we are learning to tell the time to o'clock and half past. We are trying our best to tell the time as much as we can throughout the day outside of lesson time. Challenge your children to tell the time as much as they can at home.
Science - we are learning about the parts of the plant and their function.
Welcome Back Badgers!
We have an exciting term ahead full of lots of exciting learning opportunities although it is bitter sweet as it is the last half-term of year 1 - how the year has flown by!
This half-term we will be looking at our environment focusing on plants and living things. We will be investigating different plants and trees, learning about lots of mini-beasts and drawing maps of our classrooms and school grounds.
In English we will be writing an adventure story based on the book 'The Snail and the Whale' by Julia Donaldson and then will be writing an explanation about life-cycles. In Maths we will learning to tell the time to o'clock and half past. Try to extend this learning at home by challenging the children to tell you the time throughout the day.
This term all children will be taking part of the Phonics Screening so we will be doing lots of work to prepare the children for this and any extra work at home will benefit the children.
Reminder - from 10/06/19 we will be doing PE every Monday. Please ensure your children come in with the appropriate kit.
Here's to a fun-filled last half-term together!
English - We will begin to plan our own poem by sharing our own personal experiences about what we were doing at milestones in our lives using the photos you have brought in.
Maths - We will be finishing our work on fractions finding halves and quarters of amounts and shapes. Keep an eye out for opportunities of this at home. We will then move on to look at numbers to 100 and coming back to our learning on tens and ones.
Science - We are continuing to look at humans by looking at the five senses and will even be going on a sense scavenger hunt!
Phonics - the phonics screening is quickly approaching so please make sure you are practising as much as you can at home using the packs that were sent out last week. If you would like anything extra please done hesitate to contact me.
Just a reminder that we are swimming this half term. The children will swim every MONDAY. Please ensure they bring in the appropriate swimwear.
WC - 29/04/19
English - we are looking at instruction writing. We will be making a jam sandwich and then writing instructions on how to do this. We will be looking to include time words, numbered steps and adverbs.
Maths - we are looking at multiplication and division. We will need to ensure all groups are equal and knowing what this term means. For multiplication we will be thinking about how many groups there are and how many are in each group and also looking at doubling numbers. For division we will be looking at grouping numbers e.g. I have 10 sweets and I put them in groups of 2 how many groups will there be? and sharing numbers e.g. share 12 flowers into 3 vases. How many flowers will be in each vase?
Science - we are labelling our body parts and think about their uses.
Word of the week = suspicious
This half term our topic is 'Can you make me better?' which has a dual science/history focus. We will be learning about the life of famous nurses such as Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell and we will visit Peterborough Museum on Thursday 9th May to experience life as a nurse in the past. We will find out about our bodies, focusing on the senses, naming body parts and finding out how parts of our body work and how to keep them healthy. In English we will be writing instructions and poems. We will now be paying special attention to our handwriting and spelling in our writing. In maths we will be looking at multiplication and division as well as fractions. In the first week of term we will have a 'Healthy Me' focus week when we will think about keeping mentally and physically well.
This term all children in Year 1 will take part on the national phonics screening check - please keep working with your child on their phonics skills by reading, playing phonics pack games and allowing them to play on Teach Your Monster to Read.
It is going to be a busy but fun few weeks!
English - we are exploring the writing style of a recount. We will be consdiering its keys features including time connectives e.g. first, next finally, writing in first person and past tense. We will then learn our WAGOLL on an alien sighting in preparation to work towards writing a recount of a dragon sighting!
Maths - we are looking at addition and subtraction word problems. We will be learning to pick out the key vocabulary, to understand the chosen operation and form number sentences from these.
Science - we are looking at weather forecasts. Try to watch the daily/weekly weather forecast and challenge your children to explain what the weather will be like based on the weather symbols shown.
A letter will be coming out this week about bringing in cardboard boxes, tubes etc. in preparation for our D.T lesson next week where we will be making a castle!
WC - 18/03/19
English - this week we are designing our dragon to describe in out final piece. We will be learning about similes and using this to describe our dragon by comparing it to other things e.g. the dragons eyes are blue like the sky.
Maths - we are learning about how many tens and ones make up a number. For example 23 = 2 tens and 3 ones. We will be using Base 10 to show this and using them to compare numbers.
Science - we are specifically looking at weather and how this varies and changes throughout the year.
WC - 11/3/19
English - we will be doing our Hot Write where we will be writing an information text of castles. Then we will begin to look at our new text which is the The Egg by M.P.Robertson. We will be working towards writing a description therefore we will be doing lots of work on adjectives.
Maths - we will be looking at counting and writing numbers to 40 and counting by making groups of 10. 5 and 2.
Science - it is SCIENCE WEEK!!! We will be having a special visit from a range of animal and then will be writing a fact file on one of these animals looking at their habitat and their adaptations.
Word of the week = positive
WORLD BOOK DAY
What a fantastic day we have had! We all looked brilliant, dressed up as our favourite characters. During the day, we look at The Rainbow Fish story and discussed what a moral is and the moral of this story. Then, in co-op groups we acted this out and we worked brilliantly as a team! In the afternoon we made our own rainbow fish book marks linking in our maths work of using repeated patterns with some special sparkly scales. Finally, to end the day we relaxed with a hot chocolate, biscuit and started reading our new chapter book.
English - this week we will be looking at using question marks. We will also be planning what we are going to writing about castles in out information leaflet.
Maths - we will be finishing our work on shape and by looking at repeated patterns using 2-D shapes and will then be exploring height and length through comparison and thinking about all the language associated with it.
Science - we will be writing up what we found from our investigation into what season we are in from last week.
Just a reminder that this week the Book Bus is in for year 1 on Wednesday where the children will need their library cards if they have one. Also, Thursday is World Book Day where we are dressing up as our favourite book character.
Welcome back Badgers!
I hope you have had a lovely half term holiday and are well rested for an exciting and learning filled half term.
Just a reminder that this half term we are no longer swimming but instead will be doing PE EVERY TUESDAY.
Take a look below to see what we will be starting with.
English - we will be starting our unit on information texts. This week we will be looking at the key features of information texts, spotting these key features and becoming familiar with out WAGOLL which is an information text about Eye Primary School. We will also look at changing verbs into the past tense by adding -ed.
Maths - we will be looking at 3D shapes. The children will be exploring their new Mathletics log ins which we are very excited to start using!
Science - we will be going on a seasons hunt, we will be looking for signs in the environment around us that tell us what season we are in.
English - we will be starting work on poetry this week and exploring our WAGOLL 'There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight'. We will be focusing specifically on rhyming words this week.
Challenge - Can you think of any rhyming words at home?
Maths - we will be looking at subtraction within 20. We will be learning how to subtract by counting back, by subtracting ones and subtracting from 10.
Science - we will be comparing the weather in winter and spring and considering what Paddington bear should pack for to accommodate these seasons.
01/02/19 - Storytelling Afternoon
Badgers were very lucky to have year 5 visit them this afternoon. They came and shared their wonderful setting descriptions of the circus and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing our Jack and the Beanstalk stories. Very proud of all the children and their super writing!
Storytelling Week - A visit from Koalas!
Badgers were very lucky this afternoon to have a visit from the year 2 class Koalas! They came to share their wonderful writing with us which we all enjoyed very much. Well done Koalas!
WC - 28/01/19
English - it is story telling week this week so we will be making the most of this! We will be writing our own fairytales that we have been working on and will be sharing these with another class when they are written and made into our own books, complete with front covers and illustrations.
Maths - we will be looking at addition within 20. We will be adding by counting on from the biggest number and adding by making a group of 10.
Science - we are exploring all thing spring, considering the signs we see in the environment, the weather and how the day length varies.
English - We are continuing to adapt Jack and the Beanstalk to create our own fairytale. We have changed the setting and character and will be creating a new story map to go with this to support us in writing our tale next week.
Maths - This week we will be comparing, ordering and looking for patterns within numbers to 20. Our focus will be on using a range of comparative vocabulary e.g. greater/fewer, more/less, bigger/smaller.
Challenge - can you compare quantities of items at home using this language?
Science - we are looking at the season winter. We will be going for a winter walk to explore what we can see in the environment as clues, talking about the weather and day length. You could go on your own winter walk and see what you discover.
English - we are looking at the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk. We will be doing lots of work on becoming familiar with the tale and beginning to adapt it to write our own. Have a look at out story map and ask your child to try and act it out and retell it to you! We will also be working on our sentence formation and learning what a noun and verb is.
Maths - we are looking at numbers within 20, representing them with objects, numerals and in words and counting to 20 by making groups of 10.
Science - we will be investigating the season autumn, thinking about what the weather is like and what we might see.
Word of the week: fond
WOW DAY - Princes and Princesses
On Thursday 10th January we had our wow day where we dressed up as Princes, Princesses and knight and took part in lots of activities! We made shields, learned a royal dance and even cooked some vegetable soup and soda bread. In the afternoon we had a royal banquet where we danced and enjoyed the food that we had made in the morning. We had a fantastic day and thoroughly enjoyed being royalty for the day. Take a look at our pictures below.
ALL children in Badgers will be swimming every TUESDAY this half term. Please ensure your child has their swimming kit (swimming costume/shorts and a towel) with them in preparation for this or they won't be able to swim.
English - It is exciting writing week and our focus is The Grinch where we we will be writing a character description. This week we will therefore be focusing on how to best describe the personality and appearance and how to extend and structure our sentences.
Maths - We will be revising everything we have covered this term, reviewing our learning of place value to 10 and addition and subtraction methods.
Topic - We will be look at where Paddington has visited next on his world travels and looking at the Christmas story in RE.
WC - 3/12/18
English - We are looking at letter writing this week. Last week in science we received a letter from Santa asking for our help fixing his sleigh, therefore, we will be learning the key features of a letter and forming a response to Santa.
Maths - This week we will be consoildating our knowledge of addition and subtraction from this half term. We will be doing Winter Wonderland Maths on Thursday as part of our Maths curriculum day.
Topic - we will continue to look at toys from around the world as we follow Paddington's adventure.
This week we will be performing our nativity to the school and parents - very exciting! We hope you all enjoy the performance.
Badgers Update - WC 26/11/18
English - This week we will be practising out sentence writing in preparation for our Hot Write where we will be writing our own story based on our WAGOLL.
Maths - We are continuing our work on subtraction. This week we will be looking at subtraction by counting back on a number line, making stories and using pictures.
Topic - We will be exploring toys from around the world in Geography. We will also be doing lots of nativity practise in preparation for our performances next week - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
A reminder that the children's Innkeeper costumes for the performance are due in this week ready for the dress rehearsal on 3/12/18.
This week we have started to learn about subtraction in Mathematics. A great way to practise is through games and the children really enjoys this one to support there learning. Give it a go at home with the link below:
WC 12/11/18 Update:
English - We are using adjectives to describe Woody's personality and appearance. We will also be analysing how Woody feels at 5 key points in Toy Story.
Maths - We are finishing our unit on addition within 10 with adding using pictures and then a recap session on all the methods we have used (number bonds, counting on, number stories, using pictures and writing number sentences).
Topic - This week is anti-bullying week so this will be out focus. We will be think about how our behaviour can effect others, what bulling is and what it means to show respect to one another.
We will also continue to practise our Christmas songs in preparation for the nativity. Ask your child if they can remember any and sing them to you.
Keep up with the reading for our Christmas reading competition. It was great to see lots of children reaching their 5 reads this week.
8/11/18 Swimming Update
Just a reminder that if your child is in group B for swimming they will be swimming every Wednesday this half term.
Just a reminder that swimming is EVERY TUESDAY. Your child will either be in group A or B. Group A are swimming this half term and group B will be swimming after half term. You will have received a letter if your child is swimming this half term. This is just a reminder to make sure that your child has their swimming kit in school ready for Tuesday as if they do not have a kit they are unable to swim.
If you are unsure if your child is swimming this half term please do not hesitate to ask me and I can tell you.
24/09/18 History off the Page - Toy Museum
Year 1 have been very lucky today and had a very special visitor! Today History off the Page came to visit us and brought their you museum. We have had a fantastic day exploring and investigating different toys from the past and through time. In the afternoon we swapped roles and became toy makers ourselves. We made a range of toys and have taken these home to play with some more and show everyone our creations. Please ask your children about what we have been up to and discovered today as we have lots to tell you! Take a look at us exploring below.
Home Learning and Reading
Today we have given all the children their home learning booklets to continue the fantastic learning they have been doing at school. All homework is based around learning we have been doing in class that week or will be doing the following week. The home learning booklet will be due back in every Tuesday and will be returned again on Wednesday after being marked.
In addition, it is essential that your children are reading as regularly as possible. We would like all children to read 5 time a week and have this recorded in their reading records. If they do read 5 times a week they will also receive a reading raffle ticket which will be entered into a prize draw! We also each have our own racing car which will zoom along our key stage 1 reading race track. The more you read the further you will go and the children will receive a certificate when they reach 20,50,100,150,200,250 and 300 reads.
Welcome to Badgers!
It is hard to believe that the Summer is nearly over and it is time for Squirrels to become Badgers. I am really excited to welcome your children into Year 1 and I hope that your children are looking forward to coming back to school, catching up with their friends and learning new things.
Our topic for this term is Toys, a theme I'm sure your children already know lots about! We will be learning about the history of toys, what they are made of and we will be undertaking art and design tasks linking to toys. We have booked a special Toys Day on Monday 24th September, for which we are requesting a parental contribution, to engage your children with a hands on, practical learning experience. Please look out for a letter in your child's book bag during the first week of term.
In English we will use toy texts such as Kipper's Toy Box and the film Toy Story to stimulate our writing. We will be consolidating our ability to read, write and understand numbers to 20 in maths, using practical resources and applying our understanding to real life situations. In RE we will be finding out more about the Christian church and we will visit our local church as part of this topic.
Your child will read weekly with an adult at school, sometimes individually, especially during the first couple of weeks when we will be checking your child's book level, and at other times in a group. We will write in the reading log when we have read with your child. We will check your comments in the diaries and count your child's reads weekly, usually on a Monday. We look forward to seeing how much you have enjoyed reading with your child and to seeing their cars zoom along our reading road! They will work towards certificates for 20, 50 and 100 reads! Your child will also have daily phonics lessons and we will closely monitor your child's progress through our phonics scheme.
PE will be on Wednesday afternoon but please ensure that your child has indoor and outdoor PE kit in school at all times as sometimes we may need PE shoes or kit for other activities.
Homework will be handed out on Wednesdays and should be handed in on Mondays (not the first week of term). Work handed in after Monday may not be marked until the following week.Homework will be handed out on Wednesdays and should be handed in on Mondays (not the first week of term). Work handed in after Monday may not be marked until the following week.
We will ask you to supply the following items for your child this term: an old sock to make into a ‘Sock Thing’ and an old toy (theirs or yours) to help us with our non-fiction writing and to go in our class museum before half term. Watch out for notes in book bags explaining when we need these items.
I really look forward to getting to know you and your children better as the term progresses. If you have any comments, questions or concerns I am always available in the Badgers' outdoor area from 8.45 in the morning and I can chat after school when we have said good bye to the children. Please bear with us at home time as we get to know your faces and those of friends and family who pick up your child. It might take a little while for us to check that each child is going home safely with the correct person at the start of term.
Here's hoping for a sunny September and lots of fabulous learning experiences!


When you are homeschooling, sometimes you just want to give your child something to do, that doesn’t involve a screen, and to know they are learning something.
Lego/Mega Bloks Construx/other building products are perfect for this. Just buy a big bucket of blocks and use these ideas to keep your child busy and learning without any input (or minimum input) from you.
Younger children are very easily attracted to Lego, but even older children will find a challenge with some of the tasks you can set them using blocks that push together.
For older children, using Lego to express extremely complex ideas from the maths and science curriculum can help compound their learning, or you can use it as a starter to introduce a new topic.
I have also made a printable which you can print out, which is a deck of 21 things to build with Lego, for when you need a quick draw activity to instantly engage your child. You can download the free printable here.
You can also use the printable cards as a reward, e.g. if they have finished the work on another task, let them choose a card, as inspiration for something to build with Lego or Mega Bloks Construx.
Set them a challenge like building the tallest tower that doesn’t fall down using only yoghurt pots, then when you come back ask them how many yoghurt pots made the tallest tower and what might make the tower stand up better, then giving them time to try other ways to get the tower to stay up (glue, making the base out of three yoghurt pots and building up, etc).
Here are 10 activities your child can do with construction blocks such as Lego or Mega Bloks Construx that you could turn into an investigation or lesson (and which will give you time to teach your other children or make yourself a drink):
What is the tallest tower you can build? You could use this to teach younger children about how buildings stay upright and, for older children, centre of mass and balance for GCSE physics.
Put twelve blocks together. How many different ways can they split it evenly (two groups of 6, three groups of 4, four groups of 3, etc)? You could use this to introduce factors for a maths lesson.
Put twenty blocks together. How many times can they split it in half? You could use this to introduce fractions for a maths lesson.
Make one row that is one block, the next row is one, the next is two, three, five… each time get them to add together the last two numbers in the sequence to find the size of the next row. You could use this to introduce the Fibonacci sequence, an important number sequence that can be found in nature.
Can you make a circle out of Lego, if you have enough bricks?
Design a car. It has to be different to the last one your child made. Ask them to make it out of a different type of brick, or with different size wheels, or similar. You can then use the Lego car to test out physics questions (especially if they can make a ramp) such as friction (how much do they need to tilt the ramp before gravity allows it to roll down).
Older children could make a 2-D Lego model of a plant or animal cell (or both) to compare the features of the two.
Make a scene out of Lego, complete with minifigures, and use it as a creative writing prompt for your child.
Make a balance beam with a long piece of Lego. The child can attach bricks at different distances and find out when the beam tilts. For example, one block, six studs away, should be able to be balanced with two blocks on the other side that is three studs away. You can use this to teach children from age 11 upwards (even through A-level if they need the reminder) about forces and distances from a pivot point (these are called moments).
Using minifigures, look at their faces. They often have different expressions. Your child needs to write down what emotion each character is expressing, and describe their face (such as “eyebrows are close together and diagonal”, for frowning). This is especially good for children who are struggling to interpret emotions of the people around them. You could take this further by asking (for example) “why might this figure be angry?” Once the child has thought of something that makes them angry, you could move onto, “What could you do to make them feel better?”
There are thousands more things you can do with Lego, these are just a selection of things that I think would link closely to the national curriculum. Lego can be far more of a learning tool than the boxes imply. The best Lego to get for education is a bucket with a good mixture of lots of different shapes and sizes of Lego.
If you are using Mega Bloks Construx, these are compatible with Lego, but some other types of construction block don’t stick to Lego due to being very slightly too big or small. In my experience, Mega Bloks Construx don’t stick as tightly to Lego as other pieces of Lego do, but if you’re on a budget, they are definitely worth considering.
We have some of the bigger baby-size Mega Bloks and our little one loves them, although they are not compatible with Duplo (the next size up of Mega Bloks is, though). The plastic on the baby-sized ones is softer and I think he likes them because they are very chewable, perfect for teething babies. The baby-size Mega Bloks also have the advantage of being suitable from age 1 whereas Duplo is age 2+. When it comes to the smaller bricks, however, they are largely identical to Lego (the Construx range by Mega Bloks is for ages 5+) and there’s a thriving world of Mega Bloks Construx out there which you can discover.
So I may have designed and published a free course on homeschooling for anyone with kids. I know people aren’t *technically* homeschooling because they’re doing work sent home from school, but there isn’t a single word for what millions of parents are currently doing around the world and this course is for that.
Do your kids have a big pile of school work to do before the schools re-open? Want to know how to get them to do it, and what to do when they ask you for help with a subject you know nothing about? Trying to juggle kids and work during the lockdown?
Having just got back from climbing Mount Snowdon, I thought I should write up my ascent of Ben Lomond from early April. I’ve written this from beginning to end rather than as a “travel piece” as I wanted to share some useful information about the climb.
Ben Lomond is 974m high and it’s a Munro but it’s not even in the top 10 highest mountains in Scotland – which starts with Ben Lawers at 1214 metres high, which is over 200m higher than the highest mountain in England (Scafell Pike, 978m), as a reference. Ben Lomond is only 4m lower than Scafell Pike, so I thought Ben Lomond would be a better climb since S.P. was an abortive mission back in February due to flooding and the whole of Wasdale (where S.P. is) had given me a VERY eerie “get out” kinda vibe so I was in no rush to return. Also Ben Lomond was on my ORIGINAL 30 list before I subbed it for S.P. when I posted about my list as I thought it was unfair to England if all the mountains from the UK were from Scotland (and one from Wales). I retract this wholeheartedly – Scottish mountains are just the absolute best in the UK, seconded by their milder friends, the Welsh mountains.
Scottish mountains are like dogs – they’re so excited to see you and boisterous and so much outdoor fun (but they can bite you); Welsh mountains are like rabbits – they’re very mild mannered and friendly, but they’d never eat you unless you looked like a carrot (but they might nibble); and English mountains are like cats – they just refuse to co-operate even when you bring them treats, and insist on hanging out in hard-to-reach places.
It started off in Rowardennan car park, which is on the East side of Loch Lomond. To get to the car park, you have to drive to take a left at Drymen (Rowardennan is signposted) and drive up a very long country road with forest on one side and Loch Lomond on the other.
Parking was fairly cheap, although, being early April, it was still the off-season when I went (which surprised me as I’m used to the tourist season starting a month earlier, in March, in England).
There is a set of public toilets that are near the beginning of the route, and these were excellent with benches to sit on to put boots etc on since it was drizzly raining outside. I decided since it was drizzling to go up in my trainers. My husband went up in his walking boots, which he has had since about 1997, which were a poor choice as they have cracked, hard soles. His feet got wet before mine.
The initial climb is in a straight line and everything seems easy if somewhat steep as you get up past the treeline. Then, out of nowhere, it makes you choose a path, left or right, neither of which seem to be going UP the mountain. But that’s okay because the summit straight in front of you isn’t Ben Lomond, it’s the taller one to the left that looks like it’s on a separate mountainside (because it is).
So it’s very important to go left here, otherwise you will spend a VERY long time being lost. When we climbed it, starting at about 7am and ending around 11am, it wasn’t teriffically busy. We were literally the only people on the mountain until we started our descent, so if anything had gone wrong we would have been a bit stuck.
I Considered the Evidence for The Fauna of Ben Lomond
As soon as we started on the left hand path, we were suddenly attacked by a very very harsh strong wind and it still drizzled constantly on this bit. Loch Lomond was on our left at this point. We kept going and saw loads of what we thought was dog poo, although since seeing so much of it that looks the same, I think it must have been fox poo. There are no wolves in Scotland, as they were hunted to extinction, so it definitely wasn’t wolves. Which was odd because all the poo was larger. This probably doesn’t matter to most readers, but being an archaeology graduate, this did bug me, so I did some research and found two possible animals – the Scottish Wildcat, or a special red-fox subspecies (a giant red fox breed) called Vulpis vulpis vulpis (it’s apparently much larger than the standard red fox vulpis vulpis crucigera). This giant red fox is apparently only native to Scotland. Since there was also plenty of what looked like giant oval-shaped rabbit poo, I inferred that the giant rabbit poo came either from deer, because sheep do similar droppings, or mountain hares.
This theory was borne out when we turned a corner slightly and came face to face with two grazing deer. They must have heard us coming but they still seemed surprised, and only ran off when my camera made it’s “beep beep beep beep” turning on noise (the MOST annoying thing when trying to photograph ANY animals at all as it always makes them move). So we could tick that mystery off as solved (although I was disappointed that it wasn’t mountain hares, but you can’t be TOO disappointed because deer are soooooo adorable). We saw quite a few other deer out and about at this time of the morning, so I think the droppings probably weren’t from mountain hares.
Shortly afterwards, I saw an interesting-shaped rock on the ground. It was a pentagon, and it was almost regular, which was amazing because it was clearly done by natural processes such as weathering – there were no cut marks on it at all! This was not evidence of animal activity, but it was still an interesting feat of nature so I took a photo.
We reached a gate thingy then we went along another path for quite a while, then we went through a second gate where we soon found a sign that said Ben Lomond. We joked with each other that we must have reached the top -although we knew full well that this was clearly the start of its prominence. The prominence is the part of the mountain where it’s not part of another peak, mountain etc, which is almost always lower than its elevation. When people talk about “Ultras” or “Ultra Prominents” they mean mountains whose prominence is over 1500 metres, but that just means that 1500 metres or more of the mountain sticks up above all the rest of the mountains in a group or the rest of the land if it’s on its own. The first “Ultra” on my list of 20 mountains is Arcalod, in France.
We carried on past the sign and the drizzle remained stopped but the wind started to blow worse, after a little while I took this next picture of the view, it’s the last picture I got before we came back down.
Those clouds moved VERY fast, the wind must have been blowing them across, and we then fought with side winds of over 60mph and some very vicious hail at one side of us. There was no shelter from it, as Ben Lomond is a very exposed mountain, and we basically had to climb it with one hand covering our left ear to protect us from the 60 mph hailstones.
Whiteout in April
As we trudged ever upwards, we discovered that the snow we’d seen from below was actually made from these same hailstones that were attacking us – millions of them combining to form icy snowlike stuff, covering the surfaces more and more, until a bit where we needed to scramble (a climb not long or steep enough to require rope) up a 20 foot section and suddenly the ground was totally white. The path was just about visible. Then as we kept going the path disappeared completely, and it stayed like that with the biting hailstones and wind, which my husband found he could sit backwards on, and be kept upright (literally, he was sitting as if he was on a chair, and the only thing holding him in place was this strong wind). We were frequently being blown sideways and progress became very very difficult, until we finally got to the top. The wind and hail were awful, and I couldn’t get my phone out to take any photos because I was afraid it would get blown away. All the “respect the mountain” type information goes on about taking an ice axe and crampons, but I don’t think they consider that these aren’t the ONLY solution or the ONLY things you need to take up a mountain, because the main problem was the wind and the velocity of these sharp hailstones, they would have just been dead weight in my pack. I think the crampons at least would have been useful on the top but they wouldn’t have solved the worst difficulty which was not being able to open your eyes because of the barrage of projectiles. It was like being repeatedly shot in the face with an airgun, and we both had a lot of redness and bruising on one side of our face from our ascent (and I had the lower half of my face covered with a cotton scarf for protection). There was no view, just hail in our faces causing a total whiteout, so we didn’t linger, and turned back, making our way back down the mountainside a lot more quickly. The wind and snow stopped again when we reached the Ben Lomond sign (peculiously) and by this time of the day, the path we had climbed was now covered in water and we were paddling back down the mountain.
I didn’t really feel much of a sense of achievement because it was mostly a survival issue from before we reached the summit (the top): The temperature was about -10 and we needed to get down to the tree line as quickly as possible before hypothermia set in, because I’d brought my standard winter gloves instead of my amazingly protective +3 Gloves of Snowboarding (I’ve never snowboarded, I have them for when I go to the Alps). Standard gloves are fine for normal ground-level snow (when you’re not at any altitude) or for hill walking, but when you get over about 700m above sea level, I would strongly recommend using skiing gloves or snowboarding gloves (not those shitty thinsulate ones) as my hands went numb in my gloves! It’s good to learn the exact limitations and appropriate times for equipment from experiences such as this though – as I said when I didn’t get to the top of Scafell Pike, sometimes you learn more from what you FAILED to do than what you did do, because you can often see what you need to do next time. This time, I failed to take appropriate gloves, and I can now see exactly when I need thicker gloves (and when I went up Snowdon, I did NOT make the same mistake, and I will never take the wrong gloves up a mountain ever again). On the flipside, I was glad I took my trainers and not my snow shoes because they are lightweight and flexible and don’t cause me excessive ankle strain or leg tiredness, and in fact keep my feet more comfortable because I get too hot in big boots. I find that while all the respect the mountain type people have a point that walking boots are a good choice of footwear, I strongly disagree that they are “essential” for any of the non-technical climbs in the UK. I have struggled to complete mountains in boots (I wore my snow boots to do Scafell Pike because it was February and I would have needed to wear them with my crampons except there was no snow on S.P. in Feb) because as my grandma used to say, “heavy boots weigh you down” and I find I can walk much further, climb higher and balance better in trainers. Different strokes for different folks. There’s more than one way to climb a mountain.
On the way back down we took a different path for a small section where we ended up climbing down a waterfall which was awesome and really pretty:
Farewell, Lovely Trainers
The streams on the descent were the first point my trainers got wet, but ultimately it was their death toll because we had nowhere to dry them, since we didn’t check into a hotel for another day, so they went mouldy or something, and I washed them twice in the washing machine when I got home, but they just had to go to the bin in the end because they smelled absolutely foul. Ben Lomond might have been their swan song, but they were a very good pair of trainers and they got me up and down the mountain with no blisters or anything. While some very expensive walking boots would have kept my feet dry (cheap ones generally don’t), I didn’t really have a problem with getting wet on the descent.
Back at the car, I changed into my jelly sandals so my feet could dry out while I drove us to the Loch Lomond entertainment complex (there was an exciting adventure with a dog cafe). I think the whole climb took about four and a half hours up and down, because we set off at about 7am and got to the car at 11:30am.
The next day, we checked into our beautiful hotel (we were staying in our car camper around Loch Lomond, which is really hard as there are major byelaws so you have to follow the rules or risk getting a big fine) and I found for the first day that it was hard to walk down the stairs because my leg bones just under my knees were really swollen and couldn’t bend properly on stairs!! I had done loads of training and particularly built up the muscles around my knees but my bones seemed to let me down. I do have a problem with them anyway ever since I bruised the bone on one leg (and the swelling tore the skin right open – I have a very sexy scar on one leg because of it) a couple of years ago, when I fell down the stairs and landed with my full body weight on something sharp with my shin. The other leg seemed to get compression problems from being walked on for six weeks straight because I didn’t take a single day off because it happened during teacher training and if you take more than three days off (at all) you fail it at the training provider I was attending. As an aside, my childhood dog died two weeks later at the ripe old age of 16, so I took a day off for that instead. I will write an article on Dillon one day because he was the best dog in the universe. But that was all 2 years ago. The bone pain from mountain climbing went away after a few days, although I’ve got it again today, the day after climbing Snowdon. I will have to look into this at some point.
Phew, I’ve FINALLY posted about this trip up Mount Ben Lomond. Expect another mountain post about Snowdon very soon. I am aware I keep saying I climbed Snowdon yesterday, and the date stamp will say this was published on Wednesday, but it’s going to be posted just after midnight so when I say yesterday all through the start and end of this blog post, I mean Monday, when I climbed Snowdon. It’s only taken me all afternoon to finish writing this post what with seeing the (private not NHS) psychiatrist today and everything else!
I’ve always been a big fan of eating whole, unharassed, clean vegetables. I really love the simplicity of it. I think it’s one of the things I love most about my rabbits – we can pretty much eat the same food. However, I didn’t always know how to eat. My biggest mistake when I first became vegan was that I tried looking for foods in the supermarket that were beyond the fruit and veg aisle. I found myself frustrated with the conventional foods and convenience foods in the parts of the supermarket that I’d always bought food from, the fact that dietary staples such as Packet Pasta (an example would be Kraft Macaroni), vegetarian frozen food, vegetarian chilled ready meals, curry sauces, snacks and even drinks were full of animal products. I had many a meltdown in the supermarket where I would just walk out of the shop and sit in my car and cry, because I didn’t know what to do, I was certain I wasn’t going to eat that crap, but I didn’t know what to eat.
Something my aunt told me recently, when I told her a vegan friend has found out she’s gluten intolerant, was “she’s going to have to learn to cook then.”
This is the big myth that keeps us all subjugated and enslaved to a world of shit food.
You don’t have to learn to cook. You don’t need to learn to cook.
You need to learn to eat.
A lot of “so you want to be vegan” type books (apologies if this book is real, I’m categorizing a type of book here) tell you that you need to eat more whole foods, that you can get “meaty” foods like tofu, Facon (fake bacon), scheeze (fake cheese) and so on, to replace the meat in your food.
Meat loss is not the problem.
All these eating books have built up the idea that you need to replace the meat with a solid, meat-textured object, that you only need to check the ingredients are animal free, and that if you do, POP! You’re vegan.
This type of eating is unsustainable, and really it undermines the fundamental principles of veganism. Instead of trying to find foods that you used to eat which happen to be vegan, and attempting to subsist off those (beans on toast anyone), or trying to “veganize” foods which are not vegan, or imitate foods, here’s a staggering thought:
How about try eating totally different foods, including lots of fruit and vegetables, and see where that takes you?
I’m only being slightly sarcastic here because it wasn’t until my mum died of cancer in December that I realised what I’d been doing wrong with my eating habits this entire time. We all do it. It’s so ingrained into us from birth that we must eat a particular way and when we question it we’re told it’s because of nutrition and when we get ill we’re told it’s because we’re not eating a particular way. On paper, I’ve always thought I understood this concept of “changing the way you eat” and thought it just meant, “stop eating animal products” and “move away from meat and two veg nonsense.” It’s so very much bigger than that.
What if the answer was to totally break free from all the things you think you know about cooking, all your kitchenware, all your dishes, steamers, microwave, etc etc? And then, once you’ve started listening to your body, identifying what it needs, and acting on it, you could maybe add some of those things back in?
After I got the news about my mum, I couldn’t eat anything other than raw vegetables for a week.
I didn’t understand why. My 22 year old sister, across the country, was spontaneously having the exact same problem. We both fundamentally knew, no matter what anyone told us was the cause of our mother’s death, that food was the key. In our house growing up, a meal would be chicken nuggets and chips, with maybe a tablespoon of tinned peas or sweetcorn. Snacks were crisps, biscuits and in summer, home-made ice lollies made from that stuff you dilute. We never had real fruit juice, fresh vegetables or fruit. Sometimes at Christmas there would be tangerines. When we went to clear her house, we found receipts for food shopping. Ready meals full of processed meat and other junk. I had changed the way I ate when I first left home at 18. Moving in with an Aunt while I finished school had been a culture shock. The idea of eating two freshly cooked vegetables with the evening meal literally astounded me. I felt so healthy. I didn’t even consider the possibility that this was only a moderately healthy meal. I still filled my face with chocolate and crisps, now adding biscuits and cakes to the list.
Sometimes, when I’m reading about nutrition and I come across some of the delicate balances of nutrients that we humans need, I wonder how it is that some people are still alive. I wonder how my sister and I didn’t grow up with some serious developmental disorders due to what we were eating.
I went to university. I became vegetarian. I felt like I’d never been healthier. I swapped sausages (which I’d always detested) for vegetarian sausages. Chicken nuggets became vegetarian nuggets. Chips (fries) were still chips. Pot noodles and spaghetti hoops were still the same too. Crisps (potato chips) were still a daily dietary staple. So was chocolate. I struggled with my weight, constantly fighting to get down to a 10 (US6). I exercised and didn’t understand why I was tired all the time. It literally didn’t occur to me that my poor diet was making me ill.
Fast forward two years. I became vegan. I took the “3 week vegan challenge” and, once the three weeks were up, I never really got round to eating eggs or dairy again. I felt healthier, stronger, happier, more outgoing, my grades soared and I was finally on track to get the degree classification I’d been obsessing over for the past two years. Never had I felt better. All my life, I’d been plagued by stomach pains, stomach cramps, trapped wind, bloating and a constant feeling of nausea. I had actually associated that nausea with feeling full. When I became vegan, after the first two weeks, all these problems went away. I realised that it wasn’t normal to feel like this, and that I had the power to avoid it. That was when I first started wondering if I was lactose intolerant. I had a few false starts in the first year; every time I slipped up, I felt the familiar nausea and pains in my stomach. It became a big decision-making factor in what I ate. And nothing vegan ever made me feel like that.
Two years later, I’d become quite ill. I’d been working at McDonalds and eating fries for lunch every day, or a hash brown if I was on the breakfast shift. Milkshakes started creeping their way in. And ice creams. Soon I was feeling sick all the time again, and I had forgotten why this happened. I thought it might be gluten, I was adamant that it couldn’t possibly be milk. After six months off gluten and feeling only slightly better (probably because my favourite food was pasta and cheese sauce), I had to concede that it was milk. I was being sick several times every day. I got very ill with a mobility problem and was in bed most days, with no money to buy good food. I finally cut out milk and, while some of my problems improved, others got worse.
I had cut out milk, but I hadn’t replaced it with anything. Yes, I was drinking soy milk instead of regular milk in my tea, but there was also the lasagna, mac and cheese, yoghurt; I had replaced them with totally different milk-free foods, but I hadn’t replaced the nutrients. Primarily, the protein.
I didn’t realise this until a fitness instructor was sat next to me at lunch one day and she looked at my food, tapped the plastic container and demanded “where is your protein?” in a particular tone that the written word cannot emulate. I looked at my food. I looked at her. Nettled at criticism of my food, I said, “I have protein with my evening meal.” She told me it wasn’t good enough. We never spoke much again, but in the back of my mind it got me thinking. Where was my protein?
I got wrapped up in other things such as teacher training, and my nutrient stores got even more depleted, until one day, early last year, I realised I couldn’t carry on. I was working 70 hours per week and not getting enough time to eat. I got diagnosed with anaemia and I knew it wasn’t the only problem. I looked at all my proteins in the cupboard and I could have cried. Quinoa, advertised as a complete protein, is one of the worst sources of protein of everything ever. White pasta has more protein. My Quorn, a vegetarian substitute for meat, which I was only eating for the protein because I hated the stuff, but it said on the label “good source of protein” was the second worst offender. In some cases, less than ten grams of protein per 100g. I believe, after years of false advertising, that they changed the labelling in the last 3 months because it’s a terrible source of protein. Nuts, textured vegetable protein and tofu all did a lot better. Nuts were the best. And lentils were really good as well. Mushrooms were another shocker, with hardly any protein in them. As a comparison, I looked at the meat that my boyfriend kept in a particular freezer drawer. The salmon, lamb, and chicken were all good sources of protein – but even the salmon was not as good as peanuts and pistachios.
I went around all the foods in my kitchen and I felt like my eyes had opened. I suddenly had a basis to found my dietary principles on. I was still eating a lot of processed and convenience foods, but I figured at the time that it was fine as long as I got my protein. However, I had noticed that I was struggling to get my five-a-day fruit and veg.
That was where I was at when my mum died.
Then my attitude to food was turned on its head even more.
Instead of eating for “taste” or “favourites” or “comfort” how about eating for nutrition? So, eat things that will enable you to get 45g of protein a day, eat enough things containing vitamins and minerals, get your 90g of carbs and 70g of fat. Ensure that the protein includes the right amounts of each amino acid, and that the fat contains essential fatty acids.
As long as you are doing that, it doesn’t matter how you eat. You can eat that as a meat eater, a vegetarian, a vegan, raw vegan, fruitarian or sproutarian (sorry, juicearians, if you even exist, it’s impossible to get all your nutrients from your specific diet).
When my mum died, and I was just eating vegetables, I began researching raw food diets because they have almost become fad diets. I did a series of articles on them, which explained what they all were and weighed up how easy it was to get each nutrient from each diet.
I then took that one step further and identified ten vegan sources for each nutrient, because I was sick of people saying that it was an unhealthy diet.
While I was researching all these different diets, I became very attracted to fruitarianism. I thought the ideals of the diet were beautiful, and reminded me of a renaissance garden of Eden type fantasy. Having researched it, though, I knew it wasn’t the healthiest diet to follow 100%. I know that some people do anyway, but on the other hand there are people who eat nothing but junk food – neither of these is optimal but it won’t kill you straight away, so people keep doing it. I felt myself changing inside. I felt that fruit was the answer. I had never really been interested in fruit before, so this was a revelation.
So at the moment, I’m a 60% fruitarian, 40% vegan (cooked). For this reason, I eat breakfasts and lunches that are fruit and nuts. Some days, like proper fruitarians, I will graze throughout the day. Other days, I feel the need for a “conventional meal” so I prepare all my fruit and nuts and put it in a bowl to eat. It makes me feel like I’ve actually eaten, and is easier to keep track of what I’ve eaten.
Since I’ve started doing this, I’ve felt like I’m functioning at a much higher intellectual level than before – no, I don’t mean it’s made me smarter, I mean, I was struggling with processing power, my brain wasn’t processing things very quickly and was struggling to take in new information. Not only that, but I was feeling very tired through the day, pretty much four hours of tiredness, followed by four hours of wakefulness. Since I’ve been eating fruit for my daytime meals, these problems seem to have disappeared.
I’ve started eating fruits I never would have considered before – I always used to worry about buying fruit, because like many people, I would constantly buy it, eat a small amount, then it would go off, then I would throw it away. I got so mad at my wastefulness that I stopped buying fruit for years after a particularly bad incident with a bunch of bananas. Making a commitment to eat fruit during the day eliminates this problem because the fruit just gets eaten. I’ve gone from having no fruit in a week (just veg) to having four to six pieces in a “meal.” I enjoy food shopping a lot more and I finally feel like I’m getting enough of everything. I’ve also stopped skipping meals since I’ve been seeing fruit as a viable alternative to regular meals – before, I would often skip breakfast and lunch on the basis that I would look in the cupboard and feel like I just didn’t have the food I wanted to eat – but I didn’t know what food I was craving.
Another thing I really like, for why I skipped the raw vegan step entirely, is that you don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment or cooking skills to be a fruitarian. Raw Vegans cheat a bit and use all sorts of weird and wonderful food processing techniques to make their food look and taste like “real food” whereas fruitarians just accept their food in the shape and size and flavour that it comes in, and eat it whole and unaltered. I really feel like it makes me connect with what I’m eating and where it came from in a way that raw veganism could never do for me. I’ve found myself drinking a lot more water since I’ve started eating fruit, too, which generally improves my wellbeing.
I don’t think I am never going to be a full-time long term fruitarian, because I feel that other foods also have value, but I do enjoy a good fruit fest and think that if you’re having the same problems that I was, the addition of fruit and nuts to your balanced diet could be your answer.


“Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.” — Jules Renard
“ideas to get your students’ pencils moving”
View an updated version of this article HERE.
Writing is and isn’t an easy thing to do in the classroom. Especially nowadays when students don’t have long attention spans and are more and more “digital” and visual learners.
However, it is a vital skill that opens up a world of possibilities for any student. Written communication in whatever language, even with the advent of the internet, is still a necessity. Writing allows communication, controlled and deliberate – POWERFUL, communication. So we have to get our students writing more and better. How?
Below, find a rundown of what I consider the “standard” writing activities for any age group. Just change the topic/theme. Most are for any classroom, EFL / ESL or the regular classroom. My belief is that writing in English is writing in English. Whether it be a second language or first makes no difference because the “eating” is all the same.
I’ve divided the activities into different categories. These are just for the sake of having some kind of organization. I’ve also labeled them
WUP – for a warm up writing activity and something to do quickly.
CP – Controlled practice. Writing activities that help the beginning writer and offer support, repetition and guidance.
F – Free writing activities that activate student learning and allow them to practice what they already know and “test the waters” so to speak.
Where appropriate, I’ve linked to some resources that compliment the writing activity as described.
Listen — Write
There are many ways to “spice” up the standard dictation. The simplest is to have the students fold a blank piece of paper “hamburger” style (Up/down) 4 times. Unfold and they have a nice 8 line piece of paper. Speak 8 sentences , repeating each several times as the students write. Get the students to record their answers on the board and correct. Collect and keep in a portfolio!
There are many online sites where students can do the same but in a computer lab or at home. Or the teacher can even try in the classroom.
http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio – for older students
http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/ – for young learners
2. Story Rewriting
The teacher reads a story or the class listens to an audio story. After, students make a storyboard (just fold a blank page so you have 8 squares) and draw pictures. Then, they write the story based on those pictures. Very simple and powerful! – F
The students close their eyes and the teacher describes a scene. Play some nice background music. The students then write and describe the scene they imagined, sharing their scene afterward with the class or a classmate.
4. Pop Song Rewrite
Play a familiar pop song. One with a “catchy” chorus. Afterwards, write out the chorus on the board with some of the words missing. Students can then rewrite the chorus and sing their own version. Higher level students can simply write their own version without help. Here’s a very simple example –
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got ___________ and ___________
In his hands. (3x)
He’s got the whole world in his hands
Watch —– Write
Students watch a TV Commercial. Then, they write their own script based on that commercial but focused on a different product. Afterward, they can perform. F
2. Short videos.
Just like a story but this time students watch. Then, they can rewrite / respond / reflect. Students can choose to reflect on one standard Reading Response question or as part of a daily journal. Ex. The best part was ….. / If I had made the video, I would have ……
Short videos are powerful and if well-chosen can really get students writing in a reflective manner. CP / F
How to Videos
Students can watch a short “How to” video that describes a process. There are some excellent sites with User Generated Content. Expert Village and eHow are recommended. After the students watch the video several times, they can write out the steps using transitions which the teacher lists on the board. [First, first off, To begin, then, after that, next, most importantly, finally, last but not least, to finish ] CP / F
3. Newscasts / Weather reports
Watch the daily news or weather report. Students write in groups or individually, their own version of the news for that week/day. Then perform for the class like a real news report! F
4. Travel Videos
Watch a few travel videos (there are many nice, short travel “postcard” videos online). Groups of students select a place and write up a report or a poster outlining why others should visit their city/country. Alternately, give students a postcard and have them write to another student in the classroom as if they were in that city/country. For lower leveled students, provide them with a template and they just fill in the details. Ex.
I’m sitting in a ………… drinking a …………… I’ve been in ……. for ………. days now. The weather has been
……………. Yesterday I visited the ………….. and I saw …………….. Today, I’m going to ………………. I highly recommend ……………….. See you when I get home …………………
CP / F
Look —– Write
1. Pictures / Slideshows
Visuals are a powerful way to provide context and background for any writing. Make sure to use attractive, stimulating and if possible “real” photos to prompt student writing. Students can describe a scene or they can describe a series of pictures from a slideshow.
An excellent activity is to show a nice photo and get students to “guess” and write their guess in the form of the 5Ws. They answer all the 5w questions and then share their thoughts with the class.
Show a picture and get students to write a story or use it as background for a writing prompt. For example, Show a picture of a happy lottery winner. Ask students to write in their journal – If I won a million dollars I would ……
This is a much better way to “prompt” writing than simple script! – CP
Show students a selection of fairly similar pictures. The students describe in writing one of the pictures (faces work really well). They read and the other students listen and “guess” which picture is being described. Similar to this listening activity. CP
Provide students with a series of pictures which describe a story. I often use Action Pictures. Students write about each picture, numbering each piece of writing for each picture. The teacher can guide lower level students like this Mr. X’s Amazing Day example. After editing, the students cut up the pictures and make a storybook. Gluing in the pictures, coloring, decorating and adding their own story text. Afterwards read to the whole class or share among the class. CP / F
Provide students with a sequence of pictures which are scrambled. The students must order the pictures and then write out the process. Ex. Making scrambled eggs. F
Read —- Write
1. Reading Journal / Reading Response
The students read a story and then respond by making a reflective journal entry. Alternatively, the students can respond to a reading response question like, “Which character did you like best? Why?” F
Read a short story and then give students a copy of the story with some text missing. The students can fill it in with the correct version OR fill it in and make the story their own.
These are stories where words are replaced with icons/pictures. Students can read the story and then write out the whole story, replacing the pictures with the correct text. Here are some nice examples. – CP
3. Opinion / Essay
Select an article or OP Ed piece that students would find interesting or controversial. After reading and discussing, students can respond with a formal essay or piece of writing reflecting their opinion. Read them anonymously afterwards and get the class to guess who wrote it! F
4. Giving Advice
Students read a problem provided by the teacher (even better, get students to provide the problem by having them write down what they need advice on). This can often be an Ann Landers style request for advice from a newspaper. Students write their own response, giving advice. F
5. Running dictation
This is a lot of fun but quite noisy. Put students into groups of 3 or 4. For each group, post on the wall around the classroom, a piece of writing (maybe a selection of text you will be reading in your lesson). One student is appointed as the secretary. The other students must “run” to where their piece of writing is on the wall and read it. Then run back and dictate it to the secretary who records it. Continue until one group is finished (but check that they got it right!). CP
Think —- Write
1. Graphic Organizers
These you can make on your own by having students draw and fold blank sheets of paper or by giving them a pre-designed one. Students write out their thoughts on a topic using the organizer. An alphabet organizer is also an excellent activity in writing for lower level students. Graphic organizers and mind maps are an excellent way “first step” to a longer writing piece and are an important pre-writing activity. WUP
2. Prompts / Sentence Starters
Students are prompted to finish sentences that are half started. They can write X number of sentences using the sentence starter. Many starters can be found online. Prompts are also an excellent way to get students thinking and writing. Every day, students can “free write” a passage using the daily prompt (ex. What I did this morning etc… ) Creative writing of this sort really motivates students to write. There are many lists online you can use.
3. Thinking Games
Using a worksheet, students play the game while writing down their responses in grammatical sentences. What the Wordle / Not Like the Other and Top 5 are some games I’ve made and which help students begin to write. Each has a worksheet which students fill out. CP
4. Decoding / Translating
Translating a passage into English can be a good writing activity for higher level students.
Students love their cell phones and Transl8it.com is a handy way to get students interested in writing. Simply put in English text and Transl8it.com will output “text messaging”. Give this to students to decode into standard English and then check against the original. Lots of fun! See the games I’ve designed (Pop Song / Dialogues ) using this principle of decoding text messaging. CP
5. Forms / Applications
Students need to practice writing that will be of use to them directly in the wider world. Forms and filling in applications are a valuable way to do this. Fill in one together as a class and then get students to do this same for themselves individually. – CP
6. Journals / Reflection / Diaries
This type of free writing activity should be done on a regular basis if used in class. Use a timer and for X minutes, students can write upon a topic that is important to them, that day. Alternatively, students can write at the end of the day and record their thoughts about the lesson or their own learning. These are all excellent ways for the teacher to get to know their students. One caution – don’t correct student writing here! Comment positively on the student’s writing – the goal is to get them feeling good about writing and “into” it. – F
7. Tag Stories / Writing
Students love this creative exercise. Fold a blank piece of paper vertically (Hamburger style) 4 times. You’ll have 8 lines. On the first line, students all write the same sentence starter. Ex. A man walked into a bank and ……..
Next, students finish the sentence and then pass their paper to the student on their left/right. That student reads the sentence and continues the story on the next line. Continue until all 8 lines are completed. Read the stories as a class – many will be hilarious! I often do this with a “gossip” variation. I write some gossip “chunks” on the board like; “I heard that..” , “I was told…” “The word on the street is…” “Don’t pass it around but…”. Students choose one and write some juicy gossip about the student to their right. They then pass their paper to the left with everyone adding onto the gossip. Students really get into this! CP / F
8. Describe and guess
Students think of a person / a place or a thing. They write a description of them / it and they are read out and others students guess.
Jokes and riddles are also effective for this. Students write out a joke or riddle they know and then they are read and other students try to guess the punchline. – F
TEXT —– Write
1. Sentence Chains
The teacher writes a word on the board and then students shout out words that follow using the last letter(s). The more last letters they use, the more points they get. The teacher keeps writing as quick as possible as the students offer up more correct words. Ex. Smilengthosentencementality…..
Give students a blank piece of paper and in pairs with one student being the secretary, they play! This is a great game for simple spelling practice and also to get students noticing language and how words end/begin. They can also play for points. Compound words and phrases are acceptable! – WUP
2. Guided Writing
This is a mainstay of the writing teacher’s toolkit. Students are either given a “bank” of words or can write/guess on their own. They fill in the missing words of a text to complete the text. Take up together and let students read their variations. A nice adaptation to guided writing for lower level students is for them to personalize the writing by getting them to draw a picture for the writing passage to illustrate and fortify the meaning. Here’s a nice example. CP
Use a time line to describe any event. Brainstorm as a class. Then students use the key words written on the board, to write out the time line as a narrative. Really effective and you can teach history like this too! Biographies of individuals or even the students themselves are a powerful writing activity and timelines are a great way to get them started. – F
Students are given notes (the classic example is a shopping list but it might be a list of zoo animals / household items etc…) and then asked to write something using all the noted words. This usually focuses on sequence (transitions) or location (prepositions). F
5. Grammar Poems
Grammar poems are short poems about a topic that students complete using various grammar prompts. This form of guided writing is very effective and helps students notice various syntactical elements of the language.
Put the grammar poem on the board with blanks. Here are some examples but it could be on any topic (country, famous person, my home, this school, etc..). Fill out as a class with one student filling it in. Then, students copy the poem and complete with their own ideas. Change as needed to stress different grammatical elements. And of course, afterwards SHARE. Present some to the class and display on a bulletin board. Your students will be proud of them!
SPEAK — Write
1. Surveys / Reports
Students have a survey question or a questionnaire. They walk around the class recording information. After, instead of reporting to the class orally, they can write up the report about their findings.
This can also be used with FSW (Find Someone Who) games. Students use a picture bingo card to walk around the classroom and ask students yes/no questions. They write the answers with a check or X and the student’s name in the box with the picture. After, they write up a report about which student ……. / didn’t …… certain things. CP
2. Reported Speech
Do any speaking activity or set of conversation questions. Afterwards, students report back by writing using reported speech, “ Susan told me that she ………..” and “ Brad said that ………..” etc….. CP
3. Introducing each other
Students can interview another classmate using a series of questions / key words given by the teacher. After the interview of each other is over, students can write out a biography of their partner and others can read them in a class booklet. – F
4. In class letter writing
Writing for a purpose is so important and nothing makes this happen better than in class letter writing. Appoint a postman and have each student make a post office box (it could just be a small bag hanging from their desk). The students can write each other (best to assign certain students first) and then respond to their letter. Once it gets started, it just keeps going and going… – F
4. Email / messaging / chat / social networking
This is an excellent way to get students speaking by writing. Set up a social networking system or a messaging / emailing system for the students. They can communicate and chat there using an “English only” policy. Use videos / pictures like in class – to promote student discussion and communication. Projects online foster this kind of written communication and using an CMS (Content Management System) like moodle or atutor or ning can really help students write more. – F
5. Class / School English newspaper or magazine
Students can gain valuable skills by meeting and designing a school English newsletter. Give each student a role (photographer, gossip / news / sports / editor in chief / copy editor etc…) and see what they can do. You’ll be surprised! – F
WRITE —— Do
Students can write dialogues for many every day situations and then act them out for the class. The teacher can model the language on the board and then erase words so students can complete by themselves and in their own words. Here’s a neat example using a commercial as a dialogue. – CP
Students draw a picture and then write a description of the picture. They hand their description to another student who must read it and then draw the picture as they see it. Finally, both students compare pictures! – F
3. Tableaus / Drama
Students write texts of any sort. Then the texts are read and other students must make a tableau of the description or act out the text in some manner. For example – students can write about their weekend. After writing, the student reads their text and other students act it out or perform a tableau. F
4. Don’t speak / Write!
I once experimented with a class that wouldn’t speak much by putting a gag on myself and only writing out my instructions. It worked and this technique could be used in a writing class. Students can’t speak and are “gagged”. Give them post it notes by which to communicate with others. Instruct using the board. There are many creative ways to use this technique! – F
RECOMMENDED BOOKS 4 TEACHERS
I highly recommend the following two books for ideas and some general theory on how to teach writing. Purchase them for reference.
1. HOW TO TEACH WRITING – Jeremy Harmer
Very insightful and cleanly, simply written. The author explores through example and description, all the facets and theory behind that “looking glass” which we call teaching. I use this as a course text for my methodology class for in-service teachers.
2. Oxford Basics: Simple Writing Activites
– Jill and Charles Hadfield
This book (and series) is a gem! Jill Hadfield knows what working EFL / ESL teachers need and in this book there are 30 simple writing activities which teachers can use with a wide variety of levels and with only a chalkboard and a piece of chalk / paper.
See my Blog post and download the list of my TOP 10 WRITING WEBSITES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS


Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a neurological childhood (pediatric) speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech is impaired in the absence of neuromuscular deficits (e.g., abnormal reflexes, abnormal tone). CAS may occur due to known neurological impairment, in association with complex neurobehavioral disorders of known and unknown origin, or as an idiopathic neurogenic speech sound disorder. The core impairment in planning and spatiotemporal programming parameters of movement sequences results in errors in speech sound production and prosody. (ASHA, 2007b, Definitions of CAS section, para. 1).
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an area of clinical practice that addresses the needs of individuals with significant and complex communication disorders characterized by impairments in speech-language production or comprehension, including spoken and written modes of communication (ASHA, 2020). AAC uses various techniques and tools, including picture communication boards, line drawings, speech-generating devices (SGDs), tangible objects, manual signs, gestures, and fingerspelling, to help the individual express thoughts and wants and needs feelings, and ideas. AAC is augmentative when used to supplement existing speech, and alternative when used in speech production that is absent or not functional (ASHA, 2020). AAC may be temporary, as when used by patients postoperatively in intensive care, or permanent, as when used by an individual who will require the use of some form of AAC throughout his or her lifetime (ASHA, 2020).
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction and the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors. Social communication deficits present in various ways and can include impairments in joint attention and social reciprocity and challenges using verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors for social interaction. One might see restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities manifested by stereotyped, repetitive speech, motor movement, or use of objects; inflexible adherence to routines; limited interests; and hyper- or hypo-sensitivity sensory input.
In cluttering, the breakdowns in clarity that accompany a perceived rapid and irregular speech rate are often characterized by deletion and/or collapsing of syllables (e.g., “I wanwatevision”) or omission of word endings (e.g., “Turn the televisoff”). The child may make many revisions and interject other words and put pauses in places in sentences not expected grammatically, such as “I will go to the/store and buy apples” (St. Louis & Schulte, 2011). Clutter can occur with other disorders.A condition that can be a consequence of cluttering is pragmatic disorder; individuals with cluttering may not attempt to repair breakdowns in communication, resulting in less than significant social interaction (Teigland, 1996) (ASHA, 2020).
Early intervention (EI) is the process of providing services. It supports infants, toddlers, and their families when a child has or is at risk for a developmental delay, disability, or health condition that may affect typical development and learning. The goal of EI is to lessen the effects of a disability or delay by addressing the identified needs of young children across five developmental areas:
- Cognitive development
- Communication development
- Physical development, including vision and hearing
- Social or emotional development
- Adaptive development (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 2004)
The earlier that services are delivered, the more likely children are to develop effective communication, language, and swallowing skills and achieve successful learning outcomes (Guralnick, 2011). The Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, also called Part C of IDEA, is a federal grant program that helps individual states operate comprehensive systems of interdisciplinary EI services for children ages birth to 3 with disabilities and their families/primary caregivers. EI services can also be provided outside of Part C programs in settings such as neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), pediatric rehabilitation hospitals or clinics, preschools, and private practices. Services in these settings may not be covered by federal or state dollars but can be billed to public or private insurance or the family.
is the aspect of speech production that refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort. Stuttering, the most common fluency disorder, is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by repetitions (sounds, syllables, words, phrases), sound prolongations, blocks, interjections, and revisions, which may affect the rate and rhythm of speech. These disfluencies may sometimes accompany physical tension, adverse reactions, secondary behaviors, and avoidance of sounds, words, or speaking situations (ASHA, 1993; Yaruss, 1998; Yaruss, 2004). Cluttering, another fluency disorder, is characterized by a perceived rapid and irregular speech rate, which results in breakdowns in speech clarity or fluency (St. Louis & Schulte, 2011)(ASHA, 2020).
Functional speech sound disorders include those related to the motor production of speech sounds and those related to speech production’s linguistic aspects. Historically, these disorders are referred to as articulation disorders and phonological disorders, respectively. Articulation disorders focus on errors (e.g., distortions and substitutions) in the production of individual speech sounds. Phonological disorders focus on predictable, rule-based errors (e.g., fronting, stopping, and final consonant deletion) that affect more than one sound. It is often difficult to differentiate between articulation and phonological disorders; therefore, many researchers and clinicians prefer to use the broader term, “speech sound disorder,” when referring to speech errors of unknown cause. See Bernthal, Bankson, and Flipsen (2017) and Peña-Brooks and Hegde (2015) for relevant discussions.
The definitions of intellectual disability (ID) and related terminology have evolved to reflect the legal and social gains made by individuals with such a disability and their families. See Changes in Services for Persons With Developmental Disabilities: Federal Laws and Philosophical and Perspectives and Federal Programs Supporting Research and Training in Intellectual Disability. These changes reflect the movement from institutionalization to inclusive practices, self-advocacy, and self-determination. There has also been the movement toward recognizing the fundamental communication rights of people with severe disabilities. A Communication Bill of Rights—initially developed by the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities (NJC) in 1992 and updated in 2016—recognizes the right of all people to effective communication (NJC, 1992; Brady et al., 2016) (ASHA, 2020).
ID is characterized by
significant limitations in intellectual functioning (e.g., reasoning, learning, and problem-solving);
significant limitations in adaptive behavior (i.e., conceptual, social, and practical skills in everyday life); and
onset in childhood (before the age of 18 years; American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities [AAIDD, 2013]) (ASHA, 2020).
This definition of ID balances limitations with an equal emphasis on skills. Consequently, language and philosophy concerning ID now focus on levels of support necessary to maximize an individual’s ability, rather than strictly on functioning (ASHA, 2020).
There is general agreement that auditory perceptual abilities influence language development—particularly the pre-literacy skills—and that it can be challenging to separate aural and language skills concerning academic demands (Richard, 2012, 2013; Watson & Kidd, 2008). The act of processing speech is very complex and involves the engagement of auditory, cognitive, and language mechanisms, often simultaneously (Medwetsky, 2011).
Richard’s (2013) continuum of processing includes both auditory processing and language processing. This continuum involves the following types of processing:
Central auditory processing begins when the neural representation of acoustic signals is processed after they leave the cochlea and travel through the auditory nerve to the left and right hemispheres (Heschl’s gyri).
Phonemic processing, during which acoustic features of the signal, is discriminated against utilizing phonemic skills such as sound discrimination, blending, and segmenting.
Linguistic processing is where meaning is attached to the signal (begins at the level of Heschl’s gyrus, expands to Wernicke’s area, to the angular gyrus, and finally to the prefrontal and frontal cortex, in planned, organized, and mediated responses) (ASHA, 2020).
Late language emergence (LLE) is a delay in language onset with no other diagnosed disabilities or developmental delays in other cognitive or motor domains. LLE is when language development trajectories are below age expectations. Toddlers who exhibit LLE are considered “late talkers” or “late language learners.”
Late talkers may present with expressive language delays only or mixed expressive and receptive delays. Children with only expressive delays exhibit delayed vocabulary acquisition and often demonstrate slow development of sentence structure and articulation. Those with mixed expressive and receptive language delays indicate delays in language comprehension and oral language production.
Some researchers distinguish a subset of children with LLE as “late bloomers.” Research also indicates that late bloomers are less likely to demonstrate concomitant language comprehension delays when compared with children who remain delayed (Thal et al., 1991) (ASHA, 2020).
Organic speech sound disorders include those resulting from the motor/neurological disorders (e.g., childhood apraxia of speech and dysarthria), structural abnormalities (e.g., cleft lip/palate and other structural deficits or anomalies), and sensory/perceptual disorders (e.g., hearing impairment).
Social communication is the use of language in social contexts. It encompasses social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and language processing.
Social communication skills include the ability to vary speech style, take others’ perspectives, understand and appropriately use the rules for verbal and nonverbal communication, and use the structural aspects of language (e.g., vocabulary, syntax, and phonology) to accomplish these goals. For more details, see ASHA’s resources on components of social communication [PDF] and social communication benchmarks [PDF] (ASHA, 2020).
Social communication, spoken language, and written language have an intricate relationship. Social communication plays a role in language expression and comprehension in both spoken and written modalities. Spoken and written language skills allow for effective communication in various social contexts and a variety of purposes (ASHA, 2020). Social communication, such as eye contact, facial expression, and body language, is sometimes influenced by sociocultural and individual factors (Curenton & Justice, 2004; Inglebret, Jones, & Pavel, 2008). There is a wide range of acceptable norms within and across individuals, families, and cultures.
Social Communication Disorder
Children with social communication disorder have difficulties with the use of verbal and nonverbal language for social purposes. Primary challenges are social interaction, social cognition, and pragmatics. Specific deficits are evident in the individual’s ability to communicate for social purposes
- in ways that are appropriate for the particular social context
- change communication to match the context or needs of the listener
- follow the rules for conversation and storytelling
- understand nonliterate or ambiguous language
- understand what is not explicitly stated (ASHA, 2020)
This definition is consistent with the diagnostic criteria for Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder detailed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013).A social communication disorder may be a distinct diagnosis or may co-occur with other conditions, such as:
spoken language disorders;
written language disorders;
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD);
traumatic brain injury (pediatric and adult);
In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social communication problems are a defining feature, along with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. Therefore, social communication disorder is diagnosed separately from ASD (AHSA, 2020).
Speech sound disorders is an umbrella term referring to any difficulty or combination of problems with perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments.Speech sound disorders can be organic or functional. Organic speech sound disorders result from an underlying motor/neurological, structural, or sensory/perceptual cause. Available speech sound disorders are idiopathic—they have no known reason (ASHA, 2020).
A spoken language disorder (SLD), also known as an oral language disorder, represents a significant impairment in the acquisition and use of language across modalities due to deficits in comprehension or production across any of the five language domains (i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics). Language disorders may persist across the lifespan, and symptoms may change over time.
When SLD is a primary disability—not accompanied by intellectual disability, global developmental delay, hearing or other sensory impairment, motor dysfunction, or other mental disorder or medical condition—is considered a specific language impairment (SLI).
An SLD may also occur in the presence of other conditions, such as
autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
intellectual disabilities (ID),
developmental disabilities (DD),
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
traumatic brain injury (TBI),
Stuttering typically has its origins in childhood. Most children who stutter begin to do so around 2 ½ years of age (e.g., Mansson, 2007; Yairi & Ambrose, 2005; Yaruss, LaSalle, & Conture, 1998). Approximately 95% of children who stutter start to do so before five years (Yairi & Ambrose, 2005).
All speakers produce disfluencies, which may include hesitations, such as silent pauses and interjections of word fillers (e.g., “The color is like red”) and nonword fillers (e.g., “The color is uh red”). Other examples include whole-word repetitions (e.g., “But-but I don’t want to go”) and phrase repetitions or revisions (e.g., “This is a- this is a problem”). These speech behaviors are generally considered nonstuttered (typical) disfluencies (Ambrose & Yairi, 1999; Tumanova, Conture, Lambert, & Walden, 2014). When a child uses many nonstuttered (typical) disfluencies, differential diagnosis is critical to distinguish between stuttering, avoidance, and a language disorder.Less typical, stuttering-like disfluencies (Yairi, 2007) include part-word or sound/syllable repetitions (e.g., “Look at the b-b-baby”), prolongations (e.g., “Ssssssssometimes we stay home”), and blocks (i.e., inaudible or silent fixations or inability to initiate sounds). Compared with typical disfluencies, stuttering-like disfluencies are usually accompanied by more significant than average duration, effort, tension, or struggle. Aspects that factor into the perception of severity includes frequency and type of stuttering and stutters to communicate effectively.
Some young children go through a period of excessive disfluency, which does not persist for many of these children.
The terms clinical supervisor and clinical supervision are often used about student clinicians’ training and education, recognizing that supervision is part of the training and education process. Clinical supervisors do more than oversee the work of the student clinician. They teach specific skills, clarify concepts, assist with critical thinking, conduct performance evaluations, mentor, advise, and model professional behavior (Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders [CAPCSD], 2013).
Many professionals involved in the supervisory process suggest that clinical educators and clinical instructors more accurately reflect what the clinical supervisor does (CAPCSD, 2013).
Telepractice is applying telecommunications technology to delivering speech-language pathology and professional audiology services at a distance by linking clinician to client or clinician to clinician for assessment, intervention, and consultation (ASHA, 2020).
ASHA adopted the term telepractice rather than the frequently used terms telemedicine or telehealth to avoid the misperception that these services are used only in health care settings. Practitioners also use other terms such as teleaudiology, telespeech, and speech teletherapy in addition to telepractice. Services delivered by audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) include the broader generic term telerehabilitation (American Telemedicine Association, 2010).
Use of telepractice must be equivalent to the quality of services provided in-person and consistent with adherence to the Code of Ethics (ASHA, 2016a), Scope of Practice in Audiology (ASHA, 2018), Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (ASHA, 2016b), state and federal laws (e.g., licensure, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA; US Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.-c]), and ASHA policy (ASHA, 2020).
Telepractice venues include schools, medical centers, rehabilitation hospitals, community health centers, outpatient clinics, universities, clients’ homes, residential health care facilities, child care centers, and corporate settings. There are no inherent limits where telepractice sites as long as the services comply with national, state, institutional, and professional regulations and policies. See ASHA State-by-State for state telepractice requirements (ASHA, 2020).
Standard terms describing types of telepractice are as follows:
Synchronous (client interactive)—services are conducted with interactive audio and video connection in real-time to create an in-person experience similar to that achieved in a traditional encounter. Synchronous services may connect a client or group of clients with a clinician or include consultation between a clinician and a specialist.
Asynchronous (store-and-forward)—images or data are captured and transmitted (i.e., stored and forwarded) for viewing or interpretation by a professional. Examples include transmission of voice clips, audiologic testing results, or outcomes of independent client practice.
Hybrid—applications of telepractice that include combinations of synchronous, asynchronous, and in-person services.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a form of nondegenerative acquired brain injury resulting from a bump, blow, or jolt to the head (or body) or a penetrating head injury that disrupts normal brain function (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015).
TBI can cause focal brain damage (e.g., gunshot wound), diffuse (e.g., shaken baby syndrome), or both. Symptoms can vary depending on the lesion’s site, extent of damage to the brain, and the child’s age or stage of development (ASHA, 2020).
TBI’s functional impact in children can be different from in adults—deficits may not be immediately apparent because the pediatric brain is still developing. TBI in children is a chronic disease process rather than a one-time event, because symptoms may change and unfold over time (DePompei & Tyler, in press; Masel & DeWitt, 2010).
Concussion, a form of TBI, is an injury to the brain characterized by TBI’s physical and cognitive sequelae. Concussion typically occurs due to a blow, bump, or jolt to the head, face, neck, or body that may or may not involve loss of consciousness (McCrory et al., 2013). Concussion has received more attention in recent years, particularly for sports injuries (ASHA, 2020).
A disorder of written language involves a significant impairment in fluent word recognition (i.e., reading decoding and sight word recognition), reading comprehension, written spelling, or written expression (i.e., written composition; Ehri, 2000; Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Kamhi & Catts, 2012; Tunmer & Chapman, 2007, 2012). A word recognition disorder is also known as dyslexia.
Written language disorders can involve any of the five language domains (i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics). Problems can occur in the awareness, comprehension, and production of language at the sound, syllable, word, sentence, and discourse levels, as indicated in the table below (Nelson, 2014b; Nelson, Plante, Helm-Estabrooks, & Hotz, 2015). See ASHA’s resource, disorders of reading, and writing (ASHA, 2020).