Four Blocks – Jane Farrall Consulting

Word Walls: Using the Word Wall

Feb 1, 201712 Comments

Last month I wrote about getting your word wall ready for use. Now they are ready – we need to use them. There is no point having a word wall that you don’t use! Word Walls are an important resource for conventional readers and writers. Our job, as educators, is to teach them how helpful

Word Walls: Getting the resources ready

Jan 13, 201717 Comments

In the next couple of weeks in Australia and New Zealand, our schools will finish their summer holidays, and students and teachers will return to the classrooms. This means that lots of teachers are currently getting their resources together for the new school year ahead – including me. For students who are conventional readers and

Working with Letters, Sounds and Words in our Classrooms

May 28, 20154 Comments

Working with letters, sounds and words are important components of literacy instruction in our classrooms. Emergent students need explicit and incidental instruction around the alphabet and sounds, to improve their alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. Conventional students need to learn how words work. Below is a checklist I use with teachers in working through the

Balanced Literacy for all: Guided Reading Resources

May 13, 20141 Comment

This is a very quick blog post to let you know that I have recently added a bunch of new resources about Guided Reading onto a new Guided Reading page on my website. (Edited: This is now renamed comprehension instruction) Guided Reading at Adelaide West Special Education Centre Guided Reading Resources Guided Reading: Learners with

Literacy Lab: a great tool for quality literacy instruction

Jun 18, 20135 Comments

Please note: this resource has been discontinued. Literacy Lab is a fabulous piece of software for use as part of balanced literacy instruction from Mayer Johnson. The software is aimed at emergent readers and writers, providing a range of simple, easy to use highly motivating activities. I have been using it for a few weeks

Predictable Chart Writing: Group Writing for All

Jun 6, 201315 Comments

Recently I have been talking a lot to teachers about doing group writing in their classroom. As teachers implement a balanced literacy program in their classrooms, it is important that writing happens daily – and that writing happens for real reasons. Writing is one of the most complex tasks that we ask students to do.

Literacy and AAC Presentations from AGOSCI 2013

May 4, 20136 Comments

Yesterday I was very lucky to present three papers around the topic of literacy instruction for students with complex communication needs (CCN) at the 2013 AGOSCI Conference. The first presentation was with the awesome Dr Sally Clendon. Sally and I both do similar consulting roles – although Sally is based in Auckland, New Zealand. We

Self-selected Reading for Early Readers of All Ages

Mar 7, 2013

Today’s post is brought to you by the two guiding rules of self-selected reading. It isn’t self-selected if you don’t choose it yourself. You can’t get better at it if it’s too hard. One of the literacy activities that we want students to engage in is self-selected reading. Self-selected reading has many purposes: it gives

Lots of alternatives – “pencils” for everyone

Dec 19, 201213 Comments

When I first started teaching literacy I focused on teaching reading. At the time, I was working with adults with physical disabilities and writing seemed so hard. None of my class would be able to use a pen or even a keyboard and mouse, which was all I had access to (or so I thought).

Literacy for All: Building Blocks for Literacy Success

May 25, 201211 Comments

Last year, I had the amazing pleasure of working regularly with the fabulous people at Willans Hill School in Wagga Wagga. We worked together to put Four Blocks in place in every classroom, for a minimum of two hours a day. This morning I was honoured to share our journey in a keynote presentation at