Home > Workshops > SMILE - Supporting Beginning Readers

SMILE - Supporting Beginning Readers Workshop

Looking for ways to raise your school's literacy standards?
SMILE . . . can provice you with the answer.

Strategic Management of the Instruction of Literacy in the Early-Years

The SMILE workshop provides practical ideas to support classroom instruction and essential background knowledge about literacy learning for early childhood Teachers and Teacher’s Aides, Learning Support, ESL and Reading Recovery Teachers.

Participants at the SMILE workshop will examine:

The links between language and brain development, and
Simple, effective and fun ways to build early reading and spelling skills.

The SMILE reading workshop provides educators with essential knowledge about building the literacy brain and is based on current neurological and educational research. The strategies outlined have been successfully trialed in teaching settings with small and large groups of students over many years.

Central to the SMILE principle is that effective teaching is both explicit and fun, with high levels of student engagement. Teaching techniques and learning tasks outlined in the SMILE Workshop have been strategically designed to build skills for struggling readers and extend successful beginning readers. Students are moved from the known to the unknown using strategic instruction and success based strategies. The techniques demonstrated have been shown to promote generalization and transference of skills and knowledges from one setting to another in most students.

"I have children that know their sight words, but can’t always read them in books."

Pam, Year 1 Teacher

Pam's problem is not uncommon. Some students struggle to transfer their knowledge across settings. Participants at the SMILE Workshop will be shown teaching techniques and examples of explicit play which promote both generalization and transference of early reading, writing and spelling skills.

The hierarchy of games which build alphabetic and phonic knowledge will be demonstrated. Additional games to build and extend phonologic knowledge will be discussed and participants will explore the use of explicit play to build mastery of language skills and knowledges, which facilitate formal literacy instruction.

SMILE has been developed to meet the evolving needs of individuals within groups and maximize learning outcomes. Multiple levels of scaffolding during play, ensure that strong foundations are established at each level of learning for mixed ability groups. If you want practical ideas and strategies for beginning or struggling readers, then the SMILE Workshop is for you.