Are games a relief from ‘serious learning’? I think for some, games may be seen as taking a break or filling the gaps. For those teachers leading a game, they may also feel the pressure to not spend too much time playing games, as it’s not viewed as ‘serious learning’.  I saw this quote only this week which reinforced how some may feel when playing games but it also identifies the child’s perspective. There is also the argument that some feel under pressure to include more games in learning, it almost suggests that a lesson which doesn’t include a game isn’t fun!  Again, there’s pre ..read more

  The long vowel /a/ sound can become a really complex sound to spell (and read) and includes many tricky spellings.  Many student will know how to spell the long vowel /a/ sound in words such as   You can find the above patterns (ai & ay) in series 5 of CodeBreakers. They link back into series 1 where the a-e has already been taught.  The above gives a really strong mid and end pattern. It helps bundle the patterns together to put less stress on the working memory and retrieve the spelling choices together. It links into the existing knowledge of a-e (split digraphs ..read more

“But I can’t remember how to spell it!” This is a phrase I often hear learners say or “I can’t remember anything!” Recently, I had a lesson with a teenager who  earlier in the day had been upset in school. I wasn’t aware of this until a few minutes into our lesson.  The learner understandably found it very difficult to separate the earlier incident and their feelings towards this when they attended our 1:1 session.  Our task was to review some writing they had completed in the previous session, to look at the structure, spelling and punctuation. This is a task we have often comp ..read more

Today, one of my learners really struggled to recall the difference between the spellings ‘when’ and ‘went’ when writing a sentence.  I developed a method to show him how to know when to use ‘wh’ in words.   First of all, it’s really important to check; 1-Your learner understands when a questions is being asked Practice modelling some oral sentences, say some which are questions and others which are statements. Ask your learner to tell you when you are asking a question. You can then ask the learner to say some of their own sentences which include a question. 2- Check if they know th ..read more

It’s a huge ‘hello’ from CodeBreakers! We appreciate we’ve been rather quiet for a while as lots of development has been taking place behind the scenes making CodeBreakers even better. We’re super excited to tell you about the new audio facility (text to speech) on many of CodeBreakers PLAY games, for every series.  For some time now we’ve been hoping to be able to offer this facility and enable your learners to work on CodeBreakers PLAY games independently. The new audio element will now automatically read out the clues, where necessary on games, such as hangman or anagrams.  The sa ..read more

Are you looking for a dyslexia or dyscalculia assessment? A few year ago, when Covid became common place in the UK, it left many dyslexia assessors in a difficult position, unable to offer assessments, especially those who didn’t work directly in schools. As a result, since the world has opened up again, it has left a backlog of parents looking for dyslexia assessments for their child.  Covid also saw an increase in home education and as parents started to see more about their child’s coping strategies, there also became an increase in awareness that some children needed additional suppor ..read more

According to a recent BBC Newsround report,  the health charity Backcare says the weight of books and bags are dangerous for children and can lead to back problems in later life. Is it possible for schools to change to paperless learning? They say that children should carry no more than 10-15% of their bodyweight. Girls are often smaller than boys, but carry the same weight of books and homework. Recent research showed that 31% of boys carried overly heavy bags, compared to nearly 42% of girls. Read the article here- BBC Newsround report We’re proud to say at CodeBreakers, all our workb ..read more

Where is your happy place?  I know it’s an unusual question to ask parents and education staff! Although, as we come to the end of an academic year, I know you’re all envisaging it.  I’ve made no secret of my own mental health difficulties over the years.  Over the last couple of years I’ve started to write some blogs about dyslexia and mindfulness.  In many ways, the help which I have sought has been so valuable in not only empathising with my leaners, who are often anxious or feeling challenged in every day life and education, also in helping them reflect positively and s ..read more

CodeBreakers reading and spelling tests are FREE to families and schools to download and use. They will enable you to find the gaps in your child or learner’s knowledge and choose the appropriate set of workbooks and games and much more. A little about the tests At CodeBreakers, we have several sets of tests for you to download.  Each series has its own set of tests and the findings of the tests will tell you if your learner has gaps in their knowledge at the specific level. What types of tests are included? Each set of tests will in Include a spelling, reading and non-word reading test ..read more

Last year, Twinkle voted CodeBreakers one of the best blogs writing about dyslexia.  This year we were invite to add to the Twinkle blog about living with dyslexia. What is it like to be Dyslexic?  Twinkle asked the experts and explored common signs of dyslexia, the strengths that it brings, and debunk some of the myths around this learning difference. We were asked; What strengths do dyslexic people have compared to those who don’t have dyslexia? What are the main challenges that dyslexia causes to yourself/those who live with it? If you could pick one common misconception about dy ..read more