End of Term Snapshot: Reading Fluency, Accuracy, and What’s Driving Growth Written by Heather Down 12 September 2025 Each term, I like to take a look at what is going on in my private tutoring practice. This helps me see where I need to make adjustments with teaching. I’m not just looking at increases in […]
I saw a post this morning saying this from a literacy intervention specialist: “Rainbow Words Write tricky words in different colours. Seeing them in colour helps your brain remember!” Some evidence supports the statement that using different colours to write tricky words helps memory; however, it is not universally proven to help with dyslexia, and […]
Reflecting on Episode 5 of Love Literacy – Inspired By Heather Down 14 August 2025 Recently, I have had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Eunice Fuchs. If you haven’t already listened to the podcast, you can listen here or watch on YouTube here. I have found myself going back to this podcast several times, […]
By Heather Down, 22 July 2025 A knowledge-rich curriculum refers to a curriculum that is deliberately designed to build students’ background knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of the world in a systematic, cumulative way. We don’t leave this to chance or assume it will just ‘come along’ with generic reading or experience. (Consider biologically primary and […]
Written by Heather Down, 21 July 2025 Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to attend Lyn Stone’s conference, Spelling for Life. This professional development opportunity was aimed at the upper primary year levels. There was a wonderful mix of attendees and I always love making new connections with teachers and tutors around New Zealand. […]
End of Term 2 Snapshot – Heather Down 23 June 2026 As Term 2 draws to a close, I’ve taken time to reflect on the wonderful gains made by the learners I have the privilege of teaching. Across a wide range of ages and learning profiles; many with dyslexia, ADHD, dysgraphia, or language-based challenges; progress […]
Cursive Handwriting: Benefits and Drawbacks from the Perspective of Dyslexic & Dysgraphic Students Heather Down 14 April 2025 Over the last term, I’ve introduced some of my learners to cursive handwriting. The students I’ve chosen to trial this with have already mastered print, and their handwriting is generally tidy. One of my students, in particular, […]
Reading Data Snapshot, Term 1 2025 by Heather Down 07 April 2025 It’s the end of Term 1 (2025) in New Zealand, and while I don’t complete a full formal assessment for every student, I do monitor reading progress and provide anecdotal feedback on writing. This term, something exciting stood out—students in my tutoring sessions […]
When Is It Time to Stop Tutoring? As a literacy tutor, especially as the end of term approaches (like now!) and I’m planning the next term’s timetable, I often get asked a big question: “How will I know when it’s time to stop tutoring?” It’s a great question—especially for parents of neurodiverse learners who may […]
I thought I might offer something new for 2025. Let’s look at some learning profiles each month to gain an understanding of students. The first learning profile I looked at in January 2025 is a Year 6 male. After the assessment, what did I know? What was I concerned about, and where did I begin? […]
