Slide B V2
Slide C V2
Slide A V2
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But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

All kids need to learn how the language works in order to read and write. Some need much more practice than others - and they get that here.

Slide B V2

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

Slide C V2

But for many kids that is not enough. As fragile skills develop, they need reading material that they can read, want to read, and meets their learning needs - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. As fragile skills develop, they need reading material that they can read, want to read, and meets their learning needs - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. As fragile skills develop, they need reading material that they can read, want to read, and meets their learning needs - and they get that here.

Slide A V2

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But even that is not enough. The books should also teach them how to comprehend and should be a springboard for writing - and they get that here.

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But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But for many kids that is not enough. They also need to learn how to process words easily and fluently, and how to spell - and they get that here.

But before any of that, you need to know what they can already do, where to start - and you get that here.

The Sentence Book, is now available for purchase..

Click on Buy AWS on the top right of the Home page to find it in the drop down menu under the Extras tab.

Structured writing for older students

For some time now, I have been working on a structured writing programme for older students. It has two principal strands:
1. How sentences work, from simple to most complex.
2. How paragraphs work, and how they link together in a logical way to produce a cohesive, easy to follow argument or explanation.

The paragraph component will be based on the books. Students need something to write about, content that is quickly and easily accessible. Because the books are decodable with a limited word list, they offer ample scope for vocabulary development. Students will be asked to take the information in the book, and write from a different perspective. The assignments extend comprehension, build critical thinking skills, and develop writing competence.

A template has been created for every writing assignment, guiding students through the process. A list of appropriate vocabulary has been produced for every paragraph.

The whole covers multiple ‘purpose of my writing’ themes: report writing, compare and contrast this with that, arguing a case, evaluating, letter writing and more. Every effort has been made to make the writing tasks real-world relevant, with students taking on the roles of newspaper reporter, lawyer for the accused, a scientist explaining a discovery, a citizen writing a letter of complaint, or making a submission, and more. Perhaps some students will think, “This could be me.”

To make this work, all books and manuals will be available in digital format next year. This will work for some schools, others will choose to continue with hard copy. Both will be available.

Agility with Sound Digital program

https://awsdigital.agilitywithsound.co.nz/

For now, I have intermediate and secondary students in mind, but I plan to extend it to upper primary in time. It will, of course, be age and need appropriate. There will be a digital component, but handwriting matters, and will be included.

Free Professional Development Workshops

I am not going to be offering these webinars regularly this year.

However, I have recorded a Webinar series from last year- they can be found under Betsy’s Videos.

If a school is interested in a private conference for staff or teacher aides, please contact me.

Wordchain

Wordchain is a core interactive component of Agility with Sound. It provides even more support for building capable, confident readers!

Our four WordChain apps were released in 2017 on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

In February 2022 we released the web-based version which can be used in most browsers, called Wordchain for Web.

Get all the details about the browser-based version and the apps at wordchain.co.nz

Wordchain 5 will be added to the suite in 2024.

This is a big step up. It covers complex suffixes, Latin, Greek and French spelling patterns, and multi-syllable words.

An Australian accent version is available for Levels 1 and 2, but only from the Apple store and Google Play. We plan to have all five levels in an Australian accent  available in the web format for 2024.

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Agility with Sound Thesis

This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of Agility with Sound. If you do not want to wade through the whole lot, the key findings are on pages 71 – 73.
Download PDF ↓

What is AWS?

Agility with Sound is a complete structured literacy programme for older struggling students, specifically students in Years 4 to 10 who have experienced years of failure.

It includes the four Wordchain phonological awareness apps, activities to build fluency, 135 age-appropriate decodable books, and resources to build comprehension and writing skills. It is designed as an integrated package for use in the classroom, delivered by the classroom teacher, or for individual intervention with a tutor. Parents have successfully taught children at home using this resource.

Discover how it works

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Why use it?

Agility with Sound is the creation of trained teacher Betsy Sewell, whose children faced their own battles with dyslexia.

Betsy has worked with hundreds of children who struggled with reading: teaching them and listening to their stories. She has seen the anguish of their parents and care-givers turn to joy as their children progressed towards capable reading.

The Agility with Sound programme is a product of Betsy’s experiences and years of research, all with a single goal: help children achieve reading success!

Read more about Betsy

Cat - Agility With Sound Tiles

What are people saying?

One of our boys came to show me a word he had spelled using the Agility With Sound tiles. It was 12 letters long and very impressive. He looked like he’d won lotto. I don’t think he stopped smiling all day!

Judy Sachdeva, SENCO, Prebbleton School

Agility With Sound is very easy to manage because the planning is already done: it’s hands-on and in levels.

Our children have progressed significantly in reading levels, and their writing as well. It has had a huge effect on the children’s fluency.

Taloa Sagapolutele, Year 5 and 6 teacher, Rowley Ave. School

We trialled AWS with some of our target students last year.  The results we achieved were fantastic, but what was even more exciting was that our students enjoyed the programme, remembered to go each day and that other students wanted to join as well.  It is exciting when you have intermediate aged students asking to be part of a reading intervention.

Nicky Fleming, Deputy Principal, Mt Roskill Intermediate

The texts challenge my struggling older readers to use taught word recognition and decoding strategies authentically. Many of the books have a New Zealand culture and history focus and all texts provide lots of opportunities for language comprehension and critical thinking. The texts support students’ word study and phoneme-to-grapheme mapping at the lower level and advanced phonemic awareness and spelling pattern recognition at the higher level. Because the texts link to the Wordchain app, reading and spelling skill development becomes part of a structured literacy programme that is manageable for the teacher in the classroom setting.

 Diana Bassick, Resource Teacher of Literacy, Orewa

See more Testimonials