I've spent the majority of my summer immersed in the study of grammar and syntax. My current fascination is the role syntax plays in reading comprehension, especially at the sentence level.

And it appears I'm not the only one focusing on this topic. Perspectives on Language and Literacy is published biannually by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Their last two issues, Winter & Spring 2025, have focused exclusively on syntax. You have to be a member to access this periodical so I'm afraid you'll have to join the IDA (or find someone who is already a member and see if they'll share the pdf with you). 

The articles tend to be short and focus on summarizing the research and concepts. However, they also provide links to lots of other valuable research and resources if you want to learn more about any of the specific topics.  

There is a lot of focus on why it is so important to be teaching our students syntax, and personally I found the research absolutely fascinating. However, if you want to know more about how to teach syntax to your students I would recommend starting with the following resources: 

• William Van Cleave: Syntax Matters: The link between Sentence Writing and Sentence Comprehending
• Margie Gillis: Literacy How and Syntax Party

While we're on the topic of the late William Van Cleave, I wanted to let people know that the WVCEd site has been collecting as many recordings of his classes and presentations as they can. Van Cleave was a gifted and brilliant teacher but he preferred not to be recorded when he was teaching. So when we lost him so suddenly in 2021 there were concerns that his books would be all we'd have left to continue spreading his gifted approach to teaching language and writing. 

However, I was happily surprised to see how large a collection of recordings has been amassed in the last couple of years. I can't vouch for the quality of it all (yet), but I plan to spend the next year working my way through as many of them as I can and I invite you to do the same. 

Dr. Brennan Chandler is offering an interesting virtual workshop on Sept 13 called The Science of Spelling. 

Dr. Brennan is an Assistance Professor of Dyslexia in the Department of Learning Sciences at Georgia State University and he says that his primary goal as a researcher is to bridge the gap between "what we know in research and what we do in practice."

The workshop is described as explaining: 

• The research on spelling interventions

• How phonemic, orthographic, morphemic, and whole-word approaches each affect outcomes

• Practical routines for embedding spelling into small groups, interventions, and whole-class instruction

• Which rules matter (and which to ditch)

I doubt I'll add everything he recommends to my teaching but I'm hoping I'll learn at least a few new tools to add to my literacy toolkit. And at $29 USD you can't go wrong on the price. 

The wonderful Patti Bottino-Bravo is now offering her class See the Sounds as an entirely self-paced, online program. You can watch the videos at your pace and Patti will be available weekly for live zoom sessions. 

Patti's knowledge as an SLP and someone well-trained in SWI mean that her classes are unique and wonderful. 

I thought it would be helpful to have a few printable to start off the year. 

The incredible Kathleen Love of Rain City Reading offers some great printables for free. If you're not already on her instagram, do it now! She's got tons of great SWI posts. And if you go to this post and comment "MATRIXME" she'll send you 15 free matrices and her Basics of Word Study Guide. She also sells shirts and t-shirts with matrices on them. I have two and my students love them. 

If social media is not your thing, and all that is a little too complicated, there are also resources on some of the usual sites.

Sarah Paul has some interesting offerings on Teachers Pay Teachers. She has a bundle of Word Matrices available in both digital and printable format. I can't vouch for the accuracy of all her matrices, but that's always something you can question and investigate with your students. 

Emily Gibbons has been developing a wide range of morphology resources over the last couple of years. She is, of course, an OG tutor however many of her resources can be easily adapted to teaching that is not strictly structured literacy. Her games, in particular, are worth a look.