The dynamics of soil carbon and nitrogen are extremely important for the life and growth of vegetation and have impacts on climate and several soil processes. Hydrological fluctuations play an important role in modulating the speed of these cycles, from the microbial decomposition of organic matter and the related soil respiration and nitrogen mineralization to nitrogen uptake by plants and leaching to groundwater and streams. By enhancing some processes and quenching others, the patterns of soil moisture regulate the sequence of fluxes between different components and determine the dynamics of the other state variables of the system. Plants are often both water and nutrient limited, so it is difficult to determine the extent to which net primary production is controlled by water or nutrient availability. As noticed by Pastor et al. (1984), the nitrogen cycle needs to be explained through the water balance; not less marked is how the soil water balance controls the carbon cycle.

In Chapters 3–5 we described the temporal evolution of the main ecohydrological processes within the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum, in the absence of rainfall variability. Starting from a finer timescale description, where the fastest processes resolved are on the order of tens of minutes, we obtained a representation of the water, energy, and carbon fluxes at the daily level (see Sec. 5.4.5), expressed as a function of mean daily soil moisture and atmospheric characteristics. In Chapter 6 we introduced the probabilistic tools necessary to account for the fact that the forcing terms, rainfall in particular, are highly unpredictable at longer timescales. In this chapter, we finally combine these concepts to arrive at a stochastic description of soil moisture dynamics.

It is true that most teachers have limited knowledge of how words work in English. Linguistics hasn’t been a feature of their own schooling or their teacher education, and you can’t teach what you don’t know. The good news is that it isn’t hard to build the knowledge – in fact, it’s fun. In this chapter we look more closely at the linguistic threads that contribute to the rich tapestry of each word: etymology, orthography, phonology and morphology.

Chapter 3 outlined four key principles for teaching spelling: start with meaning; teach spelling explicitly; teach a repertoire of spelling knowledge; and integrate spelling instruction into all subject areas. This chapter introduces a 10-step process for planning and implementing a spelling program that is grounded in those four principles. Interspersed among the steps in the planning process are some of the questions teachers and parents frequently ask as they embark on the implementation process. What would your answers be? My responses are posted at the end of the chapter.

This chapter is focused on getting spelling assessment right, and expands upon steps 9 and 10 in the program planning process, introduced in chapter 4: assessing spelling in use, and keeping records of teaching and learning.

In this introductory chapter, fragments from the spelling stories of children, teachers, parents and carers will be used to paint a broad picture of what spelling is and what it isn’t. The following chapters provide more detailed guidance on how to work with children to build their spelling skills in productive ways.

Chapter 2 described how words work in English, and provided guidance on what to teach in spelling. Just as important as knowing what to teach is knowing how to teach, and that is the focus of this chapter. Many teachers simply teach spelling the way they were taught – through a list of words to be learned for an end-of-week assessment. However, research shows that this is an ineffective way to learn to spell. This chapter outlines four key principles for teaching spelling, each based on what the research tells us about how we learn to spell. 1 Start with meaning. 2 Teach spelling explicitly. 3 Teach a repertoire of spelling knowledge. 4 Integrate spelling instruction across all subject areas.