She taught,
““Sh” is a digraph, because when “s” and “h” are together
they make one new sound of /sh/.”
It always makes me giggle and burst with pride when one of my kiddos become so confident in their skills that they become the teacher. It’s such a good feeling, for them, for me and certainly for their parents.
Silent Elephant “e” is THE program that teaches reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension), writing and spelling in a precisely organized, systematic, complete auditory, visual and kinesthetic way that ALL CHILDREN NEED, especially dyslexic and struggling learners.
It is THE program that makes the teaching and learning to read, write and spell interesting, fun and a sure thing.
Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is tried and true and that became apparent again last week when “Kathy”, the proud mom of “Julie”, one of my students, excitedly shared this wonderful story.
Julie is in second grade and was on the computer for her reading class with her teacher and classmates. Her teacher told a child who was struggling to read the word “shade” that “shade” started with the blend “sh”.
Julie raised her hand and her teacher called on her. Julie politely explained to her teacher and classmates that “sh” is not a blend.
“If “sh” was a blend, it would make the Kindergarten sounds of /s/ and /h/ blended together smoothly. Then “shade” would sound like /s/ - /h/ - /long “a”/ - /d/.
“So, “sh” is a digraph, because when “s” and “h” are together they make one new sound of /sh/.
Julie continued teaching, “My tutor says that the letters in blends sound just the same as the sounds we learned for the letters in Kindergarten.
“But the letters in digraphs make new, different sounds, not at all like the sounds we learned in Kindergarten. Mrs. Jones and I say the digraphs are magical, because the letters magically change their sounds to become digraphs.”
Julie’s teacher was amazed, “Wow Julie, you explained that very well, very clearly. We’ll never get blends and digraphs mixed up again! Good job!”
Kathy beamed with pride and shared, “I was so impressed by how politely and meticulously Julie taught her teacher and her classmates!
“Everything she’s learned from you completely makes sense to her.” (Julie often says during a lesson, “Oh, that makes sense.” 😊)
Kathy smiled with pride and continued, “Julie teaches Silent Elephant “e” to anyone who will listen: me, her dad, her little sister, her grandma, her friends—everyone! Maybe she’ll grow up to be a teacher.”
I, too, felt so much pride!
Julie is a completely different girl than the one who began Silent Elephant “e” 16 months ago. She is severely dyslexic and had already been placed in special education in the early part of first grade.
What Julie needed to become confident in her reading, writing and spelling was a precisely organized, systematic, complete auditory, visual and kinesthetic program, aka, Silent Elephant “e”.
Students becoming a teacher is a common theme when you teach with Silent Elephant “e”. It teaches the way they learn, so reading, writing and spelling “makes sense” and it is easy for them to explain to others what they understand. Explaining why they know what they know is an integral part of the program.
If you have further questions about partner work and the home-school connection in Silent Elephant “e”, feel free to contact us.