This Little Kindergartener Rocked It!
My editor, Nina Henson, has always said that Silent Elephant “e” is really for all children.
“Yes,” she says, “it teaches THE WAY dyslexics learn and it teaches using strategies for success of ELL students and any student at risk.
“But,” she continues, “the truth is that Silent Elephant “e” teaches the way every child deserves to learn to read. It involves the whole child; it teaches the way they process concepts. It’s fun. It teaches them to think about how they are learning and think about how they are processing concepts. It teaches them to express their knowledge and to express how they know what they know. It ensures success for all.”
I know all of this is true because I wrote Silent Elephant “e” for the whole child—integrating the whole learner into every lesson. Silent Elephant “e” stimulates thought and learning through multiple interactive multi-sensory activities in every single lesson.
As you know, I wrote Silent Elephant “e” because my daughter is dyslexic and I needed to learn how to best help her process and retain the concepts in reading, writing and spelling. It needed to be sequential: beginning with phonemic awareness and then moving step by step through all phonics concepts. It had to be taught the way she learns. I needed to support her learning from pre-k through college.
Silent Elephant “e” does that.
Until this last school year, all my tutoring students have had learning differences, many profound. I have seen amazing results for all of them.
This last school year, I had the delightful pleasure of experiencing what Nina believes: Silent Elephant “e” is the way every child deserves to learn to read, write and spell. I had the privilege to teach the Kindergarten sister of one of my third graders.
My third-grade student is profoundly dyslexic, but her little sister, “Lisa”, isn’t. Their Mom asked me to tutor Lisa as well because she was concerned about her missing out with their online schooling.
During the 11 months I tutored Lisa, I watched with awe as she picked up concept after concept so quickly and transferred what she was learning into other areas. She asked questions and made statements like: “This must be a word family, because there’s only one vowel in the middle of the word but it’s a long sound like the “i” was long in “find”. We need to put a purple wall after the long “e” sound in “before” just like we put a purple wall after the long “o” sound in “over”, because long vowels have long legs to see over the purple wall!”
It was thrilling to watch her mind absorb the concepts quickly and be ready and eager for more.
In our short time together, Lisa mastered all 700 Fry list words and finished her kindergarten year reading on a 4th grade level. I was amazed and delighted, yet not surprised.
Now because of this sweet, little one I have experienced how quickly Silent Elephant “e” supports the learning of every child.
She opened my eyes again to the power of Silent Elephant “e”.
If you have any questions about Silent Elephant “e” contact us.