Assessing Puts the Power in Our Hands as Their Teachers

Often, at this time of the year, we talk about assessing and assessments.

We talk about assessing because we always assess our students at this time of the year.

And, we always talk about assessing because assessing and assessments put the power into our hands as their teachers.

When we assess, we know what to teach next because we know where they are and what they know.

When we know the skills they have, we can see a clear path ahead for them. We feel clear and in control of their education, their direction.

This is important for all our kids but vitally important for our dyslexic or struggling kids.

We have to know what they know and where they are to know how to support their success. Without this knowledge, it’s like we’re stumbling around in the dark with their hand in ours.
A quick story-
We were contacted by a frustrated homeschool mom who shared that her 10-year-old was dyslexic and struggled every day in pretty much every subject. She shared that in the writing curriculum she was using, 10-year-olds were to be writing a 3-4 paragraph essay and even though the ideas came easily, putting them in sentences, let alone paragraphs, was a constant struggle. It was so frustrating for both of them.  
She felt like she was between a rock and a hard spot.

So did her young one, who was probably more frustrated than mom because not knowing why you don’t understand something is the most frustrating of all. And dyslexics don’t understand why they don’t understand.

Mom wanted to know what to do.

Of course, the first thing as always was assess using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” Part 2 assessments.

When their assessments were completed, mom realized her young one didn’t have phonemic awareness and very few beginning phonics skills, so no wonder they were both so frustrated. No wonder writing a 3 to 4 paragraph essay was totally out of reach.

Assessing always gives us a pure read on their skills and growth and it gives us a pure read on the next steps to take from where they are to where they want to be.

In this young one’s case, it was Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” Part 1, Phonemic Awareness because without phonemic awareness success in reading, writing and spelling is limited if not unavailable.

The second step was Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” Part  3 beginning phonics skills. (Silent Elephant “e” Part 2 is all the assessments you’ll need for reading success.)

I know these sound like skills way below the 10 year age of this young learner, but assessing guides us to teach our children right where they are so their success is constantly guaranteed.

When we move forward from where they are, not matter where that is, and we assess along the way, the path is always clear and their success smooth and easy.

Assessing puts the power in our hands as their teachers to ensure their success!

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com :)
 
Keep a song in your heart!

What is Happening in Our Creative Dyslexic's Brain When They Are Learning to Read

As a tutor of dyslexic children, I’m often asked by the parents of my students, “What exactly is dyslexia?”

First, I reply, “Dyslexia is a language processing difference in the brain.” I also like to share Dr. Sally Shaywitz’s definition, “Dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read.”

I explain that the “unexpected difficulty in learning to read” is probably how they’re feeling about their child. They know their child is bright, clever, understands things and learns quickly, but for some not understandable reason, reading is very difficult for their child, if not impossible.

They often nod because they do know that feeling.  Their next question usually is, “What is happening in their child’s dyslexic brain when they are trying to read?”

I’ve been studying dyslexia research for almost 4 decades. I feel the real breakthroughs in research in how the brain learns to read began with Stanislas Dehaene’s first book How We Learn published in 2001. Then Sally Shaywitz’s book Overcoming Dyslexia followed in 2003. Her findings were so exciting to me and others. Using fMRI’s, she was able to prove there is a difference in how the dyslexic brain functions from the non-dyslexic brain when trying to read.

There’s still so much we need to learn about our brains, but more and more research is being done every day, and our knowledge of how the dyslexic brain processes information is continually growing. Again, this is so exciting.

Here’s what we do know now and what I share with my parents.

The first step in reading is for the reader to look at and focus on printed letters and words. The eyes send the letters and words off to the brain as energy messages. Messages from the left eye are sent to the right hemisphere of the brain while messages from the right eye are sent to the left hemisphere of the brain.

The visual symbols of individual letters, letter groupings (root words, prefixes, suffixes, blends, consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs/phonograms), and letters forming whole words will be recognized and stored in the “word box area” in the left hemisphere of the brain. Instant recognition of all the letters, letter groupings and whole words is necessary for a person to achieve fluency and automaticity in reading.

The visual messages that are originally sent to the right hemisphere, must be immediately sent through the corpus callosum (a thick bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) to the “word box area” in the left hemisphere for the brain to quickly and accurately decode the words.

(Please see our previous blog post here on how the brain learns.)

For a dyslexic, these processes don’t always run so smoothly. Often, the transfer of visual messages from the right side to the left side of the brain may not be done efficiently. The dyslexic brain may then attempt to recognize the letters, letter groupings and whole words in the right hemisphere, but that’s not really it’s function and this is best done and more effectively achieved in the “word box area” in the left hemisphere.

The dyslexic brain may also begin sending messages to other locations within the right and/or left hemispheres in search of help in processing the information more quickly. Unfortunately, this leads to further delays in fluency because of the time it takes to send the information and the fact that the other locations are not as efficient at recognizing letters and words as the “word box area”.

Probably you, just as parents of the kiddos I teach, are beginning to picture what is happening in their dyslexic child’s brain.

You may be visualizing how if the “word box area” isn’t able to immediately process the letters and words and isn’t immediately receiving help from the right hemisphere, their brain begins sending messages to other parts of the brain that might be helpful, sort of like rabbits running haphazardly through tunnels in a rabbit warren. 😊

Like my parents, I know you are also feeling just how frustrating this would feel to a bright young learner who understands so many things so easily and yet is completely mystified, and sometimes totally stopped, when trying to read.

Now I know you can probably guess the next question I’m asked – “How will Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® help my child learn to read, write and spell when nothing else has?”

Let’s start at the beginning here. Silent Elephant “e”® is based on research of Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Orton/Gillingham, Lindamood Bell, Louisa Cook Moats, Pleasant T Rowland, International Dyslexic Association and many others.

This research includes my own personal research with my students for thirty-six years teaching in the classroom. I wanted and NEEDED to know how ALL my students were learning, what they were learning and how what I was doing helped them or didn’t help them.

To this end, after I taught a lesson, I asked, “What did I do that helped you learn, what did I do that confused you, what could I do differently to help you even more?” I took careful notes. I repeated the same questions a day later, a week later, and a month later. I took careful notes each time.

I modified my instruction to meet the needs of each of my students. It was always my intent to do better and help EVERY child learn quickly and easily.

When I wrote Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, I reflected on all the knowledge I had gained from my students and all the research on teaching of reading, writing and spelling and dyslexia.

Silent Elephant “e”® is a comprehensive reading program based in the science of reading and all the latest research in and about the dyslexic learner.

Silent Elephant “e”® teaches ALL learners the way they learn to read, write and spell best! For our dyslexic learners, Silent Elephant “e”®, teaches them the only way they CAN learn to read, write and spell easily and quickly.

Silent Elephant “e”® provides total immersion in a precisely organized, multi-sensory phonemic awareness and phonics program using visual stimulation, auditory stimulation, and kinesthetic stimulation—in other words, using “the whole body”—to learn. 

This immersion is THE WAY our dyslexic children activate their “word box area” so that their brain immediately and effectively learns to identify letters and words. This immersion is THE WAY they learn to read fluently and successfully. On top of that, it’s fun!

This total immersion is also THE WAY EVERY child learns best to learn to read, write and spell, and it’s FUN.

All children, including our dyslexics, who learn to read with Silent Elephant “e”® quickly become independent readers achieving automaticity and fluency in reading, writing and spelling. They become so confident and self-assured they don’t question that they’ll be successful.

These are the answers that help the parents of my dyslexic kiddos relax and begin to enjoy their children becoming successful, happy readers.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is a wonderful win/win/win for everyone, dyslexics, non-dyslexics AND their parents.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com 

TikTok silent.elephant.e

EVERY CHILD Deserves to have FUN learning to READ, WRITE AND SPELL!

Every child deserves to learn to read and to have fun doing it!

When asked for a one word description for Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, the word that popped out was, “FUN!!”

The word after all these years is still FUN!

Learning to read with Silent Elephant “e”® is FUN and is meant to be FUN!

It was written with FUN as its guiding premise.

I wrote Silent Elephant “e”® on the foundation of the research of how our brains learn to read, write and spell and therefore on the best strategies to teach ALL LEARNERS reading, writing and spelling, especially dyslexic learners, or learners with other learning differences.

But, the guiding light behind all of our strategies based on the research is FUN.

When your kids are learning phonemic awareness and all the phonics concepts through active, imaginative activities that activate all parts of their brains, THEY HAVE FUN!

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® every phonics concept is introduced through a FUN imaginative activity that connects that phonics concept to all prior learning and will remain with them for the rest of their life.

When they learn through fun, learning is easy and natural. They become eager for the next concept.
They feel confident and sure of themselves.

They are ready to take on any book that comes their way, which is what we all want.

We want them to experience the freedom and joy of reading and writing, and never look back. 😊

Every child deserves to learn to read and to have fun doing it!

You can get ahold of us at silentelephante@gmail. We love supporting you and your children’s success.

Let's Talk About Dyslexia!!

Let's talk about dyslexia!

Dyslexia is NOT a disability that has to cause your child to be dependent on you always reading their schoolwork to them, or on them listening to all their schoolbooks on audio.

Your dyslexic child doesn’t have to be relegated to being dependent on audio books or the constant help from others all their life.

Case in point, the profoundly dyslexic young woman who graduated with a double major in neuroscience and chemistry in 4 years, who at the age of 14 DID NOT KNOW that cat has 3 sounds. Further, she didn’t have to listen to her college science textbooks on audio. She read them! She decoded. She processed them. She KNOWS them.

Dyslexia is NOT a disability that has to stunt a child’s life and make reading, writing and spelling difficult.

At Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, we don’t refer to dyslexia as a disability because it really isn’t. It’s just a difference. We refer to it as a learning difference, but it really isn’t a difference to your dyslexic child.

It’s just another way some brains can process print.

It’s the way their brain does process print.

All dyslexia IS, is their brain’s way of processing printed material (reading, writing and spelling) that necessitates us as their teachers to TEACH THEM TO READ, WRITE AND SPELL THE WAY THEIR BRAIN LEARNS TO READ, WRITE AND SPELL.

It’s just that simple.

Teaching them isn’t hard.

Actually, it’s easy, and much more fun than workbooks and circle the correct word. It’s active and engaging for us and them. It’s them learning and connecting the way their brain can learn and connect reading, writing and spelling.

When we teach them the way their brain learns words and sentences and connects meaning, it all makes sense to them right away. They don’t struggle.

If they have been struggling, with Silent Elephant “e”®’s structured processes they soon begin to relax and celebrate their successes. Watching them relax makes your heart sing.

As one 10-year-old profoundly dyslexic said so softly and with wonder, “I think I’m going to be able to read now!” And, boy, did she fly. She entered college 6 years later.

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, every single phonics concept (preschool through high school) is introduced with an activity that engages their whole dyslexic brain and their 5 senses so there is not one reading concept they will not understand or miss.

The dyslexic way of learning is NOT sitting in front of a computer screen, a workbook, or a typical worksheet trying to figure out what’s there and maybe being frustrated because the letters and words won’t stop moving around.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® does have worksheets, but they're specifically designed for the dyslexic student. Their dyslexic brain needs consistency as they are learning new concepts. Every Silent Elephant “e”® worksheet is in the same format and font, with only one concept presented per page. This blog post explains more about our worksheets.

Even children who experience the letters and words shifting around will find the letters and words stabilizing when we teach them the way their brain processes them. Several wonderful success stories are in these blog posts. 😊

What is the dyslexic way of learning?

THE DYSLEXIC WAY of learning is active, because their brain can’t learn to read, write and spell unless it’s actively dynamically connecting the concepts with other learning in creative ways through their 5 senses. It can’t.

THE DYSLEXIC WAY of learning includes verbalizing and explaining – talking, sharing, teaching. Their brain processes their learning through talking about the concepts and words and explaining how they know a word is that word, how they know it’s spelled the way it is and how they know a sentence, or paragraph means what it means.

THE DYSLEXIC WAY of learning is their brain appreciating time to think, share, and explain what they are learning to read, write and spell. Their brain likes time to make connections to other learning, to understand them and enjoy them.

When we teach our dyslexic children the way their brain learns, they learn quickly and they have fun all along the way, which is also very important.

Watching them find their confidence is heart-warming.

Dyslexia is just a difference.

When we teach our dyslexic children to read, write and spell the way their brain processes print, they learn easily. They don’t struggle, they have fun and they’re set for life.

Through learning the way they learn with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, 14 dyslexic students have been removed from special education because they no longer needed that support. They are free to read, write, learn and explore. 

They’re set for life!

Contact me here!

Becoming a Fluent Reader, Writer and Speller Doesn't Take 6 Years

I promise it won't take 6 years for your kids to become fluent readers, writers AND spellers, even if they're struggling right now.

I know you are probably thinking, “Why not? Isn’t that the way it works? Kindergarten through 5th grade is 6 years.”

Here’s the thing, when you teach your children to read, write and spell the way their brain learns best (active engaging activities), they learn quickly, they transfer that knowledge to prior and future learning easily and they RETAIN their learning.

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e® you will be teaching your children the way their brain learns best from the foundation of reading, writing and spelling (phonemic awareness) right through their high school phonics skills. You will be teaching every skill with active engaging activities that activate their whole brain. They WILL learn easily and quickly. They WILL have fun.

Here are some Silent Elephant “e® success stories 😊:
 
       A 3rd grader said to me after just 7 times of tutoring, “I know what you’re trying to teach me. There are single, separate sounds in words! I never knew that. I think I’m going to be able to learn to read now!”

It took that newly confident profoundly dyslexic 3rd grader 3 months to go from not reading at all to a 3rd grade reading level and a total of 8 months to be at a 6th grade level in comprehension and a 7th grade level in word recognition. She went from being way behind her peers to being far ahead!
 
       Just after 5 times of tutoring a struggling 9th grader said, “I never knew what rhyme was! I've never heard individual sounds in words before!”

She is profoundly dyslexic, yet it only took her 4 months to go from a 5th grade reading level to a 9th grade reading level and another 9 months to reach a college reading level while in 10th grade. She is now a college graduate.
 
        A 1st grader’s parent said to me, “I know my daughter doesn’t belong in special education. She’s truly very intelligent. Can you help her learn to read?”

The answer was, “YES, I CAN!

Within 6 months this profoundly dyslexic first grader was at a 1.8 reading level – almost caught up with her peers. Within 11 months, she was decoding words at a 6th grade reading level and within 18 months, she was comprehending at a 4th grade reading level – a grade level above her peers. To put icing on that cake, she was staffed out of special education at that time. She continued with me and within 3½ years was reading at an 11th grade level when she completed 4th grade!

         AND NO, Silent Elephant “e”® isn’t just for kids with dyslexia or other learning differences, it's for ALL YOUR KIDS!

The parents of a bubbly, bright little pre-school girl wanted her to have a solid foundation in reading, writing and spelling so they contacted me. She began tutoring twice a week for only 30 minutes at a time.

Within 7 months, she was at a 1st grade reading level although she was still in kindergarten. She entered first grade reading on a 4th grade level and in 2 years was reading on a 6th grade level

.She is confident and happy and free to read anything that catches her fancy and she is very successful in all her other subjects.

As you see, when you teach your children the way they learn best with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® it won’t take 6 years for them to become a confident, happy, fluent reader, writer and speller, even if they have learning differences.

When you are teaching with Silent Elephant “e”®, you’ll have fun teaching reading, writing and spelling and they will have fun learning to read, write AND spell. 😊

They will feel confident and proud, and you will feel happy.
 
If you have questions and/or want more information about how Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® ensures the success of your children, feel free to contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or 208-859-4406.

Keep a song in your heart!

She Was So Surprised and Then SO Happy!

This short video is such a pleasure to share.

It brings back memories of this young woman’s 14-year-old face determined to know the vowel song before she returned for tutoring because it was so “baby.” That memory is immediately followed by one of hearing her laughter on the phone 6 years later as she shared how that very song spontaneously popped into her mind to help her identify vowel sounds in a scientific word. It makes me smile every time I think of it.

It makes me proud of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®.

The young woman mentioned in this video in profoundly dyslexic and because of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® she graduated with a double major, neuro-science and biology, in four years. She did not struggle even though she is profoundly dyslexic.

Tutoring with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® has always been so rewarding and it continues to be. Watching the face of a struggling reader begin to relax as they realize that they are going to be able to read, write AND spell never gets old.

Visiting with them after they graduate from Silent Elephant “e”® also never gets old. Hearing about their successes and how much fun they are having never gets old. Going to their college graduation parties never gets old.

It’s very rewarding.

I get so many calls requesting tutoring, and I rarely have openings. That’s how successful my Silent Elephant “e”® tutoring business is.

I could be tutoring 40 hours a week if I wanted, but that’s one of the perks of your own tutoring business, you can work it around everything else that you are doing. You can tutor as many hours as you want.

I am always looking for tutors to join us. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have your own tutoring business, contact me. I would love to visit with you and share how easy it is to start your business. It’s easier than you might think.

When you start your tutoring business with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  you will have everything you need to be successful.
You will have:

1. Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, a complete reading, writing and spelling curriculum for any age student, especially struggling or dyslexic students, preschool through high school, and all the materials needed.

2. Training available in teaching with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® that includes how to set up your business.

3. Our support as you get started and all along your way. We are passionate educators with knowledge of how children (and adults) learn, we will be there to answer all your questions.

 If you’ve ever wanted to have a business that truly makes a difference in a child's (or adult's) life, contact one of us today! silentelephante@gmail.com    silentelephante.com  nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

You will be happy you do. Being a part of the success of a child is not only a gift to them, but to yourself. It’s an amazing feeling, you will feel pride in them and yourself. 
 
Keep a song in your heart!

Let See What You Get - Fun for You and Your Kids

Today I want to share Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® in depth so that you really KNOW what you are getting when you choose Silent Elephant “e”® as your reading, writing and spelling curriculum . 😊

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  is your COMPLETE reading, writing AND spelling curriculum pre-school through high school skills.

It’s your WHOLE curriculum, 14 years of reading, writing AND spelling skills – preschool through high school.

(If you prefer, click here to explore Silent Elephant “e”® or zip over and explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” here  Afterpay is available. You can also purchase on Amazon here, or search Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”. ) 

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  as your reading, writing and spelling curriculum you’ll have everything all your kids need preschool through high school skills, especially if they have learning differences like dyslexia. That’s all 14 years of curriculum.

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  you can relax and breathe deep knowing you won’t have to think about which reading, writing or spelling curriculum to use ever again.

Let’s explore it.
 

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® Part 1 is Phonemic Awareness which is the foundation of ALL reading, writing and spelling success.

Without a solid base of phonemic awareness, your child will struggle with all three, reading, writing and spelling, for the rest of their life. Silent Elephant “e”®’s phonemic awareness ensures that your child will have a solid understanding of how language works and they will be ready for phonics and to read, write and spell

Phonics concepts begin in Part 3 Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. Every phonics concept begins with an imaginative creative activity that is the foundation of that concept for the rest of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, and their life. These activities include puppetry, song, art, acting, drawing, color, symbols, writing, using their 5 senses in their learning and many other activities.

Each of these creative activities activates all parts of their brain which is important for every one of your children as they’re learning to read, write and spell, but especially important for your dyslexics or other learning difference children.
 

Silent Elephant “e”® also has 44 colored educational posters that are an integral part of each phonics concept. The poster activities are one of the ways that Silent Elephant “e”® ensures each phonics concept is processed in all parts of their brain. This is especially important for your dyslexic child, and is a powerful tool for every one of your children. When they have drawn the poster that explains the phonics concept, their brain will pull up that image for them when they come up to an unknown word that has that phonics concept.
 

There are 4 other components that we have created to support you as your children learn to read, write and spell with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. 

1. Extra added fun is our picture book My Awesome Grandma. It is a book that leaves their imagination wondering. :) It introduces consonant digraphs and goes with Parts 4-14.

2. Just for you, we recorded over 100 Instructional Videos that take you lesson by lesson through all of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. If you’re not sure how to teach a lesson, you have the video at your fingertips.

3. Knowing you might want added support, we offer a 9 hour on-line Personal Training - our Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® class for homeschool parents, tutors and teachers is very helpful.  You’ll notice the price goes down depending on how many people attend the class.

4. Our blog silentelephante.com/blog has way over 100 posts to support you as you teach your children.  

Please keep this in mind - one of the most important things for us is for you to know that with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  you will ALWAYS have OUR support to answer all your questions about Silent Elephant “e”®, about teaching reading, about teaching in general and about teaching dyslexics and other learning differences.

Your children’s success is very importance to us.
You, and your children, having fun as they learn to read, write and spell is also very important to us. 

Email us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com with your questions.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is Different

In this video, Crystal, one of our homeschool moms, shares how Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is different.  She didn't use Silent Elephant “e”® with her older kids and she's definitely noticing the difference in how her younger one is understanding phonics in both reading and spelling. 

Enjoy, and shoot your questions to us at silentelephante@gmail.com.

Linda

Becoming a Silent Elephant "e" Tutor is Easy and Very Rewarding

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® Parts 1-14 and the Educational Posters are on sale for 25% off through May. This is everything you will need for all your children to be successful readers, writers and spellers, AND it is all you need to start you Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® tutoring business. You can buy Part 1-14 individually or your can buy the packages to save money.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® is an EASY, at home, very rewarding way to make money.

In this video I share that I have more requests for tutoring than I have available time slots.

When Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® is your preschool through high school reading, writing, spelling program, you have everything you need to start your own tutoring business.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® is all 14 years of reading, writing and spelling curriculum which means, you have everything you need to start your business and teach ALL your children. (Of course, it won't take 14 years for them to learn all the skills. It usually just takes 2-4 years.🙂)

Plus, you have us to help you get your business rolling and to support you as it grows.

Right now is the perfect time to start your Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ® journey as 
everything you need, Parts 1-14 and the Educational Posters are on sale through May 31st. 
Check them out here.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com to explore being  a Silent Elephant “e” ® tutor. 

BIG SAVINGS SALE ON NOW!

Big Savings Sale! 

 Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® Parts 1-14 and the Educational Posters are 25% off through May 31st.

Click here to explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. Afterpay is available. You can also purchase on Amazon here, or search Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.  

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  is your reading, writing AND spelling curriculum pre-school through high school skills.

It’s your WHOLE curriculum, 14 years of reading, writing AND spelling skills – preschool through high school.

When Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  is your reading, writing and spelling curriculum you’ll have everything all your kids need preschool through high school skills even if they have learning differences like dyslexia.

You can relax and breathe deep knowing you won’t have to think about which reading, writing or spelling curriculum to use ever again.

Click here to explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. Afterpay is available.  

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® every concept begins with an imaginative creative activity that is the foundation of that concept for the rest of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, and their life. These activities include puppetry, song, art, acting, drawing, color, symbols, writing, using their 5 senses in their learning and many other activities.

Each of these creative activities activates all parts of the brain which is important for every one of your children as they’re learning to read, write and spell, but especially important for your dyslexics or other learning difference child.

You can purchase Parts 1-14 individually or purchase the packages to save money. The packages include Parts 1-14, Parts 1-3, and Parts 4-14. 

Click here to explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. Afterpay is available.   

The Educational Posters are also 25% off through May.

The posters are an integral part of each phonics concept they're learning. Throughout each phonics concept, your kids will continually refer back to the posters.

They will draw the posters ensuring the concept is processed in all parts of their brain. This is especially important for your dyslexic child, but is a powerful tool for every child. When they have drawn the poster for a concept, their brain will pull up that image when they come up to a word they don’t know that has that phonics concept.

Those are the basics, Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® Parts 1-14 and the Educational posters 25% off through May.

Click here to explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. Afterpay is available. You can also purchase on Amazon here, or search Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.  

When you are exploring the store you will notice 3 other items we have created to support you as you teach reading, writing and spelling with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. 

1. The picture book My Awesome Grandma is a book that leaves their imagination wondering. :) It introduces consonant digraphs and goes with Parts 4-14.

2. We recorded over 100 Instructional Videos that take you lesson by lesson through all of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. If you’re not sure how to teach a lesson, you have the video at your fingertips.

3. We offer a 9 hour on-line Personal Training - our Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® class for homeschool parents, tutors and teachers is very helpful.  You’ll see the price goes down depending on how many people attend the class.

Click here to explore each part of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. Afterpay is available. You can also purchase on Amazon here, or search Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.  

Again, this sale ends on May 31st which gives you time to explore Silent Elephant “e”®, and get any questions answered.  Email us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

Exactly What DOES Silent Elephant "e" Teach?

Let's answer this question that came in, “Just exactly what does Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  teach?”

I’ve always wanted to say, “The WHOLE enchilada!”, but I always answer, “Everything a preschooler to college age learner needs to know to become a successful, competent, confident reader, writer, and speller.”

I do realize that this doesn’t really tell you anything about how Silent Elephant “e”®  teaches and how your children WILL learn with Silent Elephant “e”® .

I did this video to answer this question for a homeschool group. I think you'll find it very informative.

It's not a short video with tidbits of info. Instead, it’s chocked full of information about Silent Elephant “e”® : phonemic awareness, phonics, how it works, why it works, and why it’s easy for you to teach with and easy for your kids to learn with. :)

When you finish watching this video, you'll have solid knowledge about Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® , how it's different, how you can teach multiple ages at the same time, and WHY your children will so quickly learn to read, write and spell using Silent Elephant “e”® , and have so much fun doing it.

So here it is, the WHOLE enchilada!I would love to know how helpful this video is for you. Please send your thoughts by return email.

And as always, contact me with questions at silentelephante@gmail.com or Nina at nina.silentelephante@gmail.com.

It Doesn't Have To Take 6 Years for Them to be Reading on a 6th Grade Level

Today I’d like to share more of my experiences with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® and continue my thoughts on why I am realizing it shouldn’t take 6 years for a child to be able to decode 6th grade reading words.

Over the last 12 years that I have taught reading, writing and spelling with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  it’s been my experience that children master phonemic awareness and learn all the phonics rules and are able to apply the phonics rules to fluently decode 6th grade words by the end of their 2nd grade year - about 8 years old. In other words, it takes about 2 years to achieve reading 6th grade words.

Further, Silent Elephant “e”®  was written so this goal can be achieved with only 2 hours of instruction per week. Again, that’s what my data is showing because I only meet with my students for 2 hours a week. Of course, if they spend an hour per day learning with Silent Elephant “e”® , they will be decoding words at a 6th grade level even sooner.

Why would this be true? Why is this my experience over and over?

Well, they learn so easily and quickly because they are learning the way they learn best, through whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities and processes that stimulate all parts of their brain for both learning and retaining what they have learned. These whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities and processes are embedded into every moment of their instruction in Silent Elephant “e”®.  My experience and data share the results.

I can hear some of you thinking, “But my child struggles with reading. It’s so difficult for him/her!”

If your child has a learning difference, multiple learning differences or any learning struggles, it may take longer for him/her to reach that 6th grade word recognition level.

But, you can rest assured that he/she will attain that level with Silent Elephant “e”®  faster, more steadily and with more fun than with any other reading program. This is because they will be learning using all their senses (multi-sensory) therefore connecting their learning in all parts of their brain. In the case of dyslexic learners, it activates under stimulated parts of their brain and makes learning and retention of learning much easier.

This has been my experience with Silent Elephant “e”® : it may take children longer if they have learning differences, but they get there and they have fun getting there.

Let me share an example. I have been tutoring an ELL boy for 3 years who has multiple learning differences and speech and language processing disorders (one can barely understand his English or his native tongue). He is also considered to have an extremely low IQ.

When he came to me halfway through his 4th grade year, he wasn’t reading at all. He didn’t know letter sounds or letter names. He was illiterate and basically non-verbal.

Today as I write this, he has mastered phonemic awareness and knows all letter sounds and letter names. He has mastered the 700 High Frequency Fry Word List. He fluently reads simple to complex words, such as: so, ran, sphinx, squint, certain, cage, hurry. He reads words with single consonants, consonant digraphs and consonant blends, words with hard and soft “c” and “g”, words with long vowels, and words ending with “y”. He knows how to read and write (spell) words with the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est, and -ly . He knows when to change or not change “y” to “i” and how to change “f” or “fe” to “v” when adding a suffix. Further, he is formulating answers to high level thinking questions.

When this beautiful boy, who has a goal of becoming a police officer, first came to me, his teachers were sure that he’d never learn to read.

That thought crossed my mind from time to time also when we first began, but I knew I couldn’t give up on this sweet, hard-working boy. He certainly isn’t giving up! Like I said, I knew he WOULD take longer than 2 years because of his learning differences and his language processing difficulties, but I had faith he would get there because of my experience with Silent Elephant “e”®.  We started out very slowly and have slowly picked up speed.

He’s now reading early readers’ books. You should see the smile on his face as he shows me a book he’s read: one about veterinarians, one about astronauts, one about Ninjas, one about dinosaurs. He beams with pride! He is feeling the freedom and joy of reading.

His dad, who had been told his son would never read, says over and over to me, “You, Mrs. Jones, you are really teaching him to read!”

I humbly thank his dad and I think to myself that I’m so glad I wrote Silent Elephant “e”®.  It has been the steady, consistent, multi-sensory instruction his son needs to understand language and learn to read.

From my experience with other students, I know that now that he’s almost finished with Part 10 of Silent Elephant “e”®, his reading growth will speed up! I can’t wait, I can already see his face beaming with both pride and relief. He realizes he is succeeding. He is feeling the joy of reading.

This fall he headed off into seventh grade with more of a feeling of confidence and that he has a future than he has ever felt. He’s still not reading on grade level yet, but he knows he is moving there, however long it takes.

This young success story has not been my only student whose parents were told their child would never read. Last year, I had a fun experience with one of my then 9th grade boys admitting to me with both embarrassment and pride that he got caught red-handed reading his mom’s text messages. A year before that, he was a nonreader.

He hadn’t meant to snoop into his Mom’ phone, he just started reading, got caught up in what he was reading, didn’t even realize that he was reading so effortlessly, and didn’t even think about the fact that he really shouldn’t be reading his mom’s private messages. 😊

His mom told me later that she didn’t know whether to be excited and happy, because he was actually reading and engaged in reading or to be upset because he was reading things she hadn’t planned on him reading. In the end, she was thrilled!

He shared, “I wasn’t trying to snoop. I just started reading and I got so excited that I couldn’t quit. My mom was stunned!” He asked me immediately to give him a reading assessment to see what reading level he was on which, of course, I did. We celebrated the growth he’s made in ONLY 9 months.
In January, this now 16-year-old, 10th grade student passed his driver’s license test with 100%! He and his family went out to dinner to celebrate. He was beaming with pride when he told me!

Let me go back to where I started today, it’s been my experience with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®  over and over these past twelve years that when you teach children, especially struggling children, the way they learn best with whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities embedded into every moment of learning, it doesn’t take 6 years to be reading at a 6th grade level. The average is 2 years, and that’s the average!

Those who don’t have learning differences learn more quickly but EVERY SINGLE ONE will succeed. That’s been my experience. And I LOVE it!

Check out this blog post to enjoy a young one who flew - She Was Reading at a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten.  There are also many more success stories here on my blog.

Follow us on TikTok @silent.elephant.e 😊.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com

When Learning is Fun, It’s Easy and It Stays!

 The eyes of the young boy hunched over his last worksheet in Part 14 moved effortlessly word to word. His hand stretched into the colored pencils spread in front of him with a smooth motion as he chose the next color he needed to mark the decoding in the next word.

Shaun quickly and confidently used different colors and different symbols to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks.

He did all of this from memory.

By repetitively using colors to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks, Shaun easily put the “puzzle pieces” in a word together to find meaning.

The Silent Elephant “e”® colors and phonetic markings Shaun chose to indicate how to decode words are not random markings taught in isolation.

Instead, the phonetic markings and the colors used to mark them are the logical outcome of the fun, multi-sensory activities that Shaun experienced as he learned each phonetic concept. More importantly, he had fun learning the concept and the markings, so they were easy to remember.

These activities included acting, puppetry, cooking, games, singing and many other multi-sensory activities that set the phonetic concepts firming in multiple parts of Shaun’s brain. In Silent Elephant “e”®, every phonetic concept is introduced with a multi-sensory activity.

As he finished his worksheet, he began to glow with pride and as he raised his head, his bright smile beamed at me. He was proud.

Shaun was so calm, so in control, so meticulous and so very pleased with himself as he flew through that worksheet marking word after word, reading each sentence effortlessly with expression and comprehending completely.

He knew that he knew how to decode and read every word on that page, and he knew that he comprehended everything he read.

He also knew that just two years before, he wasn’t even able to read at a first-grade level and now here he was reading at a 9th grade level, 4 years ahead of his grade level.

He knew school was easier now and getting easier all the time.

He also knew that he is profoundly dyslexic and that learning to be calm and focused had been hard. He knew that learning to read, write and spell through fun activities in Silent Elephant “e”® had not only helped him find calm in learning to read, but helped him understand what he hadn’t been able to understand before. 

Looking up from his worksheet, his bright smile told me the truth of all of this.

Let’s ask those questions that come to mind: Why was Shaun able to make such fast progress with Silent Elephant “e”®? Why was this profoundly dyslexic young boy able to move from primer to 9th grade in two years?

It’s because Silent Elephant “e”® is experiential, it’s multi-sensory, it’s fun.

It teaches the whole child through fun activities that activates all parts of their brain through their senses, thus “wiring” their brain with memories of these fun activities and with knowledge learned during them to decode and mark unfamiliar words. It teaches the way children learn best -through fun experiences.

Long after he completes Silent Elephant “e”®, Shaun’s brain will retrieve memories of the fun activity he experienced while learning the phonetic markings associated with each  learned phonetic concept. His brain will retrieve this knowledge when he needs to decode an unfamiliar word, even as an adult.
Shaun’s anxiety is gone; he will always feel confident that he has the skills to support him as he moves into high school, college and adulthood.
 

When children learn to read, write and spell experientially through fun, meaningful, multi-sensory activities, learning WILL be FUN AND FAST and WILL STAY with them.
Furthermore, YOU have fun teaching!

Contact with any questions at silentelephante@gmail.com

Who Wouldn’t Want to Practice Spelling in Pudding!

Who Wouldn’t Want to Practice Spelling in Pudding!

I received a fun, fun email from Wendy, a homeschool educator, after she read the blog post entitled “Ten Fun Spelling Activities”. (link here)

“We had a fun time practicing our spelling in pudding. Even Xander who is only 2 and a half years old was able to join in the fun. Thanks for the great ideas.

They all licked their fingers! Each ended up liking a different flavor. We had chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch.

We were practicing the words from the end of Part 4 (Silent Elephant “e”®.) First, they copied the spelling words from the board where I had written them. Then they worked as partners reading a word and sounding it out for the other to write.

The last 2 words were challenging for them, but I think the pudding partnering will help them remember “phone” and “phonics.”

Even Xander learned how to draw a circle in his pudding. 
It was great fun for all!”

Isn’t that a fun, lovely story—extremely educational, too! The children were learning using all their senses: seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and listening to Mom and their partner—their whole body involved!

I loved how Wendy included her young son in the activity! What a wonderful idea to have him draw shapes in the pudding.

Young children can draw lines that curve; lines that squiggle; lines that go up, down, or across; lines that are straight; lines that zigzag, etc.

I included “phonics” and “phone” in that relatively early phonics lesson on consonant digraphs because children need to be able to read those words early on in first grade. I know they are challenging, but I agree with Wendy that writing in pudding, or another medium will aid in their retention of meaning and spelling of their words.

These pictures of Zoya, Audrey and Xander giggling and laughing while having so much fun learning together, brings joy to my heart!

I hope you try it with your kiddos and send me pictures!

Any questions, contact us here: silentelephante@gmail.com       nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

Phonics and Spelling go Hand-in-Hand :)

Phonics and Spelling go Hand-in-Hand 

On Tuesday, October 24, Nina did a Facebook Live on the subject of spelling. She began by sharing how our amazing brains process written language. We know more and more about how our brain works because of fMRIs that neuroscientists are using to study how it functions. She continued by explaining how reading and spelling are connected, 2 parts of the whole for understanding written language, like two sides of a coin. (Here's the link to the video.)

Let’s pull those thoughts together here.

The first thing to understand about spelling instruction is that it must be taught concurrently with phonics instruction. While your young ones are learning a particular phonics rule and utilizing it in learning to read, they need to be applying that very same phonics rule in learning to spell. When they learn both at the same time, both reading and spelling make sense. They have confidence in both areas.  
Here is why reading and spelling need to go hand-in-hand:

• They are like two sides of a coin forming written language.

• They both represent sound-symbol relationship—reading on one side of the coin and spelling on the opposite side of the coin.

• Reading is a decoding skill; spelling is an encoding skill.

Decoding is translating printed words to sound and meaning; whereas encoding is the opposite—using sounds to create printed words.

Let’s make a point of this again. Their spelling instruction must correlate with their phonics instruction.
Unfortunately, many spelling programs often introduce a new phonics rule and the exceptions to that rule in the very same lesson.

And worse, often there is no correlation between phonics (reading) instruction and spelling instruction, because they are seen as two totally different subjects.

This lack of correlation between reading and spelling and the introduction of the rule and the exceptions in the same lesson creates confusion for all children.

It’s worse for a dyslexic learner or any struggling or multi-language student who is working hard to comprehend an abstract phonics concept. It almost makes it impossible for them to internalize and master the phonics rule being taught, much less understand the exceptions. And spelling, the other side of that coin, can sort of drop out of sight in the confusion.

This is why Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches reading and spelling together. We understand how the brain reads and spells.

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, you’re able to relax and expertly teach each abstract phonics rule through sequentially organized, multi-sensory, whole-body lessons guiding your young ones to a concrete understanding of each phonics rule for reading and spelling.

You’ll watch your kids feel so confident in their understanding of a phonics rule that they will eagerly accept the challenge to spell words that follow that rule.

Since Silent Elephant “e”™ was created so all learners could learn spelling along with reading, we provide you with lengthy leveled word lists (Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3) moving from simple to complex for every phonics lesson. These word lists for reading, spelling and vocabulary development are an integral part of each phonics lesson in Silent Elephant “e™. They provide you with NUMEROUS words focused on each phonics lesson’s objective—words to use for word recognition, for vocabulary development and for individualized spelling lists.

Spelling is important and all children, struggling or not, can be successful when we connect it to their reading and teach it the way their brains learn.

Join us on our Facebook page, Silent Elephant e, LLC Group, for more discussion on teaching spelling and everything reading related. 

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com