Once Learned Through Experience, It's Theirs Forever

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.
 

Example of a Level 3 worksheet with phonetic markings for decoding.

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.
 
These activities included acting, puppetry, cooking, games, singing and many other multi-sensory activities that set the phonetic concepts firmly 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 the 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.
 

Example of a Level 2 works showing phonetic markings for decoding.
Each marking takes their mind back to the activity they experienced to learn that concept.

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 the knowledge learned during them to decode unfamiliar words. It teaches them the way they 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 any unfamiliar word.

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 it WILL STAY with them.

Contact us here or call us at:

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones   208-859-4406       or Nina Henson   208-860-3125

Teaching Multiple Levels at the Same Time Made Easy

Teaching Multiple Levels at the Same Time Made Easy

Meet Xander who was beside himself when he got to join in the Silent Elephant “e” ™lessons with his sisters.

It was a happy day for Xander when he was able to begin HIS Silent Elephant “e” ™ reading lessons like his two older sisters. He had watched his sisters have so much fun learning to read. He had even been able to join in some of the multi-sensory introduction activities like writing his letters in pudding as they practiced their sight words, but finally the day had come when HE got to have HIS lessons to learn to read, write and spell.

He eagerly listened to his mom explaining phonemic awareness with the Caterpillar Game and the colored squares. He listened intently as his mom said the sounds in “fan”, he repeated them listening intently to HIS voice and then carefully moved the colors squares to indicate the number of sounds he was hearing. He beamed with pride!
 
Suddenly he had a great idea! His brain was transferring his knowledge! He shot off to his room, returned with his toy cars, began lining up his tiny cars to match the colors of his squares, and moved his CARS to indicate how many sounds he was hearing in a word.
 
He was having FUN while learning and transferring his knowledge.
 
Learning to read, write and spell should be fun and Silent Elephant “e”™ is all about the fun!
 
Silent Elephant “e” ™teaches entirely using multi-sensory and whole-body instruction, so children are actively learning at all times. 

Xander is Wendy’s third child to begin learning to read, write and spell with Silent Elephant “e”™.
 
Wendy has honed her method of teaching 3 different ages at the same time and making sure they are always successful. Silent Elephant “e”™ makes this easy for her.
 
Here is the Silent Elephant “e” ™method for teaching multiple ages. You and your children will enjoy success using these: 

1. Since every Silent Elephant “e” ™lesson has leveled materials, begin every new concept with the multi-sensory introductory lesson with all your kids. This gives them a sense of learning community as they are actively learning the same concept.

1. After the active multi-sensory introduction, move your kiddos to their personal practice pages which are leveled:

• Level 1 introduces the phonics rule – these practice pages are for your child that is just beginning to learn to read.

• Level 2 provides developing vocabulary and independence in using all the phonics rules – these practice pages are for your child that has completed Level 1 and is reviewing each phonics rule.

• Level 3 contains multi-syllabic words for advanced independent reading using the phonics rules – these practice pages are for your child that has completed Level 1 and/or Level 2. (Some children can move right into Level 3 upon completing Level 1. Other children may need more review after completing Level 1, so it’s best to have them excel in Level 2 before moving to Level 3.)

As continual assessment is a built-in integral part of Silent Elephant “e”™, Wendy KNOWS when each of her children have mastered a concept and she knows if she needs to reteach a concept before moving on.  It’s easy for Wendy to meet each of her child’s individual needs to be sure they are succeeding.
 
And they ARE succeeding! Her 7-year-old won an award for reading the most books at her library this past summer and her 9-year-old is blazing a trail through Nancy Drew mysteries. 😊 And Xander is eager to join them.

As always, check out more info at silentelephante.com, email us at silentelephante@gmail.com

or call us -
Linda    208-859-4406                   Nina    208-860-3125

t’s True—Some Sight Words are Really Phonetic! Here’s Why!

It’s True—Some Sight Words are Really Phonetic! Here’s Why! 

Have you ever wondered what makes a “sight word” a “sight word”? 

Let’s begin by looking at the first 20 high frequency words taught to beginning readers as “sight words”.  

the*                 of*                    and                 a**                   to*

in                      is*                     you                  that                 it

he                    was*                for                    on                    are*

as*                   with                 his*                   they                 I

at                     be                    this                   have               from*

The ones with an asterisk are true sight words; the other words are not true sight words. They are actually phonetic words. Note: The word “a” has two asterisks because you can pronounce it two ways. If you pronounce it as ā, it’s a phonetic word. If you pronounce it as /u/, it’s a sight word.

 When an educator begins teaching a child to read, there is no possible way to instantly teach a child to read every word applying all or even many of the phonics rules.

 We begin teaching phonics by introducing two and three letter words containing a short vowel sound and single consonant sounds (no consonant digraphs or consonant blends at the beginning).

 Look again at the list of the 20 high frequency words. Only “an”, “in”, “it”, “on”, and “at” are words that contain a short vowel sound and a single consonant sound.

 The difficulty begins when we try to use only these two letter words in simple sentences. Beginning to read simple sentences right away is very important because children need to immediately find meaning in what they read as they learn to read.

We quickly discover that we need articles (a, an, the, that), prepositions (of, to, in, for, on, as, with, at, from), conjunctions (and, that, for, as), state of being verbs (is, was, are, be, have), pronouns (you, it, he, his, they, I), adverbs (that, as, this), etc. to make meaningful sentences.

Because we cannot read or write simple sentences without articles, prepositions, conjunctions, verbs, pronouns or adverbs, we must have children master many high frequency words as soon as possible in order to use simple short vowel words in simple sentences. 

Therefore, most high frequency words are quickly taught as “sight words” to children even though many of them are not “true sight words”. 

For Silent Elephant “e” I developed a process for learning sight words that’s extremely effective, multi-sensory and fun. See the post “How to Teach Sight Words”.   

If you have further questions about sight word vocabulary, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

How Do You Teach Sight Words?

How Do You Teach Sight Words? 

In the prior post, It’s true! Some Sight Words Truly are Phonetic and Here’s Why, I shared the importance of teaching sight words to ensure meaning for beginning readers.  Let’s talk about how to successfully teach sight words. 

Preparation: 

·       Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, Part 2 has at your fingertips several sight word lists and high frequency word lists. I also love using the Fry Word List. You can download this list yourself or contact me and I will email you the list. 

·       Begin by assessing each child’s sight word vocabulary using one or more of the lists. Have a child read a list until he/she makes a total of 3 errors. 

·       Begin that day’s sight word lesson with those 3 words. 

·       When I am teaching individual children, I can easily teach exactly the words that each individual child needs. 

·       When I am teaching a whole classroom, I have different options available:

1.    All children can do all of the high frequency/sight words beginning with “the”, “of”, and “and”. 

2.    I can divide my class into reading level groups. All children within a particular group will study the same high frequency/sight words at the same time.  

3.    I can have parent volunteers and/or support teachers help children individually with their own personal high frequency/sight words. 

Directions: 

Children write the sight words they need to learn on 4” X 6” note cards (bigger is better for young, developing eyes) in this way: 

1)   Children write the word in black for consonants and in red for vowels. As you teach the other colors (such as orange wiggly lines for consonant digraphs), have them also use the other colors on the cards. 

2)   You also make the same word card for children in your handwriting using red and black (and the other colors when children are ready). 

3)   On the children’s personal cards, have them draw a picture to help them remember the word. An example word is “come”— have them draw something that is meaningful to them, such as draw a dog coming to a person with that person’s hand signaling the dog to come. 

4)   Practice word cards every day. 

5)   Each day add 1 to 3 more word cards, though I never want a child to be working on more than 6 word cards on any particular day. 

6)   When a child can read a word with automaticity (within 1 second), turn the card over and write the word again using only black letters, so it looks like it does in print in books. 

7)   Practice each black-lettered card each day until the child can read it with automaticity. This is considered mastery. 

8)   Keep each mastered card for one month, pull it out occasionally to have the child read it. If the child still has automaticity, send the card home. If not, continue to practice the word. 

9)   Continually celebrate their progress in learning to read sight words with automaticity!

 As children learn more and more phonics rules, point out to them that words that they once learned as “sight words” are truly phonetic words. 

An example word is the word “they”. Once a child has been taught the consonant digraph sounds of “th” and taught that the vowel digraph/phonogram “ey” can make ā or ē, guide them to the understanding that “they” is actually a phonetic word. 

When they ask the question, “Why did you teach this word to me as a sight word?”, I explain what I shared above, “There was no possible way for me to teach you how to read every word all at once when you were first learning to read. Since I needed you to quickly read words in sentences so that reading made sense, I needed you to quickly memorize a lot of words. As you are now learning more and more phonics rules, you are able to sound out more and more phonetic words! And, because you can now read sentences and understand what you are reading, you can understand why I taught these phonetic words as sight words. You are brilliant! I am so proud of you!” 

This post and the prior post, It’s true! Some Sight Words Truly are Phonetic and Here’s Why, have clarified what a true sight word is, why it is important to teach some phonetic words as sight words in the beginning and how Silent Elephant “e” teaches sight words for mastery.

With this knowledge you are now ready to have fun teaching sight words to your children.

If you have further questions about teaching sight word vocabulary, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson