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

Learning Syllables Involves Their Whole Body 😊

Learning Syllables Involves Their Whole Body 😊 

You know those big bouncy balls with handles that are FUN for young AND old while outside on a beautiful day? 

Have you ever thought of using an amusing bouncy ball as an educational tool? 

Now I have your attention, don’t I? Sometimes the most unexpected things help children learn and process what they are learning more quickly.  

This is true of bouncing around on a big bouncy ball.  

When my students begin Part 13 of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, which, along with Part 14, teaches the eight rules for dividing words into syllables, I always share teaching ideas with parents to do at home that are enjoyable and educational to help children not only hear the syllables in words but also to FEEL the syllables. 

You can begin helping your children hear and feel syllables in the language they are learning when they are as young as two years old. Below are some fun activities that help them internalize feeling and hearing syllables using their whole body.  

Blow up large balloons for everyone. As you begin to play with your balloon, tapping it in the air to keep it aloft, begin saying your child’s name in syllables. Using their name attracts their attention and they begin to wonder why you are saying it the way you are. Tap their name over and over, then tap your name (yes, it can be Mom, Dad, Mommy, Daddy), tap the names of the rest of your family and everyone playing with you, returning often to their name.  

Let this game progress into words you and they enjoy and move to tapping compound words that they are familiar with like cupcake or doghouse. Progress to three syllable, fun, picturesque words they know, such as: butterfly, caterpillar, chocolate, spaghetti. You will see their eyes light up and their ears cock to listen. So COOL! 

Enjoy watching their curiosity grow as you play with words and the balloons. They will be excited to come up with words on their own to tap. They won’t even realize that they are understanding their blossoming language on a deeper level and beginning their reading skills.  

When I had my own classroom of students, I’d team up with another teacher to introduce syllables to my kiddos. We’d meet in the gym. The older children are amazing balloon blowers and excellent partners for younger children. Again, I have children begin by tapping the syllables in their name, as their name is so personal and meaningful to them. Then I’d move to compound words and then to two and three syllable words that create clear vivid pictures in their minds. 

When I brought my kiddos back to our classroom from the gym, we’d tug on rubber bands to continue exploring hearing and FEELING syllables. Rubber bands also make a great educational tool when we are teaching syllables on-line! 

Let’s get back to that big bouncy ball – after your kids are beginning to hear and feel the syllables as you and they tap balloons in the air and tug rubber bands, you can take them into experiencing syllables with their WHOLE body with the big bouncy ball.  

The experience of saying words in syllables out loud, listening to themselves saying the words in syllables while their whole body bounces with those syllables stimulates all parts of the brain.  

And though they will be having a great time, it won’t be JUST fun!

 They won’t even realize they are assimilating part of phonics at deeper and deeper levels.  

Thinking of syllables and FEELING them in the words we say, makes me realize I want to draw your attention to a more structured learning note for you and your kiddos.  

Along with all of this fun, we do need to teach our students to listen carefully and learn all the number of syllables in words, especially words that we tend to say so quickly we connect syllables, such as the word “different”. “Different” has 3 syllables (dif- er- ent). “Temperature” has 4 syllables (tem-per-a-ture). “Camera” has 3 syllables (cam-er-a). 

If you are not sure exactly how many syllables a word has, do a quick Google search or look up the word(s) in the dictionary with your child. Practice the correct number of syllables with rubber bands, balloons or that fun bouncy ball, as mispronounced words will cause confusion when learning to spell words and on standardized tests. 

Here are a few words to carefully teach by stressing the correct number of syllables: camera, different, difference, every, everything, general, interest, really, temperature, usually. 

Have FUN with this whole-body experiential learning of syllables! You will enjoy it as much as they; there will be lots of laughter.

If you have further questions about phonics, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Helium Filled Balloons Add Another Dimension to Syllables!

Helium Filled Balloons Add Another Dimension to Syllables! 

Remember how we taught our kiddos to actually feel syllables by tapping balloons in the air? In my blog post entitled Learning Syllables Involves Their Whole Body, I shared tapping a balloon in the air for each syllable as they say a word. As you can imagine, this is a popular whole-body activity that helps them internalize the feeling of syllables.  

Let’s take the balloon idea a step further to activate even more parts of their brains after they have achieved the initial step of actually feeling and hearing syllables. 

Let’s advance to teaching children to read multisyllabic words.  

I begin with compound words.  

Compounds words are thoroughly taught in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, Part 9. However, I do introduce the easiest concept of compound words – two words being pushed together with no finger space – as early as the 67th sight word (into) in the Fry List. It’s just natural to begin teaching 2 syllable words with compound words and I begin this concept with helium balloons. Again, as you can imagine, this activity is a hit. It takes their learning into different parts of their brain. 

Ideally, I would give each child two helium filled balloons, one for each hand. In a classroom, the cost is a bit prohibitive, so I have the kids team up with their reading partners. Since they understand partner work, the child without the balloons knows they are the teacher in that moment and are listening carefully to their partner. (I’ve seen helium balloons as low as $.99/ balloon at Party City.) 

Here are my lesson instructions:

1.    Provide each child a list of compound words and/or write them on the whiteboard. (See below for a beginning list.)

2.    Tell children to release one balloon right above their heads as they read the first word in the compound word.

3.    Then have them read the second word in the compound word as they release their second balloon.

4.    After they have read the compound word and the balloons are floating above their heads, have them sequentially reach up and pull the balloons back to themselves as they reread the whole word focusing on listening and saying each word within the compound word.

5.    Ask them how it felt to let the balloon go free to float above their heads when they read the first word.

6.    Guide them to understand that letting one balloon go for the first word relaxes their mind/brain so they can confidently focus on and read the second word. This helps them realize and feel that even though the whole compound word may have looked so long at first, by focusing on the first word as they release its balloon, it becomes easy for them to focus on the second word in the compound.

7.    Praise them for being awesome readers of really long words! 

You can bring back the helium balloons as you continue teaching division of multisyllabic words when you introduce

·       Prefixes, root words and suffixes (Parts 4-14) and

·       Open and closed syllables using the VCCV, VCCCV, VCV and VV rules (Part 14). 

After they have the feeling of syllables within words using the real balloons, we begin pretending we have balloons as we practice more multisyllabic words.  

I remind the children to release their real and/or imaginary balloons within arm’s reach, so when they are ready to read the entire word, they can sequentially reach up and pull each syllable balloon back down into their hands as they reread the word. Most often, once they have pulled down syllable balloon number one and number two, the rest of the word just pops into their mind! It’s exciting! 

Often times, my severely and profoundly dyslexic children are filled with fear when they have to read a long word. This balloon “work” guides them to see and feel compound words, root words, prefixes, suffixes and open and closed syllables. This whole-body activity helps them relax and gain control and confidence in their reading of multisyllabic words.  

Here are some simple compound words to begin with: into, upon, something, somewhere, someplace, backpack, homemade, paperboy, housepaint, grandmother, grandfather, eyesight, lifelike, football, cakewalk, shortcut, cookbook, without, racecar, and nightstand. 

Have fun teaching rules for syllabification as you watch smiles of success spread on your children’s faces both from the fun of the balloons and the realization that they “get it”. Reading those long words just got easier.

If you have any questions about teaching syllables or Silent Elephant “e” contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson