"Sh" is a Digraph, not a Blend, She Taught Her Class

 “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 becomes 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. It engages their whole brain and all their senses every moment of every lesson.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is tried and true and that became apparent again when “Kathy”, the proud mom of “Julie”, one of my students, excitedly shared this wonderful story.

At the time, Julie was in second grade and because of Covid 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 said 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”™. She is severely dyslexic and had already been placed in special education in the early part of first grade.

But there she was completely successful in her reading class, even on the computer. 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 them the way they learn, so reading, writing and spelling “makes sense” and it is easy for them to explain to others what they understand, even if they are severely dyslexic. Explaining why they know what they know is an integral part of the program.

Being severely dyslexic did not stop Julie from learning to read, write and spell. She is a confident student, never looking back, thanks to being taught the way her dyslexic brain learns. Thanks to Silent Elephant “e”™.  Within 3.5 years, Julie, as a first grader, went from frustrated at a Kindergarten level to an instructional 11th grade reading level at the end of her fourth-grade year of school! She is at the top of her class instead of the bottom of her class. She used to struggle with anxiety and depression. Today my heart is filled with joy seeing how proud and confident she is of herself!

Contact me here to explore how you can teach your kiddos with Silent Elephant “e”™ to give them the freedom of a solid reading, writing and spelling foundation that will set them up for life.

17 Months to 6th Grade Level with Only Twice a Week Instruction!

This seems to be the season for up-dates.

In my  March 8th email, From Failure to Scoring 104% on Her Spelling Test, I had the pleasure of sharing how my student Rebecca has been acing her spelling tests plus spelling the majority of her surprise extra credit words correctly. She has been scoring 100% or above for weeks.

Her mom also shared how Rebecca clearly understands syllabification because of how Silent Elephant “e”™ taught her and that she helped her teacher with the word “temperature”.

When Rebecca graduated from Silent Elephant “e”™ she was reading on an 11th grade level and has continued to progress though she is profoundly dyslexic. She is now in the  5th grade and, as her mom shared, confident and eager. She can read anything she wants and write delightful stories.

NOW – I get to share an update on Rebecca’s sister Rachel.

Rachel is not dyslexic like her sister. She began Silent Elephant “e”™ just before entering Kindergarten. She had been in preschool for a bit, but then Covid hit. Rachel’s mom wanted her to have the same foundation that Rebecca was getting.

Rachel finished Kindergarten reading on a 4th grade level. She went on to finish first grade decoding words on a 6th grade level. She is now in the last part of her second-grade year and Jennifer, her mom, sent this wonderful update and photos.

“Rachel is doing great! She's so far advanced in her class.  Her classmates write short sentences and Rachel writes paragraphs. They are finishing up a book they are writing about animals.  Rachel chose the mountain lion. Her teacher is going to email it to me when they are finished. I can forward a copy to you.  I volunteered and helped the other students, so I saw a good comparison of her writing verses her classmates.  She also wrote a paper on her special person, me (!). 

“Rachel loves researching, science and math. Her teacher told me that they (she and the class aide) were blown away recently when Rachel started talking about Malala Yousafzai.  Rachel knows who she is because she talks to Rebecca about her and she can read the "I Am", the "Who Was?” and the “Who Is?" book series.  I'm not sure what level these books are, but definitely not 2nd grade!!” Jennifer proudly wrote.

“Rachel has read almost all the "I Survived" book series.  She absolutely loves them!!

“Rachel reads ALL the time.  We've been tracking it the last couple of weeks for a read-a-thon at school and she reads around 390 minutes a week. She really loves learning all things, but she especially loves math.  As of now, she wants to be a mathematician when she grows up.  Her teacher told me to email her when Rachel goes to Harvard! :-)

Love, Jennifer” 

Rachel is flying because she has the stable foundation in reading, writing and spelling that Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides for every learner: dyslexics, those with other learning differences, or like Rachel, no learning differences.

What Silent Elephant “e”™ did was teach Rachel the way she learns - through fun, active activities, and as her success is showing, just like with her dyslexic sister, it does not take 6 years to be reading on a 6th grade level, dyslexic or not.

Further, Rachel was reading on a 6th grade level in 17 months with just 20-25 minutes of Silent Elephant “e”™ instruction just twice a week in Kindergarten and only 25-40 minutes twice a week in first grade. She is now easily comprehending on a 6th grade level after 2.75 years.

Now, as her mom shared, second grade Rachel is free to read anything she wants and write wonderful stories about what she enjoys reading.

Just like her dyslexic sister Rebecca, Rachel feels not bound to what she can learn.

This is the freedom that Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides. It teaches children to read, write and spell the way they love to learn, and they never look back.

Contact us here to explore how you can teach your kiddos with Silent Elephant “e”™ and give them the freedom of a solid reading, writing and spelling foundation for the rest of their lives. 

Linda Smith-Jones

Imagine My Surprise As I Opened the Box

Imagine My Surprise

Imagine my surprise as I opened a package to find this beautiful quilt hidden inside.

I had no idea who had sent it and as I admired the beauty of the quilt, I searched for a card. I eagerly opened the one I found to find these wonderful words from my former student “Sean”: “Thank you for all the help you gave me. It has helped so much! Thank you for everything!” (It wasn’t too wordy, he is a 14-year-old boy 😊, but I could feel the relief and pride in his words.)

His grandma wrote, “You are an amazing woman touching so many lives—you are a God send to ‘Sean’. You were exactly what he needed!! This will make a difference for the rest of his life! We can’t thank you enough!”  

As Sean’s grandma said, he is set for life. He can relax and learn anything he wants to learn. 

It’s always both joyful and a little hard when one of my students graduates from Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.

Sean’s grandparents are the ones who contacted me about tutoring Sean a little over 2 years ago. They were very worried because he was struggling in school and was not progressing in reading, writing and spelling. He was way behind his age level peers and was becoming more and more frustrated and embarrassed. Sean was in 6th grade and reading independently at a 2nd grade reading level.

2 years later with Silent Elephant “e”™ under his belt, Sean graduated from me and headed off to his 8th grade classes with the knowledge that he was now reading at an instructional 9th grade reading level!

I am so proud of him.

This exquisite quilt is a thank you from his grandmother. I am in awe of its beauty and the craftmanship and talent it shows. I barely had it out of the box before I began trying to decide which wall to hang it on so that I could see it throughout my day.  😊

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ we are changing lives. We are setting our kiddos on a new trajectory—one of success and fun.

No child should struggle to learn to read, write or spell.

Every child should have fun learning to read, write and spell.

Contact us here if you know of anyone who is struggling in reading, writing or spelling. They don’t even have to be children. 😊

Linda Smith-Jones  silentelephante@gmail.com          

From Failure to Scoring 104% on Her Spelling Test! She Understands How Phonics and Spelling Works

 Today, I get to share this wonderful update that makes my heart sing!!

It’s from Jennifer, the mom of my student Rebecca, who graduated from Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ 9 months ago.

These are Jennifer’s proud words:  
“All the extra hours of studying and practicing and tutoring paid off! 104%!! When Rebecca started spelling in first grade, it was so stressful for her that she took her test alone and untimed. Now Rebecca understands phonics and why words are spelled the way they are, and she tests with the class. She just did three weeks in a row with 100%, 102% and now this 104%! She gets the twenty-word spelling list to study, but the extra credit ones are a surprise on test day.

People with dyslexia CAN spell. They just need someone to teach them how and to believe they can!”

On another day, Jennifer shared an experience Rebecca had during the past week in school. Rebecca had a reading assignment to circle all the words on the paper that had 3 syllables. When she was working on it, her teacher stopped by her desk and said, “You forgot to circle ’temperature’.” Rebecca politely replied, “Temperature has 4 syllables, so I shouldn’t circle it. Every syllable has one vowel sound. You need to say it correctly to spell it correctly.” She truly has learned phonics!

Rebecca’s grandma, a retired teacher, said, “I am so grateful that Jennifer insisted that there had to be a solution and then researched until she found Mrs. Jones and Silent Elephant "e", LLC ! Rebecca is amazing !!!”

This is even more joyful news when you realize that Rebecca is profoundly dyslexic.

When she began Silent Elephant “e”™ with me as a first grader, she didn’t have any phonemic awareness and was failing in reading, writing and, as Jennifer shared above, spelling. Rebecca’s school had staffed her into special education with an IEP. To that point, nothing that had been tried had helped her learn.

School was painful for her, and Jennifer set out to find someone who understood her as a dyslexic learner and could teach her the way she learns as a dyslexic.

Skipping ahead to today, Rebecca is a completely successful 5th grader reading on an 11th grade level, writing amazing creative stories and poems, and as you saw, understands spelling because she KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS phonics because she was taught phonics the way her brain learns.

She is free to happily explore her world, and she is.
I’m so proud of her!
 
If you have a child who is struggling with reading, writing or spelling, please contact me.
If you know someone whose child is struggling, send them this email and encourage them to contact me.

No child should struggle with reading, writing or spelling.

In Jennifer’s wonderful words, “They just need someone who can teach them how and believe they can.”

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ YOU have the HOW to teach them the WAY THEY LEARN, and you are the one who loves and BELIEVES in them. 

Contact me here silentelephante@gmail.com

Keep a song in your heart!

To Her the Words Looked Like They Were Under a Magnifying Glass

Not every dyslexic learner experiences the words and letters moving around. Some do, and in those who do, they don't see it the same. Interesting. 

I’ve shared how Josie and one of my seven-year-old students opened my eyes by sharing what happens to the words and letters when they read. Since this revelation, I’m feeling even more joy in my teaching. (Here are links to the last two emails. Josie. Sweet seven-year-old) 

My meeting each and every student exactly where they are is even more astute, because I’m listening more intently, asking the right questions and teaching them how THEY learn using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.  

I’m continually amazed and very pleased that Silent Elephant “e”™ alone has made such a difference in their lives and that my asking the right questions has sparked a different awareness in me, making me an even better teacher.    

A few days after my little seven-year-old student shared that the letters jump around on the page, I asked one of my ninth-grade dyslexic students to explain what she saw on a page of printed material.

I had been trying many teaching techniques to help Ahva develop smoothness (fluency). When she read aloud, she would physically tense up and her breathing became extremely labored. Her anxiety and tenseness were palpable. It contributed to her choppy reading.

I had her read sentences several times stretching out vowel sounds to give her more time to think about what the ending sound in a word was and more time to contemplate the next word in the sentence.

She unconsciously began bobbing her head slowly with every word. I had her put her hand under her chin so she could feel the bobbing.

When the bobbing subsided, we began working on phraseology. I taught her how to find prepositional phrases in sentences.

As she is in Part 14 now, I had her read the following sentence: “The lanky man in the dark blue suit was hurriedly walking toward the cashier at the counter to deposit money in his savings account.”

We discussed that our brains always strive for meaning. Our brains naturally break sentences into phrases: “The lanky man - in the dark blue suit - hurriedly walked - toward the cashier - at the counter - to deposit money - in his savings account.”

I taught her to focus on the questions her brain would naturally ask as it sought meaning in what she was reading:

• What about the lanky man?

• What is he wearing?

• Where did he walk?

• Where is the cashier?

• Why did he go to the bank?

• Where is he depositing his money?

 She did begin to read with more fluently, smoother, but she couldn’t read a phrase that was longer than three or four words smoothly, even though I encouraged her to try to smoothly combine two short phrases in one breath.

I would have her read each sentence several times to practice. After reading a sentence several times, she ultimately read it smoothly as if in conversation.

However, I was still concerned that she needed multiple repetitions of a sentence to reach conversational fluency.

Thinking of Josie, I asked this awesome, conscientious ninth grader to explain what she saw on a page of printed material.

She explained that she could see a space of about 1.5 to 2 inches clearly and all around that space of clarity everything was distorted and stretched!

I sat stunned!

I asked her, “Is that why you only read three or four words smoothly and then have a long break before the next three or four words, and after practicing the sentence several times you appear to read it smoothly, because you have it memorized?”

She smiled at me a little shyly, and said, “Yes. Now you understand.”
Wow!
Ahva’s brain focuses on printed materials in a hyper focused way, much like a magnifying glass, where the center is super clear, but the periphery is distorted.     

I sat admiring this young woman for her tenacity and positive mindset. I was in awe. I shared with her how Josie and my seven-year old saw print. I could see the relief on her face when she realized I understood and that she wasn’t alone seeing words differently. She was relieved there was help.

Here is Ahva’s story in her own words:  
“Before I first came to tutoring with Linda, I just avoided ever reading on my own or in front of people. If I ever did read, within an hour I would get dizzy and have to stop. It was hard for me.

I would panic if I were called on to read in class. I’d feel sad about it afterwards and think I was just dumb or not trying hard enough.

I would try to read. It felt like the words were always moving depending on where I looked on the page.

Due to that, I would start to read and get two or three words read and get stuck on each group of 3 words that followed.

Now that I’ve been working with Linda, I have improved hugely. I can now get through sentences without freezing. My head hurting when reading has almost completely gone away. I am now willing to read in front of people!

I am VERY happy with where I am now in reading, and I am very thankful for having Linda help me through it! Not to mention she is a very good and kind woman whom I am very happy to call my friend!”
Ahva, 14 years old
This is amazing. I am so proud of her for being able to share her story with us!

Even though I wrote Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ to teach dyslexic learners the way they learn, I’m still happily amazed at how the strategies and activities written into every component of every lesson also takes care of the letters and words moving and shifting. 

Silent Elephant “e”™ does the trick because of continual engagement of every part of their brain, in every SINGLE thing they do throughout EVERY lesson. It’s sort of magic. But really, Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches them the way THEY learn.

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us here silentelephante@gmail.com. 

And last, your child (children) may not be struggling to learn to read, but you may know someone who is, please share this blog post. 

Contact us here - silentelephante@gmail.com Linda Smith-Jones 208-859-4406

For the First Time Ever, She Felt Brave Enough to Read Aloud in Class (Even Science!)

For the First Time Ever, She Felt Brave Enough to Read Aloud in Class (Even Science!)

“Mrs. Jones, can I tell you what happened to me at school today?” This question came from my student Becca at the beginning of our tutoring session.

 
“Of course!” I quickly replied.
 
Becca started sharing, “My 504 Plan says I’m not supposed to be called on in class to read aloud. It makes me extremely nervous. But my science teacher called on me to read aloud today. I thought I’d try because the typing was on light blue paper. The light blue paper made it easier for me to read the words.”
 
I asked her, “How do you feel you did reading aloud?”
 
“I think I did pretty good. I read quickly and smoothly,” she happily replied.
 
“That’s wonderful to hear! You’re becoming a better and better reader every day! Do you think the light blue paper helped?” I questioned.
 
“Yes. My science teacher copies our work on pastel papers – pink, light blue, mint green and lavender - so we can organize them in our folders. The pastel papers make reading easier for me. It helps the letters in paragraphs – big chunks of sentences – to stop tilting back and forth so much.”
 
That gentle statement started my brain racing, “Tell me more about the letters tilting back and forth in paragraphs.”
 
I also smiled at myself and thought, “How could I be surprised when yet another one of my dyslexic students shares with me how the letters and words on the page move around for them?”
 
Becca continued, “When I look at a paragraph - a large chunk of sentences - the whole chunk tilts and rocks back and forth from side to side until I blink and refocus. This tilting motion used to make me dizzy until I got blue light lenses in my glasses.
 
“Also, when I try to read a sentence within a paragraph, the words blur, and the letters scrunch together with no space between the words. Then I blink and the words will usually become clear and move apart. I may need to blink a few times.”
 
Becca went on softly sharing her experiences, “Often, I lose what line I’m on and what word I’m on when reading silently or aloud, so I use my finger (finger tracking) to keep my place. If I lose my place, I try to refocus. When I’m reading aloud and try to refocus, I usually accidentally read the word above the word I’m supposed to be reading. Then I must try refocusing again until I find my place.
 
She smiled gently and shared as if an afterthought, “I’ve found that if I use pastel pink and aqua pens to write answers on my school papers it’s easier for me. I can’t use black because the black answers will blend in with the black text printed on the worksheet and then I don’t know where I am.”
 
Letters and words moving as they are reading is not uncommon for dyslexic learners, but not all dyslexic learners experience this either. Further, the letters and words moving is quite individual to the dyslexic learner. Many of my dyslexic students have shared how the letters and words move for them in completely different ways. (Click here to read other blog posts that describes how some of my dyslexic learners perceive the printed word. It's very interesting.)

 In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ I teach decoding words using multi-sensory activities, colors and symbols that stimulate and activate the parts of the dyslexic brain that aren’t easily activated for dyslexics. Silent Elephant “e”™’s symbols and colors have specific meanings that my students learn to help them as they decode and comprehend what they are reading. 
 
It has been my experience with my dyslexic students who have letters and words moving (even racing off the page) that the techniques they learn in Silent Elephant “e”™ begins to “control” the movement of words and letters. This makes it so much easier for them to learn to read and to read both out loud and silently. They begin to read quickly and smoothly and with great comprehension.
 
I was curious about Becca’s experience with the words and sentences moving. Had Silent Elephant “e”™ changed this for her like my other students? Was it Silent Elephant “e”™ that had helped her read aloud quickly and smoothly in class for the first time? I want her to use the tools that are helpful for her, but foremost I want her to rely on her knowledge of decoding.
 
Since she was sharing her experiences, I asked her to reflect on what she had learned with Silent Elephant “e”™ and how it helped her read smoothing and quickly.
 
A big smile spread over Becca’s face as she explained, “A while after I started tutoring with you, I began noticing  that I’m reading faster and smoother. I also don’t have to read things 5 to 8 times before I can understand what I read. I used to read something 3 or 4 times just to figure out what the words were. Then I would read it 2 to 4 more times to try to understand what I was reading. Now I just read something 2 or maybe 3 times and I feel good! I know what I’ve read!
 
“I feel that if I keep learning more with you (through Silent Elephant “e”™), I’ll be able to read something quickly and smoothly just once and completely understand what I’ve read,” she contentedly said.
 
“I totally believe that will happen,” I said.
 
“What do you think is helping you the most?” I asked.
 
Becca thought for a while and then said, “I can hear single sounds in words now (Phonemic Awareness, Part 1). Using the colors in phonics helps my brain focus on the parts of the words and keeps the letters from moving so much on the page. Spelling makes sense now too. Everything is just making so much more sense!”
 
I smiled. I could feel her joy and relaxation! “I’m so happy for you! We’ll keep working with Silent Elephant “e”™ and you’ll keep blazing along in reading!” We giggled with delight and anticipation.
 
I’ve talked several times with Becca’s mom over the last 7 months. Her mom tells me, “After just 6 hours of tutoring with you, I’m seeing so many differences in Becca. I asked her last night how she felt about tutoring. She said that she loved it.
 
Mom continued, “Hearing individual sounds in words was new for her. I never knew she couldn’t hear the individual sounds!
 
“Becca said that when you teach her, you teach in a way that makes everything make sense.”
 
When I talked to her mom last week, Mom said, “I don’t know how to explain this to you, but I’ll try. In the past, I’ve always worked with Becca on her spelling - trying to help her spell phonetically and trying to help her memorize sight words. Nothing worked.”
 
Mom continued, “I’ve tried to help her with her writing, because when she wrote, nothing really made sense. Her thoughts seemed disjointed and incomprehensible. I’d read back to her what she wrote and ask her if it made sense. She’d say, ‘No.’ But she had no ideas for how to fix her writing. I knew Becca had wonderful thoughts inside her. We could verbally discuss a story or book she’d read, but somehow Becca couldn’t get these awesome thoughts down on paper.
 
“But now, since tutoring with you,” Mom paused and emotionally told me, “Becca’s thoughts are flowing from her brain unto paper! The girl I knew that was inside is coming out for all to see! Becca’s spelling is remarkably better! Her sentences are coherent, making good sense and revealing her emotions!
 
“I just never knew how much Becca was struggling to achieve all that she did accomplish! I can never thank you enough!” Mom exclaimed.
 
“Thank you for telling me this. It means a lot to me to know that Becca is developing and advancing significantly in her reading writing and spelling. I’m so proud of her and happy for her!” I humbly said.
 

This is why I am a teacher. This is why I wrote Silent Elephant “e”™. Children need to be taught the way they learn best – the way they love to learn.
 
Here are a few general suggestions of tools that may help your dyslexic students if the letters move around when they read. These are also helpful when sending assignments to dyslexic students on the computer.

• First, use simple, clear font such as Century Gothic.

• When handwriting for them, use large clear letters

• Use larger font size

• Double space the text

• Print on light pastel colored paper

• Check into colored overlays

As Becca shared, there are tools that are very helpful to her. But what really changed Becca’s life and led her to feel brave enough to read aloud in science class was being taught to read the way HER brain learns.
 
This is what Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ does -
it teaches dyslexic learners the way they learn – through multi-sensory, whole child, whole brain, whole body activities throughout every single concept. Therefore, every one of my students have become successful readers and students, even in college.
 
If you are concerned about your dyslexic learner, contact me. We’ll put our heads together and come up with the best path for your young one.
 
To further learn about and to try to imagine what it is like for Becca to read print, you might wish to watch a video by Googling “What do dyslexics see in print when trying to read?” Again, I have to mention that my experience has been that they all experience it differently so this is just an example of what they could possibly be experiencing.

Contact us here -

Linda Smith-Jones silentelephante@gmail.com

Nina Henson nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

OK! It Only Took 2 Years for Them to be Reading on a 6th Grade Level, Now What?

After my last blog post when I shared how my data and my experience shows that it only takes 2 years with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ for kids to be reading words at a sixth-grade level, I could hear some of you wondering, “After my 8-year-old is reading 6th grade level words, what do we do in reading, writing and spelling?”

Well, the fun continues. It just shifts a little.
 
Comprehension is an integral part at every stage of learning with Silent Elephant “e”™, but once your child is decoding at an instructional 6th grade reading level, your main focus will shift to comprehension.
 
Of course, you’re never going to leave out phonics instruction totally, as children need continual review and more practice with higher level vocabulary words and sentence structure. Silent Elephant “e”™ has you covered there, too.
 
Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides you with an excellent review of all phonics rules using higher level vocabulary in Level 2, which brings your child’s word recognition skills to 9th grade reading level. Then, even higher levels of vocabulary and sentences in Level 3, brings your child’s word recognition to a 12th grade reading level readying them for college.
 
As they are learning these higher-level words they’ll always be mentally referring back to their initial whole body, multi-sensory learning of that phonetic concept. They will also continue using all the Silent Elephant “e”™ markings and colors that connect to those initial multi-sensory activities.
 
Once a child has the basics of what I call the “mechanics” of reading under their belt, they can decode anything they’d like to read.
 
Imagine the freedom your child will feel being able to phonetically read whatever he/she would like to read.
 
With Silent Elephant “e”™, little 7- and 8-year-olds can pick up a book of their choice and fluently read it. They will read smoothly and quickly! Their fluency will aid their comprehension as they won’t be focusing on decoding as much. They will focus on comprehension skills – understanding and remembering what they’ve read.
 
You, as their teacher and parent, can use Bloom’s Taxonomy to guide your questions as you discuss what they’ve read. You’ll be able to develop their accuracy and their maturity in comprehension. You’ll be able to enjoy reading and discussing wonderful books together and there are SO MANY wonderful books to read and love: picture books, chapter books, the classics.

Last week’s email shared my experience with students with learning differences whose parents had been told their child would never read. These are heartwarming stories. Their lives are changed forever. Thank you Silent Elephant “e”™! Here's the link for your convenience - It Only Takes Two Year!
 
This week let’s take a look at a couple of young ones who began learning to read with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™. The best way for me to introduce you to these two lovely young readers is with their blog posts. 😊
She Was Reading on a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten
2600 Pages in One Month! She Beams With Pride
 
In far less than 2 years, these happy young readers were flying, and they are only 2 examples of the success of learning with Silent Elephant “e”™. 

Contact us here -

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

It Only Takes 2 Years!!

It Only Takes 2 Years!

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 10 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 that stimulate all parts of their brain for both learning and retaining what they have learned. These whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities 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 them!”
 
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 stimulates 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 them 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 2 ½ 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 a low IQ.
 
When he came to me halfway through his 3rd 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 fluently reads simple to complex words, such as: so, ran, sphinx, lush, squint: words with single consonants, consonant digraphs and/or consonant blends. He knows how to read and write (spell) words with the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, and -ing. He has also mastered the first 425 words on the Fry Word List of the most common words. 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 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 6 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 middle school 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. Recently I had a fun experience with one of my 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 ago, 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.
 
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 10 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. I have many, many success stories. 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.
 

Contact us here – Linda Smith-Jones                   Nina Henson

It Shouldn't Take 6 Years to Learn to Decode 6th Grade Words!

It Shouldn’t Take 6 Years for a Child to be Able to Decode 6th Grade Level Reading Words!

I know you are probably thinking to yourself, “Why not? Isn’t that the way it works? A child goes to kindergarten and then 1st through 5th grade, that’s six years of instruction. It makes sense that they would be at a beginning 6th grade reading level when they start 6th grade, doesn’t it?”
 
The thing is, if a child is taught to read, write and spell the way they learn (whole body/whole brain/whole child), they learn quickly, they transfer that knowledge to prior and future learning easily and they RETAIN their learning.
 
It all has to do with teaching them the way they learn and that’s what we do with Silent Elephant “e”™. We teach the whole child; we activate their whole brain.
 
Our data shares the story; Children learning with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ progress on average one full grade level their first 2 months of instruction. This amazing data isn’t based on daily Silent Elephant “e”™ instruction, it’s based on just 1½ to 2 hours instruction per week. Also, this data includes many students with multiple learning differences which makes it even more impressive.
 
Now add this, our Silent Elephant “e”™  students advanced 4.25 grade levels with 6 months of instruction! That’s advancing over 4 grade levels in just 6 months.
Silent Elephant “e”™ learners experience such rapid growth at first, because Silent Elephant “e”™ Part 1 begins reading instruction where it needs to begin, with phonemic awareness.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the individual sounds within words and is the foundation of learning to read for every child.
On average with Silent Elephant “e”™ children master phonemic awareness in only 3 months.
 
While they are having fun mastering phonemic awareness, you begin teaching them their first phonics lessons in Part 3 – short vowels and the suffix -s. They quickly become excited as they realize they are beginning to know how reading works and are learning to read, write and spell.  

I can’t even begin to tell you how many children who were struggling with reading at the end of kindergarten, first grade, second grade or third grade blossomed within only a month of Silent Elephant “e”™ phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.
 
Both they and their parents expressed their amazement at how fast they were learning, especially if they had been struggling.
 
A parent of a little boy that struggled through kindergarten and just began tutoring with me on June 20th, 2022, sent me this email last night, “’Marcus’ has made so much progress this summer, and I have learned a lot too!”
 
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!”
 
A 9th grader said after just 5 times of tutoring, “I never knew what rhyme was! I never heard individual sounds in words before!”
 
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?”

That little kindergarten boy is now hearing individual sounds in words. He is connecting sounds to letter names and shapes. He is beginning to spell two and three letter words. He is beginning to learn the Fry List of words using the word cards he is making. He is happy, excited and so proud of himself. I hardly recognize him as the little boy I met in June! He’s ready to soar with his classmates this fall!
 
It took that newly confident 3rd grader 3 months to go from Primer to a 3.2 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! Now she’s starting college at 16½ years old.
 
That struggling, scared 9th grader who is now a oh-so confident junior in college majoring in neurology at just 20 years old took 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.
 
That profoundly dyslexic first grader who began tutoring with me halfway through her 1st grade year was frustrated at a mid-kindergarten reading level. Within 6 months she 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!
 
Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ isn’t just for those with learning differences, it’s for ALL learners like the sweet, little girl who began with me in July of 2020. She doesn’t have any learning differences. Her mom asked me to tutor her because she was worried about what her daughter’s kindergarten year would like on-line. This bubbly, bright little girl began tutoring with me twice a week for just 30 minutes as she was so young. She didn’t have phonemic awareness and wasn’t reading on a PrePrimer level. She did know most letter names and sounds. Within 7 months, she was at a 1st grade reading level although she was still in kindergarten. In July of 2021 she was at a 4th grade reading level getting ready to enter 1st grade, and within 2 years, she was decoding words at a 6th grade reading level and comprehending at a 4th grade level. Right now, she’s getting ready for 2nd grade.
 
So, you see, when we teach children the way that is best for them to learn and the way they love to learn with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, it DOESN’T take 6 years for them to be
reading at a 6th grade reading level, even if they have learning differences.
😊
 
If you have questions and/or want more information about Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, feel free to contact us.
Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

At 10 Years Old, Micah Felt Defeated

At 10 Years Old, Micah Felt Defeated

Being a Silent Elephant “e” ™ tutor is about changing lives – it’s helping someone realize they can achieve their dreams.
 
In my last email I shared that my sweet neighbor had asked me the question, “What do you look for in a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor?”
 
I shared that first and foremost I look for a person who genuinely cares about people and a person who wants to build a positive relationship with their Silent Elephant “e”™ students. I’m looking for a person who wants to change lives.
 
I shared that a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor is fortunate to develop a beautiful relationship with a child or another adult while helping him/her learn to read, write and spell. Silent Elephant “e”™ tutors truly change their students’ lives! I’ve experienced this joy over and over. A beautiful example of this joy I’ve experienced as a tutor is the story of Micah, whose life was completely changed by Silent Elephant “e” ™.

Micah is one of my students who recently graduated from me after 5½ years. He walked away from me that day completely different than when he arrived for his first day of tutoring.

I never doubted for a second that I would be able to teach Micah to read, write and spell. I always believed in him. He just needed Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.
 
I won’t pretend it wasn’t difficult for Micah. It was! I also won’t pretend it wasn’t difficult for me because it was. It was difficult to watch him struggle and feel so defeated. I knew I had to stay positive and let Silent Elephant “e”™ do its magic.
 
When Micah walked in my door 5½ years ago, he was a defeated 10-year-old who found every moment in school difficult or undoable.  He was in the fourth grade and was a non-reader. He had multiple learning differences and was staffed in special education for reading, math, speech and occupational therapy at his elementary school.
 
But more than anything, Micah was defeated. Every time he tried to read, he failed.
 
When he began tutoring with me, he would painfully sound out the first word of a sentence, run up the stairs in my home, grab a pillow I had put up there for him and roll on the floor saying the word multiple times.
 
After that he would slowly walk down the stairs, stand by our shared desk to look at his paper, say the word again and painstakingly struggle to sound out the next word in the sentence. Then he would repeat his stress relieving process of running up the stairs, rolling on the floor repeating the word over and over trying to memorize it. Although it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch, I patiently waited. He needed me to give him that time and space. I praised every little effort he made.
 
Little by little with much encouragement and patience, Micah was able to stay in my office. He would just grab a pillow from the love seat, roll on the office floor once or twice, and pop right up to try to read the next word without repeating the last word.
 
It was a long, long process. But Micah never, never gave up; neither did I. He knew he was learning and was beginning to feel a little confidence. His parents saw it. Soon his teachers began commenting on how well he was doing in reading as they saw his progress too!
 
It was such a pleasure to watch him relaxing into knowing he was a reader. His confidence grew and grew. Everything in his life began to show his newfound confidence.
 
After tutoring for three years doing tutoring twice a week for one hour each time, Micah had caught up to his peers and was staffed out of special education. He was in regular 7th grade classes at his middle school! (I must add that he was sick a lot our first year together. I think school was so difficult and stressful for him.)
 
He was proud of himself when he caught up with his peers! His parents and I were extremely proud of him! This is what his mom wrote as a testimonial for me to put on my website:
 
“We found ourselves feeling alone on our journey to find the right help for our son. We tried numerous private, big name tutoring centers. We didn't have any results until we met Linda Jones and started sending our dyslexic son to see her for tutoring. We started noticing improvements in our son’s reading and spelling very quickly. His spirit was higher; he finally had enough confidence to want to try to read. We are grateful to Linda. Her program has made a world of improvement in our lives.”
 
Remember I said that Micah was with me for 5½ years? Well, even though Micah had caught up to his peers, we continued tutoring for 2½ more years but only 1 hour per week. We would work together on reading, writing, math, science and/or social studies assignments that he felt he needed help completing correctly. Micah’s mom said, “You are his life preserver. He needs you.” She said that I gave him the confidence to believe in himself that he could do his schoolwork successfully and achieve excellence.
 
This past Thanksgiving, Micah’s mom called me to tell me what she called “bitter-sweet” news. Micah had talked to his parents the previous week and told them that he felt he could do his schoolwork by himself now and did not need tutoring with me any longer. Mom shared, “He said to tell you that he loves you and will miss you, but he feels confident that he can do his schoolwork and get good grades now thanks to you! So, his last tutoring session will be the week before winter break.”
 
I had to stop for a moment to take in her words. I was deeply sad that I wouldn’t be seeing Micah every week! I love him as I love my grandchildren!
 
But then my sadness turned to pride. Micah was feeling so confident in himself that he knew he no longer needed my support. I was proud of him! He had grown into a highly capable, confident, successful person! Learning to read enabled him to excel in every subject area in school. He could now relax and enjoy learning in ALL aspects of his life.
 
This past Christmas, Micah and his mom came over to my home to give me a gift, and I gave Micah a book – one I knew he’d love and could easily and comfortably read.
 
As we stood at the door after our visit saying our goodbyes, I studied this handsome young man, who now towers over me and is so proud of it – giggles. When he first came to me, he was a ten-year-old boy who used to love to scurry up the tree in my front yard to release his constrained energy that he’d stored up while working so hard during tutoring. Now he is a strong, confident young man. Oh, how I’ll miss him!
 
I asked Micah and his mom to keep in touch with me to let me know all the wonderful things that will come to pass in Micah’s life. They promised they would, and they are doing just that.  I promised I’d be checking up on him from time to time too.

Yes, it was a bitter-sweet time, however, I’m so blessed to have been a part of Micah’s life. What a gift being a tutor is to me! What a gift Silent Elephant “e” ™ was for Micah.
 
A lot of people need help learning to read, write and spell. If you’ve ever considered being a tutor, I’d love for you to consider being a tutor with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™.
 
If you consider being a Silent Elephant “e” ™ tutor, know that you will have our support all the way. I have developed a nine-hour workshop that gets you started with every aspect of your tutoring business. Check it out on our website here. If you can get a group of friends together that would like to take the workshop with you, all of you can share the cost and have lots of fun together becoming a Silent Elephant “e” ™ tutor!
 
You could be fortunate to develop a beautiful relationship with a child or another adult while helping him/her learn to read, write and spell. You’ll change their life! And you’ll love every moment of it.
 
Being a Silent Elephant “e” ™ tutor is about changing lives – it’s helping someone realize they can achieve their dreams.

Contact us here with questions about becoming a Silent Elephant “e” ™ tutor.

What do You Look for in a Tutor?

What do You Look for in a Tutor?

A few days ago, my dear friend told me she has been thinking about suggesting to a few friends of hers that they become reading tutors for children using my Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ program. “They are lovely women. I truly believe they would love tutoring children. 

“What do you look for in a tutor?” 

I paused in thought thinking carefully of my answer, then I smiled and said, “Well first, I look for someone that truly loves children and adults – someone who loves people! I say children and adults because Silent Elephant “e”™ is perfect for teaching preschoolers to adults.” 

I thought a moment more, “I look for positive minded people who are extremely patient, as most of the people I tutor are struggling readers with one or more learning differences.  It’s important as a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor that they relax and allow their students to learn at their learning pace. As a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor they must be uplifting and encouraging as most of the children/people they will be tutoring will begin with a low self-concept – often not realizing how capable of learning they are.  

More often than not, those they tutor don’t feel good about themselves and they need their Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor to genuinely care about them and believe in them – believe that they truly can learn to read with Silent Elephant “e”™, because they will. No question about it.” 😊 

I continued, “I’m not necessarily looking for a person with a teaching degree because I wrote Silent Elephant “e”™ to be used by classroom teachers, student teachers, paraprofessionals, parent helpers, homeschool educators and tutors. I wrote the Silent Elephant “e”™ directions at about a fifth grade reading level so that they could be easily used by anyone. I wrote them in what I call “cookbook” directions, in other words, as simply as I could so no one would have to struggle to teach with Silent Elephant “e”™.   

“Another thing I look for is a person who is willing to devote at least two hours per week with each student for a year or more. That may seem like a long time but it’s really only 2 hours a week per student and during those two hours the tutor will be seeing amazing growth in their student. Of course, I know people’s lives change as unperceived circumstances present themselves, look what happened with Covid. However, as a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor, you will be building a long-term, trusting, loving relationship with your student and that is a very important relationship.        

At this point I eagerly began sharing with my friend how I had recently had a student graduate from me who I had been tutoring for 5.5 years.  I shared how at first it was very slow going with Micah because when he began with me, he was in the fourth grade and was not able to read at a beginning PrePrimer reading level. In other words, he was 10 years old and a non-reader. Further, he had multiple learning differences and was staffed in special education for reading and math and had speech and occupational therapy at his elementary school. But more than anything, Micah was defeated at 10 years of age. He didn’t believe he would ever be able to read and was afraid of trying because he failed every time.  

Five years later, he graduated from me as a confident, assured, successful high school student. He has been staffed out of Special Ed.  

Silent Elephant “e”™ changed his life. I can’t imagine what would have happened to him if we hadn’t met and I hadn’t written Silent Elephant “e”™. 

That’s the power we have as Silent Elephant “e”™ tutors. Being a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor is about changing lives. 

In my next email, I will fill you in on Micah’s story. You will love it. I am so proud of him.  
You’ll see how as a Silent Elephant “e”™ tutor you will change lives. You will be the person who is both so proud of them as they graduate and a little sad that you won’t be seeing them twice a week anymore. 😊 I know the feeling well.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com. We would love to visit with you and answer any questions you have.

She Looked Down at Me and Said, “What Will You Do Differently?”

She Looked Down at Me and Said, “What Will You Do Differently?”

Today I want to share a story. Stories are always illuminating and fun.
 
About 6 years ago, I welcomed a sweet girl and her mom into my home to begin tutoring. It was the first time we had met, although I had visited with the mom on the phone. She had expressed deep concern about “Beth’s” lack of progress in learning to read.
 
Since I want everyone to relax when we meet, we share our favorite foods, games, hobbies, subject in school, etc. I introduce them to my service dog who’s a great icebreaker.
 
As I could feel this sweet young girl relaxing, I asked her if we could play some listening games. She very shyly agreed, so I began assessing her phonemic awareness skills.
 
She scored 90% on Silent Elephant “e”™ Phonemic Awareness Assessment Part 1, but her answers were hesitant. To continue to Part 2, Beth would have to have had 95% accuracy with quick, confident answers. I praised her and told her she was doing beautiful, which she was. She was working very hard to know the correct answers.
 
We moved to uppercase and lowercase letter names, to letter sounds and then to rhyme. We were giggling while having fun making up silly words that rhymed.
 
On the San Diego Quick Assessment, Beth scored instructional at a 1st grade level. On the Silent Elephant “e”™ oral reading inventory she scored Primer level. Beth was 10 years old and in the 5th grade. She was 4-5 years behind in reading. I could see why her mother was so worried.
 
When I asked her if she liked to spell words and write stories, she answered that she loved to draw pictures and her mom wrote the stories for her. I heard a sadness drift into her voice when I asked her to write some words for me. We only tried three words; she only got “the” correct.
 
We finished our assessments, and I knew we needed to begin at the beginning: Phonemic Awareness Part 1 and Short Vowels Part 3. We jumped into the phonemic awareness train game and had fun playing it together.

As we finished the game, Beth’s Mom said, “Beth, you may play with Mrs. Jones’ dog for a bit. I want to talk with Mrs. Jones in the kitchen.”
 

I was a bit surprised, but went to join her in the kitchen where she was standing with her hands on her hips and said as she backed me into the cabinet corner, “What do you think you can do differently than I have done to teach my daughter to read?”
 
Before I could answer she continued, “Beth has been in preschool, public school, tutoring with Sylvan Learning Center and other tutors, and recently I’ve begun homeschooling her part time while she also attends a public-school alternative learning program. So, what makes you think that you can teach her to read?”
 
I took a deep breath, stood straight and tall and looked up into her eyes (she’s about 6 feet tall) and said, “Let ME tell YOU about my background, how my reading program came to be, and how I KNOW she will learn to read quickly with Silent Elephant “e”™.”
 
I told her how my life changed the day I realized my daughter was dyslexic. I told her how I knew I had to be THE ONE that researched, learned and helped my daughter succeed in reading, writing and spelling.
 
I mentioned classes I had taken. I mentioned the hours I had spent learning about how our brains learn, about dyslexia, and about other learning differences. I talked about the hours I spent asking my daughter, my husband (who is also dyslexic) and all the children I taught what helped them learn and what didn’t help them learn.
 
I shared that Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches reading, writing and spelling all together, simple to complex, because our brain perceives them as the same subject, just different parts of, “words in print”.   
 
I shared how every vague phonics concept (they’re all vague) is introduced in Silent Elephant “e”™ by engaging the creative parts of the brain first and then moving to the analytical part, therefore stimulating both hemispheres to interact with the concept. I told her how the creative brain understands and stores the knowledge through the senses as we color, dance, sing, draw, perform puppetry and much more. At the same time, the analytical part of the brain is understanding the “whys” and the “rules”. I shared that when learning this way, the brain in never confused. It connects the creative with the analytical and logically fits ALL the pieces together easily.
 
Then, I finally took a deep breath and said, “You’re going to have to trust me. And just so you know, my daughter graduated Magna Cum Laude.”
 
She looked at me and said, “I’ll give you 3 months!”
 
At the end of those three months, I had to smile thinking about Beth’s mom staring down at me in my kitchen. By that time, Beth was already reading at a 3rd grade level. By the end of 8 months, she was reading at an 8th grade level - 3 years above her chronological age. And now, she’s a very successful, happy, high school student.
 
Beth learned to read, write and spell in a very short time even though she’s profoundly dyslexic, because Silent Elephant “e”™ taught her in the way our brain learns new information best: in fun and creative ways.

Have questions?

Email us at silentelephante@gmail.com or call us at:
Linda        208-859-4406                            Nina    208-860-3125

Getting Started With Silent Elephant “e”, A Mom Shares

 Getting Started With Silent Elephant “e”, A Mom Shares

In our last email, we shared notes from the video that Jennifer did for us during our vendor week with Top Picks Homeschool Curriculum Facebook group. Jennifer is the mom of two lovely girls that I tutor. Jennifer shared how completely different her daughters are as learners (one dyslexic, one not) and how successful they both are with Silent Elephant “e"™.  (Here’s the link.)

 
This week we want to share thoughts that Crystal Kroush shared in her video during our vendor week.(Here is the link.) Crystal is an experienced homeschool educator who is just beginning to use Silent Elephant “e"™ with her three kids ages 12, 10 and 4. Here are notes from her video:
 
“We’re just beginning with Silent Elephant “e"™. I have just finished assessing all the kids and am getting ready to begin.
 
“We’ve used other programs for reading, writing and spelling. The other programs have assessments, but they’re usually assessments to tell us where they are in that program.
 
“Silent Elephant “e"™’s assessments are different. They’re comprehensive; they cover EVERYTHING you want to know about your kids’ language arts skills. They tell you their strengths AND their weaknesses. This is very important information. You want to know their weaknesses so you can fill them, and you want to build on their strengths. It’s like when you get into your car to go somewhere, you want to know where you are going and why. 😊
 
“I know as homeschoolers we teach where they are. We are more relaxed about their progress, not as concerned about how fast they are progressing, but that they are progressing. But I feel it’s also a very good idea to really know exactly what they know and don’t know, because you never know what might happen. Life might change. You might decide you want them to go to a public or to a private school and you’ll want to know they’ll be successful in that transition.
 
“So, even though my intention is to homeschool right through high school, it’s super important for me to know where they are in their skills, what their strengths are, and where they weaknesses are. I’ve already been surprised by our results.
 
“I think this is important too: since I have given them Silent Elephant “e"™’s comprehensive assessments, when I assess again with Silent Elephant “e"™, I’ll truly be able to see their growth. I’ll REALLY KNOW where their skills grew. I won’t be guessing or hoping.
 
“For my husband and I it was exciting to KNOW our kids are reading on grade level, and a bit of a relief. It was also reassuring to know exactly where their weaknesses are. Now with Silent Elephant “e"™, I feel confident I will address those weaknesses and my children, especially our 10-year-old, won’t continue feeling frustrated with certain concepts. On the flip side of that, I love the thought of building on their strengths with the multi-sensory activities of Silent Elephant “e"™. This is fun and exciting for all of us.
 
“I do have a tip for giving Silent Elephant “e”™’s comprehensive assessments.  Because they are so comprehensive, you will want to focus with only one of your kids at a time. Have the others do un-schooling activities like building with Legos or art, something that doesn’t need your immediate attention. This allows you to focus your attention on the one you are assessing. This will set all of you up for success and sidestep frustration on your part. 😊”
 
Crystal continued:
“I enjoyed watching Wendy’s video (Here's the link.) and her comment about how her kids are able to pick out library books that they can read and comprehend. I believe mine can do that too. Our kids are also avid readers and bring home dozens of books from the library each time we go. 
 
“But I do know, especially now that I have assessed, that they could be better especially in spelling and phonetic skills.
 
“I love that Silent Elephant “e"™ covers reading, writing and spelling all together as one and I love that it focuses their learning with color. Our kids really love color and are responsive to learning with color.
 
“I also loved seeing the confidence of Wendy’s kids as they shared their knowledge and work on the video. I loved the ease of it and the consistency of the rules. They knew exactly what to do because the rules are consistent, and they’ve learned them through their senses.
 
“And I also love the fun, multi-sensory approach of Silent Elephant “e"™! I have to say that we have tried some ‘workbooky’ type programs. They got the job done, but it was not very fun and there was lots of frustration. I like fun and, of course, all our kids like fun!
 
“Both my kids and I are eager to get started with Silent Elephant “e"™. 😊”
 
Here’s the link to Crystal’s video. 

 
Crystal’s last comment was very thoughtful. She encouraged utilizing my and Nina’s expertise. She appreciates our years of experience, research, and knowledge and how accessible we are to help and support. She scheduled a time with me to discuss her assessments and where and how to begin with her 3 kids who are all on very different levels. She left feeling empowered and knowledgeable, knowing how to addresses particular weaknesses and eager to begin.
 
Contact us with thoughts, questions, or to schedule a consultation.
Linda   208-859-4406                            Nina   208-860-3125  

She Was Reading on a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten

Pre-schoolers Blossoming with Silent Elephant “e”!

At the very end of June 2020, I had the pleasure to begin tutoring a four-year-old pre-Kindergartener with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

This bubbly, spunky, sweet little girl had hardly had the opportunity to attend pre-school before COVID.  

“Chloe” loved being read to but at that time wasn’t at all interested in learning to read herself. Chloe’s parents definitely wanted her to learn to read and were concerned about what her soon to be on-line Kindergarten experience would be like. She didn’t have any discernable learning differences; she was a happy bouncy 4-year-old.  

Since Chloe was only 4 years old, I began our Zoom sessions tutoring her for only about 20 minutes a day 5 days per week using Silent Elephant “e”’s caterpillar and train games.  

Young children, really ALL children, need to have FUN while learning, so I kept every lesson upbeat and positive with lots of smiles, giggles, and encouragement. I never rushed Chloe through a lesson; we progressed at her pace. We only moved to the next phonemic awareness lesson when I knew she had mastered the lesson we were working on.  

As we progressed, she became more and more interested in what she was learning and began to work diligently to learn phonemic awareness.  

The phonemic awareness portion of Chloe’s lesson only lasted about 9 to 10 minutes, then she and I would sing our hearts out as we sang our special version of “Old McDonald” at the top of our lungs to learn the short vowel sounds. (See my blog post https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/category/Vowels at www.silentelephant.com to learn my adapted version of “Old McDonald and how to use it.) 

After enthusiastically singing, if Chloe wanted to learn one new reading word, both of us would write the word using specific colors on 4” x 6” note cards. Because she was only 4 years old, I didn’t push her, we spent time forming the letters and remembering the sounds as we created her new word. For this part of Silent Elephant “e” I use the Fry Sight Word List of 700 words. (Learn in detail how I teach sight words at https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/2021/2/15/how-do-you-teach-sight-words-36Xh1. This sight word blog post explains why some sight words are really phonetic, https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/2021/2/15/ts-truesome-sight-words-are-really-phonetic-heres-why) 

Whenever Chloe was still eager to learn, we delved into the phonics part of her lesson. We used Silent Elephant “e”, Part 3. Using Silent Elephant “e”’s excellent, extremely well organized “cookbook” directions, I made sure that Chloe knew letter sounds and letter names; the difference between sight words and phonetic words; how to read simple short vowel VC and CVC words; and how to read, write, spell, and comprehend sentences. At the end of Part 3, Chloe learned about root words and the suffix -s. 

In September of 2020, Chloe was ready for 30 minutes a day. She was excited to learn—truly bouncing in her chair! The more she learned, the more eager she was to learn!

By January 8th of 2021, she had mastered the entire Part I, Phonemic Awareness section of Silent Elephant “e” with 100% accuracy on both assessments!

At the beginning of February 2021, she was reading, writing, and spelling at a second semester 1st grade reading level (one full year above her expected reading level)! She read smoothly using beautiful expression and comprehended everything she read! 

At the completion of her Kindergarten year in June of 2021, Chloe was reading, writing, and spelling at a 4th grade reading level with excellent word recognition and comprehension! She loved reading. 

Presently (November of 2021), Chloe continues to tutor with me only twice a week for 45-minute sessions. She is now at a 5th grade reading level in first grade! She is in Part 7 of Silent Elephant “e”! Her parents want her to continue with me because she is having so much fun and learning so quickly.

I’m so happy to share this success story with you! I’m so proud of Chloe! It has been so fun to watch how a young learner without any learning differences speeds through the lessons with confidence, eagerness and joy.

Teaching children beginning in preschool with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, provides them with the best learning tools in lessons that are FUN—using their whole body to learn!

Recently I began tutoring two three-year-olds in phonemic awareness! We are having a great time playing the caterpillar and train games with no real expectations! It’s such a pleasure for me to watch these two young minds at work as they eagerly understand how our language works. They are a joy.

Just imagine where they’ll be a year from now!

Contact us with questions at:

LInda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

Keep a song in your heart!

2,600 Pages In One Month!! She Beams With Pride

She is Beaming With Pride! 

I became a teacher because I wanted to help ALL children learn. Even in when I was in elementary school, I loved helping my friends with their homework and teaching them new things!

 
When I began teaching, I dreamt of parents sharing that I had made a difference in their child’s life. “Because of you,” they would share, “our child now loves curling up with a book in bed, reading until we say, ‘Lights out,’ and on several occasions, we’ve caught our kiddo reading under the covers with a flashlight not wanting to put their book down!”
 
Well, dreams do come true. 😊
 
Recently, I received this letter from a sweet, lovely young lady who began learning to read with her mom homeschooling her using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.
 
Hi Miss Linda,
I was in the summer Reading Program, and I was selected as a Top Reader!! I read over 2,600 pages in one month. Thanks for helping me learn to read. I’ve enjoyed all the stories I’ve got to read and look forward to many more. 
Love,
Audrey
Age 8
P.S. Here’s my picture of me when I received my certificate for Top Reader.

I was so excited to get this wonderful email from Audrey and the darling picture! Audrey looks so proud of herself! Her “buttons are popping!”
 
I immediately wrote back:
Dear Audrey,
I love your beautiful smiling face as you hold your wonderful award! Your T-shirt is awesome too! I’m so happy for you and so proud of you! 
 
Every time I can help a child learn to read using Silent Elephant “e”, I am thrilled! I’m one step closer to helping ALL children.

Wondering how Silent Elephant “e” will work with your children? Contact either of us. ;)  
Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson