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

Every Child Deserves the Joy and Freedom of Reading - gift for you!

Every Child Deserves the Joy and Freedom of Reading

With all my heart I extend to you this thank you gift! 

I truly appreciate that you are with us on our Silent Elephant “e”™ journey to ensure that EVERY CHILD experiences the JOY and FREEDOM of READING.
 
That is my passion. That is my WHY!
 
EVERY CHILD experiencing the FREEDOM and JOY of READING has been my passion, my why, for as long as I can remember, even before I realized my daughter was dyslexic. That realization just added fuel to the fire inside me.
 
I’ll say it again – EVERY CHILD DESERVES THE FREEDOM OF BEING ABLE TO READ, whether they have learning differences or not. (See my blog post It Shouldn’t Take 6 Years)

As you know, reading opens up every child’s world. It gives them the ability to explore and choose like nothing else can. It provides options. It paves their way.
 
I have had the privilege of watching student after student fly free because of Silent Elephant “e”™.  I am proud of Silent Elephant “e”™. I am even more proud of these confident and happy young people whose lives were completely changed because of Silent Elephant “e”™, such as the young 16-year-old who is starting college early. (More about her later.)
 
Now, back to your thank you gift!
 
I wanted to give you something to show how much I appreciate you for sharing my passion for EVERY CHILD HAVING THE FREEDOM OF READING.
 
My thank you gift is a PDF of Silent Elephant “e”™ ‘s  Lesson 51 - Vowel Digraph “ui” makes a long /oo/” also called Juicy Juicy.
 
I named my Silent Elephant “e”™ lessons with names that strike curiosity and interest in our students and also tells them what they will be learning. This name makes them giggle and it begins their multi-sensory process of learning “ui” and of having that knowledge at the ready for the rest of their lives when they come up against an unknown ”ui” word.
 
Juicy Juicy gives you a clear idea of how Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches a new phonics concept by activating all parts of the brain through fun whole child/whole brain activities. In Juicy Juicy these fun activities stimulate their senses as they learn that “ui” makes a long /oo/ sound.
 
Your gift includes the entire 7-page Juicy Juicy lesson beginning with your directions and their introduction using their sense of sight, smell, and taste. The lesson then continues with learning “ui” words, their meanings and using those words in sentences to develop comprehension. You will also see how we use Silent Elephant “e”™ markings to indicate phonetic concepts. This is another way multi-sensory learning is integrated throughout Silent Elephant “e”™. Each color and symbol has particular meaning which activates the parts of the brain involving symbology and color.
 
Since Juicy Juicy is a 7-page PDF please email Nina at nina.silentelephante@gmail.com to let her know where you would like her to send your thank you gift.
 
Again, THANK YOU so much for being a part of this wonderful EVERY CHILD GETTING TO LEARN TO READ journey with us! We look forward to hearing how you and your kiddos enjoyed Juicy Juicy.
 
As always, we love hearing your thoughts and answering your questions. Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com, or call me at 208-859-4406 or Nina at 208-860-3125.

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

It's Time to Celebrate!!

Ending the summer with their skills strong and growing

 The other day I watched my dog River make muddy footprints on the sidewalk as we walked home in the evening and thought of the animal booklets your kiddos might be making. 😊 Do you have any photos of leaf prints or animal footprints to share?

Summer is so active, and it gives us many fun opportunities to strengthen and build their growing reading, writing and spelling skills with whole child/whole brain activities. Are you ready for another set of ideas? 

1. Study the world wherever you are, on vacation or at home. Explore their world for anything and everything that begins with or has phonetic concepts such as:

·       a particular sound that your children have previously studied

·       a particular consonant sound

·       a particular short vowel sound

·       a particular consonant digraph sound

·       a particular consonant blend sound

·       a particular long vowel sound

Have them draw and write about their finds and then have them learn more by exploring their finds on the internet for further reading, writing, spelling and drawing fun. This searching activity can be especially fun while gazing out car windows on long car rides.
 

2. Create outdoor art, outdoor paintings and/or sculptures.

Have them name their pieces and write descriptions about their motivation behind each piece. Explore different artists you or they enjoy, learning about the motivation behind their work.
 

3. Plan ahead - As the summer begins to wind down, plan a “gallery opening” of all their summer studies, booklets, and art projects. Make this a special time to be proud of their work and their growth. Have them create invitations and invite family, friends and neighbors for a fun picnic/potluck and “gallery” stroll. You’ll love watching their proud faces as they share their projects and learning with those who care about them.

This summer we send out four other whole child/whole brain summer activity emails with lots of fun and active whole child/whole brain activities that keeps their skills growing and strong. These are fun activities any time of the year, not just in the summer. 😊
Here are the links to the other four: 
It’s Summer – Whole Child/Whole Brain Ways to Keep Spelling Skills Strong
Keeping Skills Sharp During the Summer – It’s Important!
Having Fun While Keeping Their Skills Strong
Prints! Leaf, Foot, and Maybe Hand 
 
If you have questions about teaching whole child/whole brain or how Silent Elephant “e”™ truly is fun, effective and different, feel free to contact us here and go to silentelephante.com.

Keep a song in your heart!

It's Summer - Whole Child/Whole Brain Ways to Keep Spelling Skills Strong

It's Summer - Whole Child/Whole Brain Ways to Keep Spelling Skills Strong

It's summer and everything always looks a little different in the summer, even our schooling. 

Let's look at some different multi-sensory techniques that activate the whole child, the whole brain, and will keep spelling skills strong through the summer (or any season 😊).

1. When children are writing spelling words with a regular pencil, have them write the letter(s) that are tricking them or challenging them in a bright red color. This analysis of what is tricking them takes the word and its meaning into another part of their brain enhancing their retention of the word. The red color helps stimulate visual memory. 

2. Have them practice their words with two fingers (pointer and middle) in pudding spread on a rimmed cookie sheet. As you can imagine, this is a very popular way to practice spelling words. The tactile sensations of the coldness and smoothness of the pudding plus the sweet smell activates multiple parts of the brain. (Have them wash their hands first because you know they are going to lick their fingers. 😊) 

3. Using two fingers to write their words in red aquarium sand spread out in cold water on a rimmed cookie sheet stimulates both tactile and visual parts of the brain. The tactile sensations of the sand and the cold water plus the red color of the sand activates multiple parts of the brain. 

4. Shaving cream is also fun. Like the pudding and aquarium sand the tactile sensations and the smell of writing their words in shaving cream on a cookie sheet activates multiple parts of the brain at the same time. (I buy shaving cream for this purpose at a dollar store.) 

5. Writing their spelling words in the bathtub using bathtub crayons always brings giggles. It also stimulates many parts of the brain and is, of course, just fun and oh so pretty. 

6. Take their words outside! Let them write spelling words with two fingers or using a stick in sand or mud. When your kids move outside to focus on spelling, their brain connects their learning with all environments. Spelling isn’t just a school related skill. 

7. Another tactile stimulus that helps them feel the writing of their words through their fingertips is writing them on sandpaper. Have them write the words first in bright colors and then trace them with their fingers. This activates visual parts of the brain as well.  

8. Then there is "Rainbow Writing". :) "Rainbow Writing" is writing their spelling words using multiple crayons, colored pencils or colored markers at the same time.  Kids love this and the colors activate the visual part of the brain as they form the letters of their words. 

9. Get a strong, sturdy large rectangular cardboard box about 12” x 10” x 1.5” with a lid. Line it with red duct tape. Pour two to three boxes of table salt into the box. Now, have them practice their spelling words with two fingers in the salt. This stimulates both tactile and visual memory with the roughness of the salt and the color of the box.

10. Pretend that your child’s back is a writing board and write their spelling words with two fingers on his/her back. You may need to write slowing as they will be intensely figuring out the word you are writing.  After they have figured out the word you're writing “erase” the word by gently rubbing their back. This is especially important if they are dyslexic or a struggling with spelling. “Erasing” helps their brain “let go” of what they were just intensely figuring out and get ready for a new word. 

• Writing on their back takes their words into so many parts of their brain. They must activate multiple parts of their brain that help them identify the letters in a completely different way. They are not using their sight at all. Their brain must connect the letters they have identified through the touch on their back into a word that has meaning to them and that they can identify by sight. 

• Now, switch places with them and let them write on your back. You'll both get the giggles. 

• IMPORTANT - Do this activity only after they have written the word in other tactile activities and have both a solid knowledge of the word's meaning and visual memory of the word.                                                             

Have fun “playing” with your kiddos as they keep their spelling skills strong this summer. You’ll enjoy their smiles and feelings of success!

If you have used other multi-sensory spelling activities that you have enjoyed and found successful, please send it our way. (silentelephante@gmail.com) We'll get them out to everyone to use this summer.  
If you have questions about spelling the Silent Elephant “e”™  way, feel free to contact us.
Keep a song in your heart!

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

Knowing What They Know Makes All the Difference!

Knowing What They Know Makes All the Difference!

As a sweet fifth grade girl and I began tutoring this past week on ZOOM, I heard her mom remind her, "Tell Mrs. Jones what ‘Mrs. Hartman’ told you."

 
Carol said, “Oh, yah, Mom!” Then she turned to me. “Do you know what Mrs. Hartman told me yesterday?"
 
“No,” I replied, “but I’m excited to hear!”
 
“She said I improved 69 points in my i-Ready Reading Test since the last time we took it. I made the greatest improvement of anyone in my class! I’m at a fifth grade reading level now! I’m caught up! But now, I even want to get higher!”
 
“Oh, my gosh!” I said. “I’m so, so proud of you! You’ve been working so hard with such a positive attitude! From our last assessment, I knew you’d caught up to fifth grade reading.”
 
I smiled at her. "And, what’s this I hear? You want to get even better in reading? That’s wonderful, let’s go for it!”
 
Carol began tutoring with me 9 months ago at the end of her fourth-grade year. She was struggling in reading, writing and spelling and was beginning to feel more and more defeated and behind.
 
When I assessed her, she didn’t understand phonemic awareness at all and was frustrated at a third grade reading level. Until fourth grade she had appeared to have foundational reading skills but had been memorizing all the words and had finally reached that place where she just couldn't memorize everything being taught.
 
Now she is reading on grade level and is eager to learn more. She has mastered phonemic awareness, the 700 High Frequency Fry Sight Words and has caught up with her classmates! 
 
She is very proud of herself and eager about her future. 

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 know the joy of reading.
 
I have a concern though. I’m concerned that there are many more children with or without learning differences who for whatever reason did not pick up phonemic awareness when they were younger.
 
These children begin to think that you their parent and their teacher have just memorized the words in the books being read to them. This makes sense to them, because they can memorize short books. They make the assumption as they observe their classmates and siblings read fluently, that reading is about memorization. They try hard to memorize everything.
 
This works for them until, like Carol, they reach that age when there is too much information to memorize. At that point, they begin to realize something isn’t right and become more and more frustrated. You become more and more concerned as you watch them.
 
Even worse, they begin to question themselves as a learner and doubt their own abilities to succeed.
 
Sadly, this frustration occurs because no one realized that they, like Carol, simply do not have phonemic awareness, and do not understand phonics concepts. No one assessed their reading skills.
 
This is why I strongly recommend that there is no time like right now to assess your kiddos to make sure their reading foundations of phonemic awareness and phonics skills are truly solid. This is especially true if your kiddos are struggling or becoming resistant to reading, writing, spelling instruction in any way. Frustration of any kind is a clue that assessments are needed.
 
When you have assessed them, you will KNOW they have the skills they need to succeed, or you will know exactly which skills you need to teach them. You won’t be wondering, hoping or guessing.
 
Of course, Silent Elephant “e”™ has you covered.

• Part 2 provides you with all the assessments you will need pre-k through high school beginning with phonemic awareness.

• Part 1 is the 47 phonemic awareness lessons.

• Part 3 teaches phonics skills through the end of second grade.

At this time, Parts 1-3 are 25% OFF!
In fact, all Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ program books and videos are 25% OFF!
 
Click here to visit our store, read our blog posts, and learn more about how Silent Elephant “e”™ supports the success of your kiddos and your success as their educator.
 
As always Nina and I love visiting with you, answering your questions about Silent Elephant “e”™, reading writing and spelling and supporting you as you teach your young ones! Please contact us anytime!
 
Linda Katherine Smith-Jones  208-859-4406                Nina Henson  208-860-3125

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

Navigation Systems Get Us Where We Want to Go

Navigation Systems Get Us Where We Want to Go

Let’s celebrate the power of assessing!

 
The kids I tutor and I have just finished their mid-year benchmark assessments.
 
Three of the 17 kids moved from frustration to instructional at the same reading level. I was not surprised as Silent Elephant “e”™ has on-going assessment built right into every lesson so I knew they were progressing and I knew they hadn’t jumped to the next grade level. Two of them are profoundly dyslexic and are now reading on grade level and one, who is not dyslexic, is 5 yrs. ahead of grade level. Since he is already far above his age and grade level in his reading skills, the vocabulary he is learning is stretching him. By the end of the year, I expect all three of them to have moved up a full grade level or more.
 
As I mentioned, Silent Elephant “e”™ has on-going assessments built into every lesson. These assessments take several forms from watching as they mentally and verbally process a concept with their worksheets to having them verbally explain why they know their answers are correct.

Since we are assessing as we move through each lesson, we don’t leave a concept unless they are competent and confident with it. This ensures that they will be successful with the next concepts because all reading, writing, and spelling concepts build on each other.
 
Seven of my kids advanced ½ year in reading skills since fall. Four are profoundly dyslexic and are now all one grade level above their chronological grade level in reading. Three of them are three years ahead of grade level! Two of those are profoundly dyslexic.
 
Five advanced one full year in half a year with Silent Elephant “e”™! All five are profoundly dyslexic and are now reading at grade level.
 
On-going assessments are our handy navigational system that guides OUR daily teaching. We KNOW where they are progressing in their knowledge of the concepts we are teaching, and where we need to give them more support. On-going assessments guide us.
 
Benchmark assessments such as I just finished giving are different, they are a way for us and them to see where they were and where they are now in their overall reading skills. Benchmark assessments give them and us a look at their progress over time.  These assessments are given at the beginning, middle and end of the year, and are a time to stop and celebrate their knowledge and progress.
 
Two of my kiddos advanced 2 full years in half a year! One is profoundly dyslexic and as you can imagine is extremely pleased. 
 
The other is my little first grader that I have shared with you in this blog post. She doesn’t have any learning differences and is now reading at a 6th grade reading level! She has moved 6 grade levels in reading in a little over a year.

We all had fun taking a moment in the middle of the year to celebrate their successes.
 
As educators, homeschool, classroom, or tutor, our desires for our students are the same. We want them to feel that freedom that comes from being able to confidently read and write. We want them to be able to freely explore their world of print, knowing they have the tools to read anything that comes their way. Using assessment as our navigation system is a sure way to make sure they get where they want to go. 

BTW - Silent Elephant “e”™ Part 2   has all the assessments you’ll need beginning with phonemic awareness and taking you all the way through high school. It’s now on sale 25% off. Also on sale at 25% off is the Part 1-3 Introductory Package. Parts 1-3 will take your child from phonemic awareness through 2 grade.

Contact us for information -

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones 208-859-4406 silentelephante@gmail.com

Nina Henson 208-860-3125 nina_henson@yahoo.com

WOW! TEN YEARS of SILENT ELEPHANT “E” DATA!

WOW! TEN YEARS of SILENT ELEPHANT “E” DATA!

WOW! It suddenly hit me. I have 10 YEARS worth of Silent Elephant “e” data. 10 years! I’ve been watching Silent Elephant “e” truly change children’s lives (and their parent’s lives!) for TEN YEARS!

 During those years, I’ve taught preschool through high school students who were struggling to read, write and spell. Some were staffed into special education. I have also had a few students who were not struggling at all but whose parents knew about Silent Elephant “e” and wanted their children to have a solid foundation in reading, writing and spelling.

 My students have included those with:

·       Dyslexia

·       ADD or ADHD

·       Speech and Language Disorders

·       English Language Learners

·       Autism

·       Hearing Impairments

·       Down Syndrome

·       Dyspraxia

·       Central Auditory Processing Disorder

·       Low to Extremely Low IQ

·       Other Learning Differences

·       Those with No Learning Differences

I share all their differences, because IN SPITE OF their differences, they have ALL SUCCEEDED in becoming fluent, confident readers, writers and spellers. Some needed the gift of time, to move at their own pace slowly but steadily, which is a powerful component of Silent Elephant “e”. Some quickly moved through the entire program. ALL HAVE SUCCEEDED.  

Are you ready to be impressed by the ten years of data, the quick, amazing progress my kiddos are making in a short amount of time?

Over the last ten years students learning with Silent Elephant “e” 1.5 to 2 hours/week (which is not much time!), on average:

·        Advanced 1 grade level for every 2.25 months of instruction. (Think of this: my students are not taking a school year to advance a grade level—they’re advancing multiple grade levels in one year.)

·        Advanced to their age-appropriate grade level in 4 months (some in as little as 2.5 months). (Some of them were 2-6 years behind their grade level when they began learning with Silent Elephant “e”.)

·        Advanced 4.25 grade levels with 6 months of instruction. (😊 Wow!)

·        Mastered Part 1, Phonemic Awareness within 3 months. (In 3 months, they understood the basics of written language and were ready to fly!)

In these last ten years, 9 of my students have successfully exited out of special education which is unheard of. All 9 of them are now competent, confident students who are having a good time in school, learning easily and proud of themselves.

Also in these 10 years, I have been able to support parents and teachers in their decision to refrain from placing a child in special education because the student was being tutored using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” and both the school and the parents knew the success of Silent Elephant “e” students.  

I’m so pleased to share all of this with you! 

I’m so proud of all those whose lives have been touched by Silent Elephant “e” (students and parents) from the beautiful, profoundly dyslexic young woman in her sophomore year of college majoring in neuroscience who is no longer struggling to the sparkling little one who began first grade this fall reading on a fourth-grade level after one year of learning with Silent Elephant “e” during her Kindergarten year.  

Thank you for celebrating with us! 

If you are wondering how Silent Elephant “e” can support your kiddos as their (and your) comprehensive pre-school to college reading, writing and spelling program, contact us with the links below.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Keep a song in your heart!

This Little Kindergartener Rocked It!

This Little Kindergartener Rocked It!

My editor, Nina Henson, has always said that Silent Elephant “e” is really for all children.
“Yes,” she says, “it teaches THE WAY dyslexics learn and it teaches using strategies for success of ELL students and any student at risk.

“But,” she continues, “the truth is that Silent Elephant “e” teaches the way every child deserves to learn to read. It involves the whole child; it teaches the way they process concepts. It’s fun. It teaches them to think about how they are learning and think about how they are processing concepts. It teaches them to express their knowledge and to express how they know what they know. It ensures success for all.”

I know all of this is true because I wrote Silent Elephant “e” for the whole child—integrating the whole learner into every lesson. Silent Elephant “e” stimulates thought and learning through multiple interactive multi-sensory activities in every single lesson.

As you know, I wrote Silent Elephant “e” because my daughter is dyslexic and I needed to learn how to best help her process and retain the concepts in reading, writing and spelling. It needed to be sequential: beginning with phonemic awareness and then moving step by step through all phonics concepts. It had to be taught the way she learns. I needed to support her learning from pre-k through college.

Silent Elephant “e” does that.

Until this last school year, all my tutoring students have had learning differences, many profound. I have seen amazing results for all of them.

This last school year, I had the delightful pleasure of experiencing what Nina believes: Silent Elephant “e” is the way every child deserves to learn to read, write and spell. I had the privilege to teach the Kindergarten sister of one of my third graders.

My third-grade student is profoundly dyslexic, but her little sister, “Lisa”, isn’t. Their Mom asked me to tutor Lisa as well because she was concerned about her missing out with their online schooling.

During the 11 months I tutored Lisa, I watched with awe as she picked up concept after concept so quickly and transferred what she was learning into other areas. She asked questions and made statements like: “This must be a word family, because there’s only one vowel in the middle of the word but it’s a long sound like the “i” was long in “find”. We need to put a purple wall after the long “e” sound in “before” just like we put a purple wall after the long “o” sound in “over”, because long vowels have long legs to see over the purple wall!”

It was thrilling to watch her mind absorb the concepts quickly and be ready and eager for more.

In our short time together, Lisa mastered all 700 Fry list words and finished her kindergarten year reading on a 4th grade level. I was amazed and delighted, yet not surprised.

Now because of this sweet, little one I have experienced how quickly Silent Elephant “e” supports the learning of every child.

She opened my eyes again to the power of Silent Elephant “e”.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

Such Overwhelming Responsibility - Maybe! Maybe Just Different

Such Overwhelming Responsibility - Maybe! 

I hope that as you’ve gotten to know me, you realize how seriously I take my responsibility of being an excellent teacher in every way for each of my students and their parents. 

Interestingly, I’m discovering a new responsibility and a new teacher/student relationship the longer I tutor. This has taken me by surprise.  

As a classroom teacher, I struggled having to say good-bye to “my” children at the end of each school year. I would be in tears—tears I needed to hide. I knew I’d miss each one of them, but I’d send them off knowing they were going to have wonderful teachers the next year. When they walked out the door, my responsibility as their teacher ended. 

I looked forward to the times I’d see them in the hallway. I looked forward to watching them grow. 

Tutoring is a whole different ball game! 

I’m discovering that I don’t have a set number of days to teach my tutees. I totally move at their pace, making sure they are successful and reach mastery of each skill I teach them. When they finish Part 14 in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, they are ready to graduate from me—at least that was my goal and anticipated outcome when I wrote my reading program.

But after 9 years of tutoring, I’m realizing that this is not always the case. 

Although my tutees are academically ready to leave me, many of them, and their parents, are not emotionally ready to let go of our relationship upon completion of Part 14. This was something I wasn’t prepared for. 

One time, a ten-year-old girl ran upstairs and hid in an upstairs bedroom on her last day with me. She wouldn’t leave. Her dad went up to talk to her. I went up to talk to her reassuring her that she was going to do beautifully in school and that she could visit me whenever she wanted. I gave her lots of hugs while telling her how much I love her. I then went downstairs to tutor two more children for the next two hours. She still didn’t come down.  

At 7:30 that evening, I went up again with some hot chocolate and cookies. We talked more and hugged. Finally, she was ready for my service dogs and me to walk her home. 

To this day, she still frequently walks by, waves through the window, texts me with holiday wishes and comes over to play ball with my new service dog. 

I love her so much. She’s like a granddaughter to me. 

She wasn’t the only one of my kiddos who wasn’t ready to graduate even though their reading skills were advanced.  

As the end of another school year was approaching, “Troy”, a sixth-grade boy, asked me, “What happens when I graduate from you?” 

I explained that he wouldn’t need to come to tutoring anymore because he was far ahead in reading now. “I’m so proud of you! You’ve worked so hard! You’re an advanced reader!” 

He slowly, painfully asked, “Do you miss the kids that graduate from you?” 

“Yes, I do, very much!” I answered. “But I still see them sometimes. I go to their football and basketball games, their gymnastics meets and their school plays. They come over at Christmas time for hot cocoa. I’ll still get to see you.” 

“Oh,” was all he said. 

At our next tutoring session, he bounced in the door with a big smile on his face! “My mom said I’m going to keep coming to tutoring! I need help with math now.” He was beaming ear to ear.  

I was so surprised! I knew he didn’t need help with math, I also knew it was difficult for his family to afford tutoring. I wasn’t sure just what to say. 

When Mom came in to pick him up, he happily ran out the door to climb the tree in the front yard. I somewhat tentatively said to Mom, “Troy told me he’s going to continue tutoring.”  

Mom winked, “Oh yes, he needs help with math. He’ll come only once a week. The truth is, Troy needs you. You’re his lifeline. You build his self-confidence. He needs you!” 

I didn’t know what to say—I hadn’t seen this coming. I felt honored and humbled, yet in some respects I felt somewhat frightened and concerned about this new role I was to fill in Troy’s life. 

I looked at her and smiled, “I don’t know what to say. I’m honored to continue tutoring Troy. I love him as one of my grandboys. Thank you!” But this left me wondering. I’m still tutoring him once a week for an hour. 

Then two and a half years ago, one of my 11th graders was completing Part 14 at the end of December. She kept stalling and stalling, not wanting to have our last lesson. She’d tell me, “I need help with an English paper. I need help with my algebra practice test. I want to do some more timed readings.” 

Finally, at the end of January I said, “Sweetie, you are reading at a college reading level now. When you started tutoring with me a year and a half ago, you were at a fifth-grade reading level. Look what you’ve accomplished in such a short time! You’re going to do beautifully for the rest of your high school career and in college! You’re awesome! I believe in you!” 

Then I realized that like Troy and my 10-year-old who hid in the bedroom, she was afraid of letting go of me and the support I meant to her.  I assured her, “You can call, text and/or visit anytime. I will always want to keep in touch, to hear about all the amazing things you’re doing. You’ve got this! I love you so much!”   

Finally, realizing she wouldn’t be losing me, she was able to let that day be her last tutoring day. We both had tears in our eyes and exchanged big hugs. She and her mom always call on my birthday and text on holidays. I send her birthday cards. She called a couple of months ago to discuss her college course selection that she’s considering for next year—her sophomore year! She’s majoring in neurology! 

I’m so proud of her! I love her dearly! 

Those three are not the only ones. 

I have 4 other high schoolers that text often, send pictures and call occasionally. Before COVID, I attended their sporting events and class plays and they dropped by at Christmas for chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa. 

Presently I have 4 kiddos that are tutoring with me one or two hours a week who have graduated from Part 14 but who are just not ready to end tutoring. They range in age from 9 to 14. I am tutoring them in advanced reading and spelling skills and helping with homework in language arts, math, science, and social studies.  

I have found myself quietly examining my new responsibility--one of continuing to support some of my students until they feel that not only are they excellent readers, writers, and spellers, but that they can trust themselves to confidently handle anything that comes their way. 

This responsibility can feel a little overwhelming but then maybe it’s the natural progression for them that I can’t rush any more than I could have rushed their learning phonemic awareness and phonics.  

When I feel it this way, I just relax and smile and LOVE that I get to continue to be a part of their lives as an educator and as a caring, loving person who will always know they will succeed.  

Now, I don’t have to let them go at the end of Part 14 - I get to watch them fly when they are ready to fly.

If you have any questions are Silent Elephant “e” or becoming a tutor, contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson