No Wonder She Struggled with Fluency - WOW

Struggling with Fluency 

In my two previous blog posts, I shared how Josie and one of my seven-year-old students had opened my eyes by sharing with me what happens to the words on the page when they are reading. Since this revelation, I’m feeling even more joy in my teaching.  

I feel like I’m meeting each and every student exactly where they are because I’m listening more carefully, asking the right questions and teaching them using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.   

I’m continually amazed and 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 told me about letters jumping around the page, I asked my ninth-grade dyslexic student to explain what she saw on a page of printed material.  

I had been trying many teaching techniques to help Ahva develop fluency in reading, as 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. When I mentioned that to her, I had her put her hand under her chin so she could feel the bobbing.

 When the bobbing subsided, we began working on phraseology (My next two posts are about teaching 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 in?

·                 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 more fluently, but she couldn’t read a phrase smoothly that was longer than three or four words, 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 would need multiple repetitions of a sentence to reach conversational fluency. 

That is when I asked my awesome, conscientious ninth grade student 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!  

Again, I was 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.” 

Her brain is focusing 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 think she felt relief that she wasn’t alone and that someone understood and was there to help. 

 I asked Ahva if she would share her story with you. 

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 

I am so proud of her for being able to share her story with us! 

NOW, I am offering you a challenge along with myself: If our students/children are struggling with reading IN ANY WAY, let’s ask each of them to tell us what they see on a page of writing. We do not want to put ideas into their heads, but we do want to understand how they are processing printed material, especially if they are struggling.  

Please share your experiences with me. With your permission, I’d love to pass along your experiences, successes and thoughts. We have so much to learn from our children to help us become even better educators!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

“The Words and Letters Move Faster and Faster Around the Page like a Racetrack!”

“The Words and Letters Move Faster and Faster

Around the Page like a Racetrack!” 

To my surprise, recently another one of my students shared how he sees words on a page of print.  

I shared with you how Ahva, a ninth grader, sees words stretched and compacted and how only 3 or 4 words are clear to her at any one time. When Ahva shared how she sees words, I completely understood her fluency struggles as she painstakingly, yet steadily improved her smoothness and reading rate while learning to read with Silent Elephant “e”. She is now reading and comprehending above her grade level. 

I shared with you how Josie, a seventh grader, saw words scrambled and jumbled.  Random letters from other words on the page would combine with the actual letters within a word she was trying to read. Through instruction with Silent Elephant “e”, Josie learned how to break down words by imagining the colors used for each rule. She doesn’t see scrambled or jumbled words anymore and is also reading and comprehending above her grade level now. 

I shared how surprised I was when one of my second-grade students said, “I would be able to read better if the letters would just stop jumping around the page.”  

I shared how I gently began to question her to understand what she meant.  

Our conversation opened my eyes, and from that moment on, I began to carefully question all of my students.  

I wanted to know what they saw. I was careful not to ask leading questions, so I questioned in a way they would feel safe and confident to express what was happening for them on a page of print.  

Most of my students gave me a look of, “Well, the words on papers are just words sitting there!” (Sigh of relief on my part!) 

But a few began to feel safe enough to share just how they saw the words and just what the words were doing.  

These students OPENED MY EYES. They have helped me become a better teacher!

To bring home again that we need to ask questions of our students who are not progressing as we feel they should, I want to tell you about Jacob.  

Old day during tutoring, 11-year-old Jacob expressed to me, “My brain is broken. I just have to deal with it.” My first response was to assure Jacob that he IS a bright, intelligent boy! I went on, “ Jacob, you are one of the most thoughtful, compassionate, caring young people I have ever known! Your brain isn’t ‘broken’ at all. You just learn to read differently than most people.“ 

But I heard his pain and confusion.  

He was adamant, “Yes, my brain is broken! I know other people don’t see words on paper like I do.” 

I gently began to ask questions to understand what he meant.  

Below is what he described. 

(I know it is a lot to ask of anyone to read my precisely detailed notes of exactly what Jacob sees on a page of print, but I wanted Jacob’s parents to take him to an ophthalmologist and show the doctor my notes and I wanted to share my notes with you, an educator.) 

“When I first look at a written page, I see clear typing. 

As I begin looking at the sentence I am supposed to read, the words begin to slowly blur from the margins inward until only about 2½ inches of space has clear typing in the middle of the line. 

That clarity lasts for about 1 to 1½ seconds. 

Then the whole sentence gets blurry. 

The rest of the typing on the entire page blanks out to just be the color of the paper, however, the blurred sentence I’m focusing on stays in the same place and stays blurry. 

Then that whole sentence shifts by moving up one inch on the paper, and then it becomes clear. 

Then the letters in the sentence form a “follow the leader” single file line moving straight out to the left edge of the paper. There is a tiny bit of space between each letter, but no additional space separating words. 

When they reach the left edge, they begin to move in the single file line directly to the top of the paper. (The letters do not flip over from top to bottom or appear backwards.) 

When they reach the top edge, they continue to move clockwise in the single file line directly to the right edge of the paper.  

When they reach the right edge, they continue moving clockwise in the single file line directly to the bottom edge of the paper.  

When they reach the bottom edge, they continue moving clockwise in the single file line directly to the left edge of the paper.  

When they reach the left edge, they continue moving clockwise in the single file line directly to the top edge of the paper, etc.  

This movement forms a line of letters moving clockwise around the edge of the paper.  

The spinning motion increases its speed with each “race track loop” as it passes its original starting position.

The speed the letters move around the loop is between about .8 to .5 sec./loop with the speed increasing with every cycle. 

Also, the space between letters decreases as the speed increases, so by the fourth time around I just see a blur of black racing letters in an oval shape. (No longer do the letters reach the corners of the paper.) 

If there are other people around me when I’m reading, people can help me stop the spinning by talking to me or touching me or I need to hear loud noises. 

If I am alone when I’m reading, I try to blink my eyes, shake my head, rub my face, adjust my clothing, and/or look somewhere else on the page. 

If those things don’t work, I try to drop the paper or book, but I’m unable to let go of either. I feel like I’m a statue. I’m frozen. I’m unable to move. 

When I began experimenting with the colored Irlen overlays with Mrs. Jones and my dad on June 19, 2019, I discovered that the dull side helps prevent the letter “racetrack”. The letters stopped racing around. 

However, with the Irlen overlay, the letters become a little bit shaky and the shakiness increases a little bit the longer I look at the words. It stays that way, until I look away. 

Also, with the Irlen overlay, instead of the blurred line of typing moving up an inch, the clear line of typing moves down about a half inch.

The letters land directly on top of the letters in the sentence that is about a half-inch below.” 

Isn’t that amazing! 

Understanding how Jacob is seeing the letters and what they are doing helps me to help him. 

After Jacob shared, I sat amazed that he was learning to read at all. I am struggling to comprehend what it must be like to watch the letters race around the page faster and faster.  

I am very pleased to share that all my students who have expressed that they see the words on the page differently are successfully learning to read using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.  

This affirms my research and the techniques I developed to ensure that ALL CHILDREN LEARN TO READ.  

It is their right.

It also affirms our need to ask questions and listen to our children.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

“This is the piece I’ve been missing! This is the piece I’ve been missing!”

“This is the piece I’ve been missing! This is the piece I’ve been missing!” 

“I wish the letters would stop racing off the page!” my ten-year-old student exclaimed in frustration. 

“What?” I questioned.  

He replied with a sigh, “I just wish the letters would stop racing off the page when I’m trying to read!” 

I took a quiet deep breath and trying to keep concern out of my voice said, “I’d love for you to tell me what you see when you are reading.”

 I listened with amazement as this kindhearted, hardworking boy began describing what it’s like when he looks at letters on a page and tries to read the words and sentences. 

“The letters are in a race,” he said. “They run to the left side and then disappear off the page. It’s as if they ran through a portal into another dimension.

“I have to try to read really fast to try to catch the second word. Sometimes I just catch the beginning of a word. Sometimes I can catch a few more letters. That’s why I guess a lot.” 

He paused and continued, “Suddenly the words in the sentence will grow or pop back on the page in the same spot. 

“Then I try to quickly read more of the sentence. I might be able to get to the third word, but then the fourth word might move up a line and then the fifth word might move down a line. 

“I have to try to read super-fast the first time I read a sentence. I usually have to read a sentence 3 to 5 times to be able to slow down enough that I can understand what I’m reading.” 

He thought for a moment and continued to share, “Black letters always used to race off the page, but since I’ve been tutoring with you and learning the colors, the colors stay hooked to the words like rubber bands. The rubber bands pull the words back onto the page.”*

I asked, still in a state of surprise, “You said black letters always used to race off the page, but now the colors help. How often do the black letters race off the page now?” 

He gave this question some thought and then answered, “Oh, I’d say about 30% of the time. It’s a lot better now!” 

He was beginning to feel safe and comfortable and wanting to share more about what reading is like for him. “But it’s not good to have the letters in bright colors like they are in books sometimes, because the letters will jump, explode and then come back. That makes reading take a long time, because I have to wait for the bright letters to come back. 

“I like to read comic books and graphic design novels. The speech balloons help keep the words in the white space, so they don’t race off the page.  

“And, I don’t like the words mixed in the picture, because the words will jump off the page for sure.” **

This sweet boy was on a roll. He continued to think of things he wanted to share. “Oh, Mrs. Jones, you know the yellow highlight handwriting paper*** that we use to practice my spelling words?” 

I nodded, “Yes.” 

“When we first started using it, the yellow part would stretch up taller and taller if I was writing a word that didn’t have any tall letters in it, such as “can”. I’d have to refocus several times. It’s better if a word has at least one tall letter in it, such as “cat”. The more I use it, the better it’s getting though.” 

I thought of his progress over the past several months. “Yes, I have seen a lot of improvement in your spelling and handwriting since we began using that paper,” I replied. 

The more he shared the more he thought of things he wanted me to know, such as how extremely frustrating it is for him to try to read highway signs, street signs and store front signs when he is riding in a car. “The letters race off the signs too quickly.”

 Let’s stop here for a moment and imagine the daunting task this young boy faces each time he tries to read anything. Imagine how frustrated he must feel. Imagine the effort he puts forth just to read a word. Imagine . . . 

This wonderful boy began tutoring with me and Silent Elephant “e” 14 months ago when he was in the 3rd grade and has preserved through biweekly tutoring sessions.  

At age nine, when he began tutoring with me, he had not mastered phonemic awareness and did not have a clue about how language works. 

After two weeks of instruction in phonemic awareness he exclaimed out loud, “This is the piece I’ve been missing! This is the piece I’ve been missing!” I smile when I think of that moment 14 months ago, I knew he was on his way to becoming a confident reader.  

It only took him 5 months to reach complete mastery in phonemic awareness with Silent Elephant “e”. He now hears the individual sounds within words giving him an understanding of how our language works. 

Since beginning tutoring with me with Silent Elephant “e”, his word recognition and comprehension skills have gone from a Primer Instructional reading level to an 8th grade instructional reading level! That’s a 7-year advancement in 14 months of instruction (just 2 hours/week) with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”! He’s now a strong confident reader headed into 5th grade this fall! 

I know that every time this remarkable, hard-working boy reads, he confronts a huge mountain to climb, but thanks to Silent Elephant “e” the letters are staying attached to the page more often and reading is becoming easier and more fluent. He still gets frustrated, sometimes more than others, but he continues to press on. He has felt success and wants more of it.  

I’m so proud of him—I can’t begin to tell you how much! My heart fills with joy! 

*Silent Elephant “e” teaches phonics using colors for vowel diacritical markings, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, roots and base words, prefixes, suffixes and syllables. 

** This comment reminded me of my husband, who is also dyslexic. He worked hours with me after we received my illustrator’s rough draft for my picture book My Awesome Grandma. Many times, he could not see letters on a colored background and he definitely couldn’t see letters that flowed into the picture. This was a real eye opener for me. I had known for years that I could only write him a shopping list on white paper using blue or black ink, but I had not ever understood exactly why this was until we worked together on my book. 

***I use Abilitations Hi-Write paper. There are several brands available.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Glasses Make a Wonderful Difference!

Glasses Make a Wonderful Difference! 

After a caring, concerned parent read the blog posts describing how five of my students view a page of print, I received an email from this anxious mom. She was worried because her daughter had recently said to her that the letters were moving on the paper! 

I wrote back to her with suggestions to try Irlen colored overlays and to take her daughter to an ophthalmologist to have her eyes examined if she hadn’t taken her recently. 

A couple of weeks ago, I received this wonderful email that Mom said I could share with you: 

We were able to take Zoya to the regular eye doctor last week. She has some farsighted vision. The doctor hopes that regular glasses will also improve her eyes functioning together, as her right eye is not as strong as her left. 

She has been very pleased with the glasses helping the letters to hold still! 

And now while we are driving places, she has become able to call out different words that she sees and she is trying to read them. I’m so proud of her progression. 

Thank you for the recommendation to see the eye doctor. 

Here she is in her new frames.

Wendy 

Look at that big, happy smile on such a beautiful girl!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

What IS Phonics? Adding Phonics into Their Lessons

What IS Phonics? Adding Phonics into Their Lessons  

To ensure that your students are quickly becoming fluent readers, let’s move into the phonics portion of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

In Part 1, students thoroughly explore phonemic awareness. They are guided to take their first steps to understand how sounds form words in our language. 

Upon completion of Lesson 4D in Part 1, Phonemic Awareness, I usually feel confident that children know that an individual sound is represented by a colored square on the game board and that words are made up of individual sounds quickly and smoothly blended together.  

While working in Part 1 Phonemic Awareness, children naturally begin to connect individual sounds with the letter symbols and letter names that they are learning in other parts of their school day and that they have been seeing in the books you read to them and the games you play with them.  

They successfully and confidently make the sound/symbol connection between phonemic awareness and phonics. They know the letters and sounds work together in our written language.  

They are now ready to begin their exploration into phonics.

It is important to note that for every learner phonics must follow phonemic awareness.  

So, you ask, just exactly what is phonics? 

Phonics is the relation between specific, printed letters and letter combinations with their specific sound(s) and the combining of those sounds into meaning that corresponds with our spoken language.  

It’s essential that all learners have direct, precise, methodical instruction in phonics—sound/symbol relationship to ensure their success as a fluent reader.  

Phonics instruction instills within each child an understanding of how words are formed by putting sound/symbol pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle.  

These predictable patterns in words need to be discovered through explicit and systematic lessons and internalized by the learner. 

There was a time when some educators decided phonics was not important, so they choose to teach reading using sight and/or whole language methods. This meant that students had to memorize EVERY word in order to read. Can you imagine? What a daunting task! 

Students were not provided with the logical “tools” to help them figure out a word they had never seen before. If they hadn’t memorized the word “psychologist”, they were left trying to discover the word through context clues.  

If context clues didn’t help, the word was a loss to them causing their comprehension to suffer. 

Obviously, sight reading and/or whole language reading methods made reading extremely difficult.  

Thankfully, current research in reading shows that phonics is vital for all learners. ALL LEARNERS must have consistent, precise, methodical, explicit phonics instruction—especially struggling learners and those with learning differences.  

Those past sight method educators had the mistaken belief that phonics instruction was unnecessary. They believed that there are more exceptions to the rules than words that follow the rules in English.  

HOWEVER, this is NOT true! Even though English is a rich mixture of many languages, it is predictable.

 These are the “Facts about English Predictability”* that make English perfect for phonics instruction: 

·       Fifty percent of English words are decoded and spelled accurately by the simple sound-symbol correspondence rule alone, as in “c-a-t”.

·       Thirty-six percent more are spelled with only one contradiction to the simple sound-symbol correspondence rule. This 36% becomes truly decodable and “spellable” when readers know ALL of the phonics rules taught in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, such as the schwa rules as in “calendar”.

·       Ten percent more are decoded and spelled accurately when word meaning, origin, and morphology are considered and taught as in Silent Elephant “e”, for example “chandelier”.

·       This leaves fewer than 4% of words in English that don’t fit any rule, as in “of”. Words’ pronunciations have morphed through time and now need to be memorized using the unique sight word instruction provided in Silent Elephant “e”, Part 2. 

This predictability is why teaching phonics with Silent Elephant “e” gives all learners the tools needed to decode words. It instills confidence within them that no matter what word they encounter, they are ready for it. When they see “psychologist” for the first time, they have the necessary tools to decode the word thus ensuring their comprehension will remain solid.  

Now that you know English is predictable, which makes phonics the best way to teach reading skills, and that your student(s) have a growing knowledge of phonemic awareness, are you excited to begin teaching phonics? Are you thinking, “What’s next?”

 When you believe a child is ready to begin making a guided transition to adding phonics to their daily lessons, start administering the multiple phonics assessments provided in Part 2 to determine their personal level of success in phonics. 

After finding a child’s personal level of success in phonics, begin phonics instruction at their success level while continuing instruction in phonemic awareness. Provide instruction in both phonemic awareness and phonics until a child has completed all phonemic awareness lessons in Part 1 and shown mastery in the phonemic awareness assessments in Part 2. 

In my next blog post, I will share with you the content and format of the amazing phonics portion of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

P.S. *The “Facts about English Predictability” information originated from Speech to Print by Louisa Cook Moats, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. 2010, p. 110.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Ready to Have FUN Diving Into Teaching Phonics

Ready to Have FUN Diving Into Teaching Phonics with

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” Parts 3-14? 

I ended my last phonics blog post encouraging you to thoroughly assess your students using the assessments in Part 2. You now know their areas of strength and need.  

I know you are now ready, eager and excited to DIVE right into the first phonics lesson in a one-on-one setting, a small group setting, and/or a large group setting, but first, a little more explanation about Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”. 

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, all new concepts are introduced through whole body, multi-sensory activities such as drawing, acting, music, puppetry, story-telling and class discussions. These are all best practices for all children.  

Drawing pictures is particularly powerful to enhance and ensure meaning. When you have your students draw as you draw an explanation of the concept being learned, their comprehension deepens as it activates multiple parts of their brain.  

Acting is another important technique for all children and extremely important for any struggling, ELL/ESL and dyslexic students. Having children and adults help you act out concepts pulls in their background information, which again solidifies their comprehension by activating multiple parts of their brain.  

Further, Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” uses colors and shapes to highlight the different phonetic parts of words on students’ worksheets. As a student uses colors and shapes for the markings, they begin to SEE PATTERNS in words. As they see these patterns, they are able to apply them to new words. (Please think back to Josie’s post.)  

After a phonics rule has been introduced through the engagingly active and memorable activity, children begin leveled practice pages with you or another student as their partner. The level of their practice pages is determined by their present personal level of success in phonics that you determined by giving them the multiple phonics assessments provided in Part 2.  

I’m sure you are wondering just what I mean by “leveled” practice pages? 

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” provides three levels of complexity within each lesson to meet the needs of ALL students -those struggling beginners right up to the gifted readers.  

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” provides Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Partner Practice pages to be used in school or tutoring sessions and Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 At Home Practice pages to be completed at home with parents, thus providing a home-educational setting connection.

When introducing a new phonics rule, all children begin working with their partners on Level 1 pages. This is important to build a strong phonetic foundation based on continual success for all students. To provide extra support, I partner an ELL/ESL child with two English as first language students. 

After completing Level 1 with their regular partner, I individualize children’s instruction by allowing readers that are above proficiency to do Level 2 and/or Level 3 right away with another above proficiency partner in school and with their family at home. This ensures their strong phonetic foundation based for success and meets their individual learning needs.  

You will find the students working in Level 2 and 3 will move quickly. You may need to adjust the pace of your progression through these levels to meet the needs of your students. 

If you are home schooling, again begin on Level 1 to ensure your child is solid in the concept being taught, then move to Levels 2 and/or 3 if your child is proficient at Level 1 or 2.  

Now that you have assessed and you know which level of Partner Practice pages and At Home Practice pages to use to meet your students’ needs, your students will be ready to begin partner work. 

In my next blog posts, I will address the integral part partner work plays in my program and I will share my specifically designed formatting requirements for student practice pages for dyslexic people to maximize their success! 

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

My Specifically Designed Worksheet Formatting Requirements

My Specifically Designed Formatting Requirements

 For Student Work Pages 

As you know, my daughter and my husband are dyslexic. Therefore, I am extremely cognizant of the needed formatting requirements for practice pages for dyslexic people to maximize their success! As you also know, Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” was written with them in mind. 

The following are key elements of worksheet formatting that ensures ease of learning for dyslexic learners, any learner with learning differences, ELL/ESL learners, struggling learners and really ALL learners: 

First and foremost, consistency in format is vital. Dyslexic children (actually ALL children) need to be able to focus on the concept being presented. 

My first consideration in designing worksheets to help children with visual perception and visual sequencing struggles was the font.

·       I needed a font that is large and simple (no fancy curly-q’s).

·       I needed a font that is easy to read—allowing the learner to think about the concept being presented, not trying to decipher letter symbols.

·       I needed a font that is similar to the handwriting children are being taught.

·       After much research, I chose the Century Gothic font for Silent Elephant “e”.

My second consideration was the size of the font.

·       I used the largest size font that would fit on each page.

·       On all worksheets I double-spaced all student workspace to lessen visual perception and visual sequencing confusion. (Think of my posts in the Visual Perception series concerning the jumping of letters, moving words and distortion of print experienced my several of my dyslexic students.)

·       If a child needs an even larger font and triple spacing, the spiral bound format of the entire program allows you to easily copy the work pages and enlarge them.

My next consideration had to be consistency in format of the presented work. Children must not struggle trying to figure out how to “do” a work page. They lose their focus and understanding of the concept being taught.  

·       Children who are struggling need practice pages that utilize one consistent format.

·       They become confused with practice pages that present multiple formats, such as: crossword puzzles, fill in the blank, word searches, true-false, multiple choice, fill in bubbles, choosing answers from word boxes, etc. all on a single page.

·       I only used one format on a single page.

·       I only used a few formats repetitively throughout Parts 3-14.

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” children quickly see the pattern of instruction presented and relax into their learning of phonics. They are at ease knowing they will know how to do every page. This calm and self-confidence is beneficial for ALL children’s growth and success in their reading ability. 

Not to worry—as ALL children WILL learn quickly, they also easily transfer their learning into all other formats when they are presented.

My last consideration when designing my worksheets was to ensure that learners are consistently reviewing all previously learned concepts as they move through Silent Elephant “e”. Struggling learners need to continuously connect their already learned concepts to the new concepts being learned. 

In Silent Elephant “e” each phonics rule is continuously reviewed throughout each of the coming lessons to promote competency and mastery. This constant review allows the learner to feel confident in what they already know. This self-confidence in what they already have mastered allows them to be more open when learning new concepts.  They continually approach the new with a feeling of “I’ve got this!” rather than hesitation and wondering if they will understand the new concept.

As I watch my students moving through Parts 3-14, I see how my diligence in creating work pages ­for them was well worth the hours of research and tedious formatting. Their shoulders are relaxed, their head held high, and they are not hunched over the table stressed by not being able to “get it”.

My next post post in this phonics series will share the vital importance of partner work as students complete Partner Practice Pages with you and/or another student as their learning partner.

If you have further questions about phonics or page formatting for learning differences, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Partner Work, an Important Part of Silent Elephant “e”

Partner Work, an Important Part of Silent Elephant “e” 

Let’s talk about partner work!  

Partner work is a vital, integral part of Silent Elephant “e” and every concept taught in every lesson throughout the program incorporates this essential learning strategy.  

In Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, partner work is taken seriously. Students are specifically taught the responsibilities of a good partner and why it is so important to be a caring, dependable partner. 

Each partner plays two roles: they EXPRESS and they RECEIVE. Each role takes the concept they are learning into a different part of their brain ensuring that they truly KNOW the concept and can connect that knowledge to new concepts as they continue learning. 

When a student (young or old) can EXPRESS the concept being learned in their own words or drawings, they solidify that concept—it becomes “their own”.  

The flip side of expressing what they know is RECEIVING, or actively listening to, the concept being expressed by their partner. This active listening shifts them into another part of their brain where they analyze their partner’s words and drawings for correctness and clarity. This analysis deepens their own comprehension of the concept. 

When working with partners, children share their work and explain it by verbalizing their thought processes around that concept as they apply previously taught phonemic awareness skills and phonics skills and the particular phonics skill emphasized in the day’s lesson.  

Further, when they actively listen, each child mentally reviews and checks for accuracy as they listen to themselves and their partner.  

This total procedure, expressing and receiving (listening), strengthens their personal understanding of the day’s objective(s).  

There is also a social element to partner work. Students love becoming the “teacher” for their partner and visa versa. This essential partnership builds positive social bonds, as it ensures that each partner truly understands and is able to apply the concept(s) being learned in their personal reading, writing and spelling. They are a positive support for each other’s learning.  

In the end, each partner is empowered with their own personal success that is built upon their previous successes plus empowered by being a strong advocate for the success of their partner! 

After reading this and the last posts in this series, you now know the basis of how phonics is taught in Silent Elephant “e” and how I designed the worksheets to ensure success of ALL students. 

Now, you are ready to begin teaching the phonics lessons in Parts 3-14. 

Trust me, you will be astounded at the progress and confidence your children will achieve in phonics as they learn the way in which they learn best with Silent Elephant “e”! 

It’s exciting to watch children and adults blossom into successful, confident readers, writers and spellers! 

If you have further questions about partner work and the home-school connection in Silent Elephant “e”, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

"I Like Princesses!" - Partner Work in Part 1 Phonemic Awareness

Partner Work in Part 1 Phonemic Awareness 

“I like books about fairies!” exclaimed Shelly. 

“No. Princess books are better!” shouted Grace.

This exchange burst out one Friday afternoon after Silent Elephant “e” instruction. It still makes me smile remembering how invested these sweet little girls were in their choices.  

This made me reflect again on the power of Silent Elephant “e”.  

One of the powerhouse components in Silent Elephant “e” is the Partner Work and the Partner Practice pages. As with every element in Silent Elephant “e”, Partner Work is not just a “pretty face” or “busy work”.  

Instead, it’s an essential cognitively enhancing time for children to interact and solidify their learning with their partner. 

In Partner Work, the student must pull the content to the front of their minds. They must use the content correctly and be able verbalize and explain what they know and how they know they know it.

 They must listen to and interact with their partner with a discerning ear to make sure they and their partner actually know and can express the learned content. 

Silent Elephant “e”‘s multisensory Partner Work activates learning in all parts of the brain. 

As part of my volunteering at school, I teach two sweet, nine-year-old girls with Down syndrome. ‘Shelly’ and ‘Grace’ burst with happiness and interest in learning. Their cheerfulness is contagious.

They love Partner Work! Actually, they enjoy challenging each other to see who can get the correct answer first. This bit of friendly competition is good! 

This is the consistent predictable Silent Elephant “e” Part 1 partner lesson format I use with my students, including Grace and Shelly. They have relaxed into knowing our lesson format and are learning more quickly as we proceed through Part 1. After I have introduced the new concept, they:

·                 Turn to each other.

·                 Say the word.

·                 Stretch their rubber bands as they listen for individual sounds within the word.

·                 Look in their hand-held mirrors at their mouth’s movements and look at each other’s mouth’s movements while saying the word or sound.

·                 Discuss how many sounds they hear.

·                 Tell each other what sounds they hear.

·                 Move the colored squares to the line(s) to demonstrate the number of sounds they hear, the sequence of the sounds, and if the sounds are the same or different.

·                 Explain their choices to each other.

·                 Check that their boards match using “share/compare”.

·                 Tell each other why their game boards are the same and, if they are different, together explore the reason for the difference to come up with the correct board. 

They particularly love looking at their mouths in their hand-held mirrors to understand how they form sounds and words. 

As with all students of Silent Elephant “e”, we take our time—I let them lead. Grace and Shelly need unhurried, yet deliberate, explicit, precise phonemic awareness instruction.  We practice each word until I am confident they truly hear each individual sound within that word. I want to solidify the lesson’s content in their memory and build their self-confidence in their ability. I want them to “own” the content and to feel their freedom to read. 

When we began together seven months ago, neither of these nine-year-old girls had any phonemic awareness skills! We moved very slowly as they were challenged by every lesson until we got to Lesson 4D-Three Sounds—CVC—Mixed Practice Phoneme Substitution. 

At the end of Lesson 4D, it all clicked! 

Grace exclaimed, “I just knew I had to use two blue squares in ‘non’, because ‘non’ has two /n/ sounds! 

They got it! They truly understood the concept that a single-colored square in the game represents a single sound they are hering, two or three squares represent two or three separate sounds blended smoothly and quickly together, and words are made up of these individual sounds that are quickly and smoothly blended together. 

I could literally see the ‘light bulb turn on’ in the twinkle of their eyes and the smiles on their faces! Their self-confidence, self-pride, happiness and joy poured from them as they began to fluently read individual CVC words (such as: fun, mid, fad, hen, and rod) and to fluently read sentences (such as: The cat hid the red mat.) 

AND OMG!!!! They actually wanted me to time them to see who could read a paragraph faster. I now had to build sportsmanship skills! “Grace, let’s tell Shelly how proud we are of her. She read every word correctly and smoothly!” “Shelly, did you hear how Grace read the story with expression? What feelings did you hear in her voice? Let’s give her a high-five!” 

This is part of the power of Silent Elephant “e” that excites me. After only about twenty-four half-hour periods (12 hours), and beginning with no phonemic awareness at all, Grace and Shelly, two students with the Down learning difference, now have the beginnings of a strong, solid foundation in phonemic awareness skills: the important first steps of their journey on their road to becoming successful, independent readers. 

“It’s so fun to read now!” exclaimed Shelly as she skipped away at the end of our session together.  

They have brought so much joy into my life!  

If you have further questions about partner work the home-school connection in Silent Elephant “e”, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

“Old McDonald” Teaches the Short Vowels

“Old McDonald” Teaches the Short Vowels 

How fast can you name the five main vowels? 1 or 2 seconds? Terrific! 

How fast can you say the short vowel sounds? 1 or 2 seconds? Fabulous!

 Oh? What are you saying? You and your students cannot say the short vowel sounds that fast? Can you say them that fast backwards? In a mixed-up order?

 Do you have some practicing to do?

 Readers need instant sight/sound recognition of short vowel sounds!

 Sylvia Griffin, a reading specialist that I taught with years ago, taught my class her version of “Old McDonald”. Instead of singing “e, i, e, i, o”, we sang the short vowel sounds /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. The animals at the farm occur in this order: cat, hen, pig, dog, and duck to use for singing the verses “with an /a/, /a/ here and an /a/, /a/ there, here an /a/, there an /a/, everywhere an /a/, /a/” for the cat; /e/, /e/ for the hen; /i/, /i/ for the pig; /o/, /o/ for the dog, and /u/, /u/ for the duck. It was an instant hit.

 Singing the vowel sounds takes this learning into different parts of the brain and makes it easier to retrieve as their reading skills progress. Plus, it makes learning them fun.

Old McDonald had a farm, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
And on this farm he had a cat, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
With an /a/, /a/ here and an /a/, /a/ there,
Here an /a/, there an /a/, everywhere an /a/, /a/.

Old McDonald had a farm, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.

The Kindergartners to high school children I teach have all enjoyed singing “Old McDonald” except one.  She did not know 4 of the short vowel sounds when she began tutoring with me and she really didn’t want to sing “Old McDonald” more than one tutoring session. She said, “I’ll know all of my short vowels by the next time I come back.” 

Her incentive to not have to sing “Old McDonald” with me at 15 years old helped her learn the short vowels by her next tutoring lesson! I have always wondered if she sang it to herself at home to learn them because she did know them by her next session. 😊

ALL my other children and teens have had FUN SINGING with me. There are LOT of SMILES and giggles as we sing and draw animals to go along with our song.

 It’s fun. It works!

If you have further questions about short vowels or why singing and drawing them works for students with learning differences, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

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

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

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

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

the*                 of*                    and                 a**                   to*

in                      is*                     you                  that                 it

he                    was*                for                    on                    are*

as*                   with                 his*                   they                 I

at                     be                    this                   have               from*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

How Do You Teach Sight Words?

How Do You Teach Sight Words? 

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

Preparation: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Directions: 

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

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

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

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

4)   Practice word cards every day. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

The Short of It – This is What Silent Elephant “e” Does

The Short of It – This is What Silent Elephant “e” Does 

The Silent Elephant “e” nutshell:

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” provides meticulously organized phonetic instruction of the morphological units (a unit of sound that has meaning) of prefixes, root words, and suffixes and the rules for adding suffixes to root words throughout the whole phonics portion of the program beginning in Part 3. 

This meticulous phonetic instruction taught through multi-sensory whole-body strategies is important for ALL learners and essential for struggling students, dyslexic students and/or any student with a learning difference.  

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” precisely teaches these important reading skills using whole-body, multi-sensory techniques that activate the parts of the brain that will stimulate growth and encourage learning in

·       phonemic awareness

·       morpheme awareness

·       working memory

·       short term memory

·       long term memory

·       auditory sequencing

·       and auditory processing   

Again, this meticulous phonetic instruction provided by Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is important for ALL students but absolutely vital for dyslexic children and adults as it stimulates under-activated parts of the dyslexic brain thereby assisting them in achieving their potential.   

That is the important nutshell - a short explanation of the basis of phonics the Silent Elephant “e” way.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

THEY DO HAVE MULTIPLE SOUNDS AND FOR A FUN REASON –

THEY DO HAVE MULTIPLE SOUNDS AND FOR A FUN REASON –

How to Easily Teach the Multiple Sounds of CONSONANT DIGRAPHS (Second Part) 

Multiple sounds of consonant digraphs can be confusing to readers. However, they become understandable and not confusing at all when you clarify them through research and activities that help your kids realize how amazing our English language is. 

The English language is a “melting pot” that has developed over hundreds of years to include digraphs and words from many languages. Exploring England, Greece, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and the Germanic countries by utilizing maps, books, food, plays, drawing and stories will excite your children as they learn the origins of the consonant digraph sounds.

Pique their interest in the history of the English language as an ever-changing entity using the multi-sensory activities below: 

·       Girls dress in fancy dresses as princesses and boys wear Bobby hats as they act out plays depicting life in England imagining castles, red telephone booths, and double-decker busses.

·       Children love discussing that Greece is not “greasy” and learning where the name came from! I hear oohs and aahs as we look at Greek architecture. I hear oohs and aahs as we look at Greek architecture.

·       Don’t we all love Italian food! Spaghetti for a special class party is a hit! Serve French croissants for dessert. Say “grazie” in Italian and “merci” in French.

·       Christmas time is a perfect time to learn about the Netherlands by showing pictures of St. Nicholas, sleighs and wooden shoes.

·       Use maps to study the old Germanic countries and compare them with the boundaries of countries of today. 

After all of these fascinating activities, children are anxious to learn which of our words come from these interesting places in the world and, more importantly, they have a “hook” to help them remember the many sounds of consonant digraphs. Plus, you are beginning to instill a love of language in your children. What a marvelous, ever lasting gift to give them!

In my last post in this series, I shared examples of teaching the hard and soft sounds of “th” and I shared the need to teach all sounds of a digraph when you begin teaching it. So, I have to follow my own instructions and finish telling you that “th” has a third sound of /t/. 

The /t/ sound of “th” is from the Greek language in words such as thyme and Thomas. I always let children smell thyme and suggest they ask Mom or Dad to add a bit to their hamburgers or meatloaf at home.  

In one part of my Silent Elephant “e” lesson, the soft and hard sounds of “th” are connected in an unusual way adding to our exploration of the different countries that have added to the beauty of English. Explore with the children how the soft “th” in “teeth” becomes the hard “th” in “teethe” when Silent Elephant “e” is added to the end. This is a mix of Germanic and English. Other examples are bath/bathe, breath/breathe, and cloth/clothe.  

Now, let’s look at origins of other digraphs. The consonant digraph “ch” has three sounds. Notice that the three sounds all come from different languages.

1. /ch/ as in child—English (They are a child. Have them point to themselves, draw a picture of themselves and title it “I Am a Child”.)

2. /sh/ as in machine; crochet—French (My boys especially love “machine”!)

3. /k/ as in school—Greek (Children draw pictures of their school. If appropriate, children draw a picture of a Christmas tree to celebrate Christ’s birthday.)

The consonant digraph “gh” has three sounds:

1. /f/ as in laugh and cough—Dutch, Germanic (Children draw an open mouth on their consonant digraph papers and act out a cough and a laugh.)

2. /silent/ as in thigh, knight—Germanic, English (Touch thighs; pretend to be a knight dueling a dragon!)

   /silent/ as in sleigh—Dutch (Oh, those poor children in the Netherlands have to write 4 letters just to make a long “a” sound and there is not even an “a” in “eigh”! Oh, my goodness!)

3. /g/ as in spaghetti—Italian

     /g/ as in ghost, ghoul, ghastly—Germanic (If appropriate, children draw ghastly looking Halloween pictures of ghosts and ghouls.)

The consonant digraph “rh” comes from the Greek language in words such as: rhyme, rhythm, rhubarb, rhinoceros, and rhombus. (Enjoy eating delicious rhubarb with your children, drawing a picture of a rhinoceros, figuring out what a rhombus is, clapping rhythms and reading books and poems that rhyme!)

I have included many more exciting and brain stimulating activities for you in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”. You won’t run out of activities and ideas! 

If you have further questions about teaching consonant digraphs, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

MULTIPLE SOUNDS OF CONSONANT DIGRAPHS - Part 1

MULTIPLE SOUNDS OF CONSONANT DIGRAPHS

(First Part) 

After so many years of teaching Kindergartners through eleventh graders—yes, I’m VERY OLD—I have learned the value of teaching ALL the sounds a consonant digraph can make when I first introduce a consonant digraph. Then I know my students won’t be surprised by an unknown sound of a consonant digraph.  

Here are a couple of examples of how I introduce and teach two consonant digraphs.  

In English we make two sounds of the “th” consonant digraph: the “soft” unvoiced sound (as in “thin”) and the “hard” voiced sound (as in “that”). 

Using the Silent Elephant “e” sight word method, I teach the following high frequency voiced “th” words quickly, as children will need them in primary reading:

the                        that                      they                      this                              there

their                      them                    then                      these                              than

those                    though                 thus                       thou                              thee

Then I tell children this hint: “Use the unvoiced sound for ALL the rest of the “th” words.” 

The “wh” consonant digraph also has two sounds. It makes the “h” sound for 5 special words in this special story that children and I have fun acting out: 

(Knock on the door.)

First character: “Who is it?”

Second character: Says his/her name.

First character pretends he/she didn’t hear: “Whom did you say?”

Second character: Says his/her name again.

First character puts his/her hands on his/her hips and looks concerned: “Who’s going to eat my whole (shape hands in a circle) pie? (Pause) But whose pie is it?”

Second character: “Yours. So, you get to eat it, unless you’d like to share.”

(Everyone giggles!)

When I tutored from my home (before COVID), one of my little boys always jumped up and said, “Will you share your pie, Mom?” 

The children and I act this funny story out until they have these 5 words learned. We practice listening to the /h/ sound in the words as we write them.  

The second sound of “wh” is /hw/. 

To teach the /hw/ sound, I have children put one of their hands with the palm facing their mouth close in front of their mouth. We say the word “wag” and feel the consonant “w” sound on the palm of our hand. We discuss that we can barely feel any air on our hand. 

Next, we keep our hand in the same place and say with strong feeling, “Where have you been? What were you doing? Why are you so late? When were you supposed to be home?” We discuss that we can feel lots and lots of warm air blowing on our hand! They love this activity and instantly understand the difference in the 2 sounds.  

This activity is also helpful in Spelling, if your children are wondering whether to spell a word with a “w” or a “wh”, have them put their hand in front of their mouths to discover if they hardly feel any air or if they feel lots of warm air blowing on their hand. They need to spell a word with “wh” instead of a “w” when they feel lots of warm air blowing on their hand. 

When we are teaching a particular consonant digraph, we can emphasize the most common sound(s) in our lesson for the day, but we should always teach and/or review ALL sounds. 

Once children know that a particular consonant digraph has multiple sounds and they learn each sound right away, they are not surprised or frustrated when suddenly a sound pops up in a word that they were not expecting. Instead, children will be anxiously waiting to learn to read new words with ALL of the sounds!         

I will share more teaching strategies for teaching the “ch” and “gh” consonant digraphs next time. In the meantime, have fun with the multiple sounds of “th” and “wh”! 

If you have further questions about teaching consonant digraphs, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson