This seems to be the season for up-dates.
In my March 8th email, From Failure to Scoring 104% on Her Spelling Test, I had the pleasure of sharing how my student Rebecca has been acing her spelling tests plus spelling the majority of her surprise extra credit words correctly. She has been scoring 100% or above for weeks.
Her mom also shared how Rebecca clearly understands syllabification because of how Silent Elephant “e”™ taught her and that she helped her teacher with the word “temperature”.
When Rebecca graduated from Silent Elephant “e”™ she was reading on an 11th grade level and has continued to progress though she is profoundly dyslexic. She is now in the 5th grade and, as her mom shared, confident and eager. She can read anything she wants and write delightful stories.
NOW – I get to share an update on Rebecca’s sister Rachel.
Rachel is not dyslexic like her sister. She began Silent Elephant “e”™ just before entering Kindergarten. She had been in preschool for a bit, but then Covid hit. Rachel’s mom wanted her to have the same foundation that Rebecca was getting.
Rachel finished Kindergarten reading on a 4th grade level. She went on to finish first grade decoding words on a 6th grade level. She is now in the last part of her second-grade year and Jennifer, her mom, sent this wonderful update and photos.
“Rachel is doing great! She's so far advanced in her class. Her classmates write short sentences and Rachel writes paragraphs. They are finishing up a book they are writing about animals. Rachel chose the mountain lion. Her teacher is going to email it to me when they are finished. I can forward a copy to you. I volunteered and helped the other students, so I saw a good comparison of her writing verses her classmates. She also wrote a paper on her special person, me (!).
“Rachel loves researching, science and math. Her teacher told me that they (she and the class aide) were blown away recently when Rachel started talking about Malala Yousafzai. Rachel knows who she is because she talks to Rebecca about her and she can read the "I Am", the "Who Was?” and the “Who Is?" book series. I'm not sure what level these books are, but definitely not 2nd grade!!” Jennifer proudly wrote.
“Rachel has read almost all the "I Survived" book series. She absolutely loves them!!
“Rachel reads ALL the time. We've been tracking it the last couple of weeks for a read-a-thon at school and she reads around 390 minutes a week. She really loves learning all things, but she especially loves math. As of now, she wants to be a mathematician when she grows up. Her teacher told me to email her when Rachel goes to Harvard! :-)
Love, Jennifer”
Rachel is flying because she has the stable foundation in reading, writing and spelling that Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides for every learner: dyslexics, those with other learning differences, or like Rachel, no learning differences.
What Silent Elephant “e”™ did was teach Rachel the way she learns - through fun, active activities, and as her success is showing, just like with her dyslexic sister, it does not take 6 years to be reading on a 6th grade level, dyslexic or not.
Further, Rachel was reading on a 6th grade level in 17 months with just 20-25 minutes of Silent Elephant “e”™ instruction just twice a week in Kindergarten and only 25-40 minutes twice a week in first grade. She is now easily comprehending on a 6th grade level after 2.75 years.
Now, as her mom shared, second grade Rachel is free to read anything she wants and write wonderful stories about what she enjoys reading.
Just like her dyslexic sister Rebecca, Rachel feels not bound to what she can learn.
This is the freedom that Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides. It teaches children to read, write and spell the way they love to learn, and they never look back.
Contact us here to explore how you can teach your kiddos with Silent Elephant “e”™ and give them the freedom of a solid reading, writing and spelling foundation for the rest of their lives.
Linda Smith-Jones