Making a Difference in a Young Person's Life - It's a Wonderful Feeling!

As a Silent Elephant “e”® tutor, we truly make a difference, whether our student is 6 years old, 14, or 30, their lives will be forever different.

Here’s a heart-warming example of one of our tutors and her 10-year-old student.

After just five one-half hour tutoring sessions they had reached Lesson 4D in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, Part 1 Phonemic Awareness.

The shy young girl looked at her tutor and softly said, “I think I have figured out what you are trying to teach me.”

“What have you figured out?”  her tutor softly asked.

“I have figured out that words have sounds in them,” she hesitatingly began. “I can hear sounds in words now. I see the different colors on the squares, and I have figured out that the different colors mean different sounds. When I touch the squares one at a time, I can hear one sound at a time in my head. I think that is what you are trying to teach me.”

“That is exactly what I have been teaching you! You explained it so clearly. I could not have done any better.”

Her shy smile and twinkling eyes said it all—she was so proud of herself! Doors were opening for her; she was hearing the sounds in words. She was beginning to have phonemic awareness, the foundation of all reading, writing, and spelling.

“I think I am going to be able to learn to read now,” she quietly proclaimed.

Her tutor sat quietly with her and together they felt the power of that moment. She knew she was going to be able to read.  The confusion and struggle she had experienced for years trying to read, trying to make sense of printed letters and not hearing individual sounds, was beginning to slip away behind her.

She was going to be able to read and she felt it.

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, the joy and love of reading and writing is open to her for the rest of her life!

As a Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® tutor, you are a part of their joy and their success. They will never forget you.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® Parts 1-14 and the Educational Posters are now 25% off until May 31st at midnight. The check out code is LKAV6ZT. We have Afterpay available.

Contact us a silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

It Doesn't Have To Take 6 Years for Them to be Reading on a 6th Grade Level

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 12 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 and processes that stimulate all parts of their brain for both learning and retaining what they have learned. These whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities and processes 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 him/her!”

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 stimulated 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 children 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 3 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 an extremely low IQ.

When he came to me halfway through his 4th 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 has mastered the 700 High Frequency Fry Word List. He fluently reads simple to complex words, such as: so, ran, sphinx, squint, certain, cage, hurry. He reads words with single consonants, consonant digraphs and consonant blends, words with hard and soft “c” and “g”, words with long vowels, and words ending with “y”. He knows how to read and write (spell) words with the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est, and -ly . He knows when to change or not change “y” to “i” and how to change “f” or “fe” to “v” when adding a suffix. 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 Ninjas, 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 10 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 seventh grade 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. Last year, I had a fun experience with one of my then 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 before that, 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.
In January, this now 16-year-old, 10th grade student passed his driver’s license test with 100%! He and his family went out to dinner to celebrate. He was beaming with pride when he told me!

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 twelve 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. 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.

Follow us on TikTok @silent.elephant.e 😊.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com

February is a Special Time of the Year

 Every February I do a quick mid-year assessment to make sure that my kiddos are making good growth.

It’s true that as we work together every week, it’s easy for me to see their strong progress as ongoing assessment is built into Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”®, but, it is extremely important for my kiddos to see their progress in GRADE LEVEL NUMBERS, something that makes sense to them. 😊

Most kiddos learning with Silent Elephant “e”® are often not aware of the amazing progress they are making. This is because every phonics skill in Silent Elephant “e”® is taught using their whole body within a fun, memorable lesson that makes good sense to them. The lessons are also organized in such a way that a new skill logically builds upon the last skill(s).

As they progress through Silent Elephant “e”® at their own pace, they attain success and reach mastery through the controlled vocabulary for each phonics lesson. Reading, writing and spelling become comfortable and they begin to relax, to enjoy learning and to believe in themselves that they are totally capable of learning to read, write and spell.

When they see their progress in print and hear me telling them how good they are doing, they have an even stronger feeling of success.

This is especially true of those who have been struggling the most.

They LOVE seeing their progress in numbers on their progress record page. They LOVE hearing me tell them about their progress.

Because I tutor, most of my students are profoundly dyslexic with other learning differences as well. They know what it feels like to not be able to understand what is being taught. Every single one of them has known struggle and disappointment in trying to learn to read, write and spell.

Finally, with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® they’re beginning to realize that they won’t be struggling forever. This is life changing for them!

Furthermore, they are realizing they can even have fun learning to read, write and spell.

They become happier, less anxious, more hopeful. They become more eager to pay attention. They begin to see success without struggle.  They feel and are in control of their learning. This usually begins within the first 6 weeks with Silent Elephant “e”®. ❤️

So, I don’t assess just for myself 😊; I assess for them too. They need to see the numbers rising on their progress record chart.

In the last couple of weeks, my students and I have had fun sharing their success over the last year as we did their assessments. I watched their eyes sparkle, and their faces break out in smiles of pride.

Here’s an overview of their progress since last February ‘23:

• 2 students have achieved 3 years of growth.

• 5 students have achieved 2 years of growth.

• 4 students have achieved a half year of growth. These 4 are newer to Silent Elephant “e”® and have multiple learning differences. They are just getting their feet under them. 😊

• 3 students are soon to graduate Silent Elephant “e”® reading at a college level.

No matter how profoundly dyslexic they are or how many other learning differences they have, they have all made great progress!

As we finished talking about their successes, every single one of them smiled with pride and eagerly said, “Mrs. Jones, let’s get going!” They are all happy and ready to continue their success.

They ALL see, or are beginning to see, themselves as capable readers and spellers who can write anything they want to write. It feels like freedom to them.

They see a future without struggle. Their whole life has turned around.

It makes the heart sing out loud.

If you are interested in becoming a Silent Elephant “e”® tutor contact me. It’s a fun, very rewarding way to bring in extra money.

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com. We do have answers for your questions.

Teaching Multiple Ages is EASY and FUN

Meet Xander who was beside himself when he got to join in the Silent Elephant “e”® lessons with his sisters. 

It was a very happy day for Xander when he was able to begin HIS Silent Elephant “e”® reading lessons like his two older sisters. He had watched his sisters have so much fun learning to read. He had even been able to join in some of the multi-sensory introduction activities like writing his letters in pudding as they practiced their sight words, but finally the day had come when HE got to have HIS lessons to learn to read, write and spell.

He eagerly listened to his mom explaining phonemic awareness with the Caterpillar/Train Game and the colored squares. He listened intently as his mom said the sounds in “cat”, he repeated them listening intently to HIS voice and then carefully moved the colors squares to indicate the number of sounds he was hearing. He beamed with pride!

Suddenly he had a great idea! His brain was transferring his knowledge! He shot off to his room, returned with his toy cars, began lining up his tiny cars to match the colors of his squares, and moved his CARS to indicate how many sounds he was hearing in a word.

He was having FUN while learning and transferring his knowledge.

Learning to read, write and spell should be fun and Silent Elephant “e”® is all about the fun of learning!

Silent Elephant “e”® teaches entirely using multi-sensory and whole-body instruction, so children are actively learning at all times.
 

Xander is Wendy’s third child to begin learning to read, write and spell with Silent Elephant “e”®.

Wendy has honed her method of teaching 3 different ages at the same time and making sure they are always successful. Silent Elephant “e”® makes this easy for her.

Here is the Silent Elephant “e”® method for teaching multiple ages:

Since every Silent Elephant “e”® lesson has leveled materials, begin every new concept with the multi-sensory introductory lesson with all your kids. This gives them a sense of learning community as they are actively learning the same concept. 

1. After the active multi-sensory introduction, move your kiddos to their personal practice pages which are leveled:  

• Level 1 introduces the phonics rule – these practice pages are for your child that is just beginning to learn to read and who are beginning Silent Elephant “e”®.

• Level 2 provides developing vocabulary and independence in using all the phonics rules – these practice pages are for your child that has completed Level 1 and is reviewing each phonics rule.

• Level 3 contains multi-syllabic words for advanced independent reading using the phonics rules – these practice pages are for your child that has completed Level 1 and/or Level 2.  (Some children can move right into Level 3 upon completing Level 1. Other children may need more review after completing Level 1, so it’s best to have them excel in Level 2 before moving to Level 3.)

You and your children will enjoy success and the fun of learning together!

Wendy KNOWS when each of her children have mastered a concept, and she knows if she needs to reteach a concept before moving on because continual assessment is a built-in integral part of Silent Elephant “e”®.  It’s easy for Wendy to meet each of her child’s individual needs to be sure they are succeeding.

And they ARE succeeding!

Her 7-year-old won an award for reading the most books at her library this past summer and
her 9-year-old is blazing a trail through Nancy Drew mysteries. 😊
And Xander is eager to join them to blaze his own trail.

Contact us with thoughts and questions.

silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

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.

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, so they were easy to remember.

These activities included acting, puppetry, cooking, games, singing and many other multi-sensory activities that set the phonetic concepts firming 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 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.

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 knowledge learned during them to decode and mark unfamiliar words. It teaches the way children 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 an unfamiliar word, even as an adult.
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 WILL STAY with them.
Furthermore, YOU have fun teaching!

Contact with any questions at silentelephante@gmail.com

Yummy Cookie Science!!

Can you believe it?
Here we are in the midst of the holiday season and things are speeding up.

Sometimes it feels like our kiddo's learning gets pushed to the back burner at this time of the year, but it’s so important to keep their learning active. Long periods not focused on what they have learned and are learning makes it hard for them to retain the information, especially if they have dyslexia or any other learning difference.

Here are ideas centered around the fun of baking holiday cookies which takes the fun of learning into life knowledge areas as it keeps what they’ve learned active and growing.

THE SCIENCE OF COOKIES

The science of cookies is both yummy and “Wow, so that’s how cookie dough becomes cookies in the oven? I didn’t realize all of that!” 

1. This video brings all the steps happening in the oven from cookie dough to yummy cookie into view with simple explanation and art. It’s fun for every age. I enjoyed it.

2. This article adds to the info in the video. It goes into greater depth about exactly what is happening to that cookie in the oven. It gives you a lot of background info and will be perfect for your older kiddos. 

3. Practicing reading and phonics – 
   When your dough is becoming cookies in the oven, you could use the above article for reading and phonics instruction. Have your kiddos mark the vowels, digraphs, blends and syllables, then read the article. 

4. The science - 
   Comparing and contrasting the information on the video with the article sets their new science knowledge more firmly in their brains. 

5. The next exploration into cooking science could be, “How does it get from raw ground beef to a hamburger on my bun?” or “How does is get from raw turkey to something we can’t WAIT to enjoy.” This exploration opens so much more science. 😊

  We’ve done science and reading, let’s take cookie baking into math. 

1. This recipe gives you both the standard and metric measurements for making the cookies.  

2. This opens wonderful discussions and comparisons between the two. 

Now let’s think Social Studies -
This recipe also opens comparison of cultures and countries. It’s from Great Britain, and the cookies are referred to both as biscuits and cookies for both countries. This opens the doors for learning about another culture, another country and how their customs are different from ours even though they are English speaking.

Have fun with these three. It’s been fun finding them for you.
I can’t wait to hear about your experiences. Feel free to send photos.

Enjoy your children’s bright-eyed eagerness as you make memories this Holiday season.

Contact me here with any questions and to share your holiday ideas. :)

Who Wouldn’t Want to Practice Spelling in Pudding!

Who Wouldn’t Want to Practice Spelling in Pudding!

I received a fun, fun email from Wendy, a homeschool educator, after she read the blog post entitled “Ten Fun Spelling Activities”. (link here)

“We had a fun time practicing our spelling in pudding. Even Xander who is only 2 and a half years old was able to join in the fun. Thanks for the great ideas.

They all licked their fingers! Each ended up liking a different flavor. We had chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch.

We were practicing the words from the end of Part 4 (Silent Elephant “e”®.) First, they copied the spelling words from the board where I had written them. Then they worked as partners reading a word and sounding it out for the other to write.

The last 2 words were challenging for them, but I think the pudding partnering will help them remember “phone” and “phonics.”

Even Xander learned how to draw a circle in his pudding. 
It was great fun for all!”

Isn’t that a fun, lovely story—extremely educational, too! The children were learning using all their senses: seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and listening to Mom and their partner—their whole body involved!

I loved how Wendy included her young son in the activity! What a wonderful idea to have him draw shapes in the pudding.

Young children can draw lines that curve; lines that squiggle; lines that go up, down, or across; lines that are straight; lines that zigzag, etc.

I included “phonics” and “phone” in that relatively early phonics lesson on consonant digraphs because children need to be able to read those words early on in first grade. I know they are challenging, but I agree with Wendy that writing in pudding, or another medium will aid in their retention of meaning and spelling of their words.

These pictures of Zoya, Audrey and Xander giggling and laughing while having so much fun learning together, brings joy to my heart!

I hope you try it with your kiddos and send me pictures!

Any questions, contact us here: silentelephante@gmail.com       nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

Sentence Dictation - a POWERFUL Tool in Spelling, Here's How to Use It :)

I Love Learning to Spell using Sentence Dictation!

Spelling can be fun! And when we connect their spelling with their phonics, ALL students, struggling and non-struggling, connect both sides of the sound/symbol relationship coin! Reading and spelling makes sense. (In my last post shared the connection between spelling success and their phonics. Here’s the link.)

Connecting spelling to their phonics applies to ALL learners:

• struggling learners,

• non-struggling learners, and

• gifted learners.

  ALL children deserve to understand how reading and spelling are connected.

As mentioned in my last post, it is essential that their spelling instruction correlate with phonics instruction. They need to understand the connection of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling the words they’ve learned to read as they use them in their writing).

One of the most important spelling components I included in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”® is sentence dictation.

In Silent Elephant “e”®, sentence dictation connects decoding and encoding with comprehension in one meaningful activity that they enjoy and that is consistent throughout Parts 3-14.

As I have mentioned before, this consistency in instruction of connecting phonics, spelling and comprehension is vital for dyslexic learners but truly important for ALL learners.

To make sure your kids connect the relationship of decoding and encoding, sentence dictation does not occur in Silent Elephant “e”®  until children are fluently reading the sentences on their Partner Practice pages and have discussed what the sentences are about with you or their partners.

This ensures that they are not trying to learn to spell/write a word that doesn’t have meaning for them. This is so important, because if they are trying to spell/write a word they don’t know the meaning of, it will only cause them confusion and frustration, and they will find spelling difficult if not impossible.
 
When your kids fluently read and comprehend the sentences on their Partner Pages in each phonics lesson, they are ready to move into the encoding (spelling) part of the lesson—sentence dictation.

Here are a few steps that will ensure your child’s success in sentence dictation when working with their partners or you. Teach these skills before jumping into sentence dictation:
 

• Take turns reading a sentence to their partner. You may be their partner. This necessary step works on decoding and promotes active listening. If you are their “partner”, have them read the sentence to you and then you read the sentence to them having them actively listen as you read.

• Discuss the meaning of the sentence by sharing what they are picturing/imagining in their brain—comprehension. They could even draw the sentence, as drawing will activate more parts of their brain thus promoting greater comprehension.

• Take turns reading the sentence one more time.

• Have them turn their Partner Practice page over.

• Take turns repeating the sentence from memory, first together, then separately. Have them think about what the sentence and words look like when they say the sentence and listen to you say it. This works on both auditory and visual memory. If they need to review the sentence again, they can turn their Partner Practice page over.

• Only now do they begin writing. This, of course, is encoding as they are thinking, “What sound am I hearing and what letter(s) do I use for that sound when I’m writing?”

• If you are their partner, have them dictate the sentence to you and you write it. You are modeling for them.

• When you’ve finished writing a sentence, have them first proofread their own work and then proofread their partners/yours. They proofread by:

• Checking for space between words

• Checking for a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence

• Checking for an end mark—a period, question or exclamation mark

• Checking for capitalized names

• Checking for spelling accuracy

• Last, have them proof their work for accuracy by looking at their Partner Practice page. Celebrate with a high-five for their good work. Smiles all around!

  As you can see, decoding and encoding skills utilized in sentence dictation engage numerous parts of the brain:

• Visual processing, visual sequencing, and visual memory

• Auditory processing, auditory sequencing, and auditory memory

• Tactile handwriting skills

• Comprehension of text

• Analytical thinking--comparison of decoding and encoding

 Sentence dictation is a fun activity that children enjoy doing together without being completely aware of all the elements enhancing their learning—they just have fun and learn to share and support each other as they read and write.

I encourage doing sentence dictation several times a week. You and they will see the difference in reading, spelling and comprehension very quickly.

If you have further questions about spelling the Silent Elephant “e”® way, contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com.

Phonics and Spelling go Hand-in-Hand :)

Phonics and Spelling go Hand-in-Hand 

On Tuesday, October 24, Nina did a Facebook Live on the subject of spelling. She began by sharing how our amazing brains process written language. We know more and more about how our brain works because of fMRIs that neuroscientists are using to study how it functions. She continued by explaining how reading and spelling are connected, 2 parts of the whole for understanding written language, like two sides of a coin. (Here's the link to the video.)

Let’s pull those thoughts together here.

The first thing to understand about spelling instruction is that it must be taught concurrently with phonics instruction. While your young ones are learning a particular phonics rule and utilizing it in learning to read, they need to be applying that very same phonics rule in learning to spell. When they learn both at the same time, both reading and spelling make sense. They have confidence in both areas.  
Here is why reading and spelling need to go hand-in-hand:

• They are like two sides of a coin forming written language.

• They both represent sound-symbol relationship—reading on one side of the coin and spelling on the opposite side of the coin.

• Reading is a decoding skill; spelling is an encoding skill.

Decoding is translating printed words to sound and meaning; whereas encoding is the opposite—using sounds to create printed words.

Let’s make a point of this again. Their spelling instruction must correlate with their phonics instruction.
Unfortunately, many spelling programs often introduce a new phonics rule and the exceptions to that rule in the very same lesson.

And worse, often there is no correlation between phonics (reading) instruction and spelling instruction, because they are seen as two totally different subjects.

This lack of correlation between reading and spelling and the introduction of the rule and the exceptions in the same lesson creates confusion for all children.

It’s worse for a dyslexic learner or any struggling or multi-language student who is working hard to comprehend an abstract phonics concept. It almost makes it impossible for them to internalize and master the phonics rule being taught, much less understand the exceptions. And spelling, the other side of that coin, can sort of drop out of sight in the confusion.

This is why Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ teaches reading and spelling together. We understand how the brain reads and spells.

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, you’re able to relax and expertly teach each abstract phonics rule through sequentially organized, multi-sensory, whole-body lessons guiding your young ones to a concrete understanding of each phonics rule for reading and spelling.

You’ll watch your kids feel so confident in their understanding of a phonics rule that they will eagerly accept the challenge to spell words that follow that rule.

Since Silent Elephant “e”™ was created so all learners could learn spelling along with reading, we provide you with lengthy leveled word lists (Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3) moving from simple to complex for every phonics lesson. These word lists for reading, spelling and vocabulary development are an integral part of each phonics lesson in Silent Elephant “e™. They provide you with NUMEROUS words focused on each phonics lesson’s objective—words to use for word recognition, for vocabulary development and for individualized spelling lists.

Spelling is important and all children, struggling or not, can be successful when we connect it to their reading and teach it the way their brains learn.

Join us on our Facebook page, Silent Elephant e, LLC Group, for more discussion on teaching spelling and everything reading related. 

Contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

Have You Ever Had This Experience? I Bet You Have! :)

Have you ever had this experience? I bet you have!

For a couple minutes, think about when you were in school--whether your school was a public school, or you were homeschooled.

Think about a subject, concept or skill you were taught that just did not connect with you. It was something you learned, but it never had any real meaning for you or to you.

You learned it because you were taught it, and so it became an isolated fact for you that sort of floated around in a sea of other isolated facts or factoids. It had no real connection for you. You really didn’t care about it. It just floated around with all the other disconnected facts.

Then later, maybe a long time later, as you lived your life, you suddenly realized this floating subject, skill or concept was beginning to take on meaning for you. It began to “come alive” for you because of something you had or were living through that began to connect it with other subjects, other skills, or other concepts you knew about, understood fully, and had interest in.

Suddenly this isolated floating concept moved out of your sea of nebulous facts and became not just something you learned but knowledge that you could use and wanted to use.

What were some of those floating facts that became important for you?

I ask you to take this goofy little journey with me because we ALL have this sea of floating nebulous concepts and facts. Some of us have larger seas than others of us. 😊 It depends on how we were taught, how we connected what we were learning.

Another reason for our goofy journey is this:

It’s OK for some concepts to become floaters without real harm to our learning. You probably have the dates of wars floating around. 😊

BUT, it’s very detrimental for some concepts to become floaters! In fact, if some concepts become isolated facts with no connection, then other learning is halted!

Some concepts need to be taught to ALL children in ways that activate and integrate the learning immediately. Some concepts can’t wait for months or years to become a part of our children’s working knowledge.

Phonemic awareness and all phonics concepts are such concepts.

Phonics concepts can be vague and yet it is absolutely important that they are learned in a precise sequential order to ensure true learning at the time they are taught. They must be taught so the concept becomes useable knowledge immediately.

That can sound like a BIG job! 😊
It’s not as big a job as it is a process that needs to be well thought out to ensure their success.

It was one of my students who made me think of sharing this with you.  He was having a very difficult time writing words that contained new phonics concepts IF he was asked to write the word in isolation. To this day, words in isolation hold no meaning for him.

Yet, 😊, when he wrote these same words in sentences, the phonics rules he needed totally made sense to him, and he spelled the words correctly and wrote the entire sentence correctly. The words had meaning and made connections to his prior knowledge.

For ALL children, words must be connected to their prior knowledge for the words to have meaning so they can easily learn to read, write and spell.

Think about how important phonics concepts are and how ALL children need them to be taught in a systematic, sequential, progressive, sensory engaging format for them to be easily learned. Phonics concepts need to be connected to all their previous learning—RIGHT NOW, not later. They cannot join the “floating facts seas”. If one joins the sea of floaters, learning to read becomes instantly difficult.

This is why when you explore Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, you will find a progressive order that totally engages children in learning every concept. We just can’t have any “phonics floaters”.

Contact me to learn more about how I structured Silent Elephant “e” so every child can easily learn to read, write and spell.

4 Factors to Consider when Teaching a Learner with Learning Differences

Sharing 4 Factors to Consider when Teaching a Learner with Learning Differences during the Top Picks Back to School Bash was a blast!

Here are some highlights we covered in the workshop:
When teaching a learner with learning differences, we want to consider these four factors and make sure that we are meeting all of them as we teach.

Factor 1 – Immersion and Engagement – Your learning difference learner needs to be totally immersed and totally engaged in whatever they are learning. Ask this question, “How many ways can we have fun using their five senses, their voice and their body to learn this concept and connect it to what they already know?” 

To internalize the new concept that you're teaching and connect it with all other concepts that they've learned previously they need to be totally engaged with the concept in ways they enjoy. This total engagement and immersion in the fun of learning will activate all parts of their brain and make it possible for them to easily internalize, learn new concepts, and connect the new with what they already know.

Factor 2 – Embedded - To engage all parts of the learning different brain in learning to read, write and spell you want to teach them together. In other words, you want to embed their writing and spelling into their learning to read.

What does that look like? When they are learning a new phonics concept such as /ea/, or even a short vowel sound, they learn to read, write and spell words with those phonics concepts at the same time they are learning to read them. Then they immediately begin using their new words in reading and writing sentences.

Learning writing and spelling at the same time they learn to read makes sense to their learning difference brain that does not separate reading, writing and spelling into 3 separate subjects. 😊

Factor 3 – How the curriculum is set up matter. Is it sequential, systemic, progressive and logical? Does it teach all skills and concepts simple to complex?

This is not only important for them, it’s important for you. If the curriculum you are using doesn’t move sequentially simple to complex as it progressives logically and systematically through the skills and concepts, it will be not only be frustrating to you but chances are high that they will not learn easily or readily, maybe not at all.

Factor 4 – Predictability – For your learning difference learner to learn easily and readily to read, write and spell, you want their program and the way you are teaching to be predictable to them. It is very important to the learning difference brain to NOT have to wonder about how you will be presenting new concepts and skills or about what their worksheets look like.

Their brain needs to relax into the predictable so it can focus on what’s important – the new concept and how that concept relates to everything they have already know.

There’s actually a Factor 5 – This one is also important, maybe the most important. Believing they are going to read, write and spell and have fun doing it! They need to KNOW that YOU KNOW they will learn and enjoy their learning process.

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ was written around these factors which is why we are watching our students with all kinds of learning differences become completely independent readers, writers and spellers enjoying their freedom to learn new concepts in every subject.

Yes! They still have learning differences, but they don’t struggle with reading, writing or spelling. There’s such freedom in that and it’s such a pleasure to watch their success!

If you have any questions about these 4 factors or Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, call (208-859-4406) or email here silentelephante@gmail.com or nina.silentelephante@gmail.com

They Said She Would Never Catch Up in Comprehension

Silent Elephant “e” Has to Disappear!

 A smile brightens my face as I recall the day “Kimberly” excitedly shared her experience of teaching her class my phonics lesson about when and why Silent Elephant “e”™ has to disappear at the end of Silent Elephant “e”™ words when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel.

She beamed as she told me, “My teacher loved the Silent Elephant “e”™ puppet! She thought it totally made sense that you couldn’t make SILENT Elephant “e” talk by putting ‘two vowels walking’ next to each other when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel!”

You might be confused, so let me give you some examples. Let’s take the word “poke”. If you want to add the suffix -s which begins with a consonant, you can just add it on to the end of the root word to make “pokes”. The consonant “s” will not make “two vowels go walking” in the word.

However, if you want to add the suffix -ed which begins with a vowel, you cannot just add it on the end of the root word as it will make “pokeed. Silent Elephant “e” has to disappear, or you’ll have “two vowels go walking” and the first vowel will have to say its name.

If you want to add the suffix -ing which begins with a vowel, you cannot just add it on the end of the root word as it will make “pokeing”. Again, if Silent Elephant “e” doesn’t disappear you’ll have “two vowels go walking” and the first vowel will have to say its name.

This sweet girl is now a 5th grader. She began tutoring with me in late October of her 3rd grade year. She was at an instructional 3rd grade reading level in word recognition but frustrated at a 1st grade reading level in comprehension.

She has dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a chronic neurological condition where the wiring in the brain is mixed up. People with dyspraxia display different symptoms. Kimberly can easily find and remember details when she reads, but she was struggling putting the details together to make sense of sentences, paragraphs, and lengthy pieces of writing. She struggled to find the main idea in any piece of writing. The educational psychologist that diagnosed Kimberly told me that Kimberly would probably never catch up in reading comprehension.

After completing only 14 months of instruction with me using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, last March during her 4th grade year, this bubbly, energetic little girl tested out at a 9th grade instructional reading level in word recognition AND comprehension using the Fleishman Oral Reading Inventory!

This is such a joyful example of the power of Silent Elephant “e”™ that teaches each child the way they learn. My heart sings knowing Kimberly is a successful reader. Her world has opened up for her.

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

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

 “Sh” is a digraph because when “s” and “h” are together
they make one new sound of /sh/.

 It always makes me giggle and burst with pride when one of my kiddos becomes so confident in their skills that they become the teacher. It’s such a good feeling, for them, for me and certainly for their parents.

Silent Elephant “e”™ is THE program that teaches reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension), writing and spelling in a precisely organized, systematic, complete auditory, visual and kinesthetic way that ALL CHILDREN NEED, especially dyslexic and struggling learners.

It is THE program that makes the teaching and learning to read, write and spell interesting, fun and a sure thing. It engages their whole brain and all their senses every moment of every lesson.

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

At the time, Julie was in second grade and because of Covid was on the computer for her reading class with her teacher and classmates. Her teacher told a child who was struggling to read the word “shade” that “shade” started with the blend “sh”.

Julie raised her hand and her teacher called on her. Julie politely explained to her teacher and classmates that “sh” is not a blend.

“If “sh” was a blend, it would make the Kindergarten sounds of /s/ and /h/ blended together smoothly. Then “shade” would sound like /s/ - /h/ - /long “a”/ - /d/.

“So, “sh” is a digraph, because when “s” and “h” are together they make one new sound of /sh/.

Julie continued teaching, “My tutor says that the letters in blends sound just the same as the sounds we learned for the letters in Kindergarten.

“But the letters in digraphs make new, different sounds, not at all like the sounds we learned in Kindergarten. Mrs. Jones and I say the digraphs are magical, because the letters magically change their sounds to become digraphs.”

Julie’s teacher was amazed, “Wow Julie, you explained that very well, very clearly. We’ll never get blends and digraphs mixed up again! Good job!”

Kathy beamed with pride and shared, “I was so impressed by how politely and meticulously Julie taught her teacher and her classmates!

“Everything she’s learned from you completely makes sense to her.” (Julie often said during a lesson, “Oh, that makes sense.” 😊)

Kathy smiled with pride and continued, “Julie teaches Silent Elephant “e” to anyone who will listen: me, her dad, her little sister, her grandma, her friends—everyone! Maybe she’ll grow up to be a teacher.”

I, too, felt so much pride!

Julie is a completely different girl than the one who began Silent Elephant “e”™. She is severely dyslexic and had already been placed in special education in the early part of first grade.

But there she was completely successful in her reading class, even on the computer. What Julie needed to become confident in her reading, writing and spelling was a precisely organized, systematic, complete auditory, visual and kinesthetic program, aka, Silent Elephant “e”™.

Students becoming a teacher is a common theme when you teach with Silent Elephant “e”™. It teaches them the way they learn, so reading, writing and spelling “makes sense” and it is easy for them to explain to others what they understand, even if they are severely dyslexic. Explaining why they know what they know is an integral part of the program.

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

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

Reading and Writing Go Together - Her Essay Shares Her Solid Foundation

In my last post (here's the link), I shared my student Rachel’s success and how the deep foundation in reading, writing and spelling she received from Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ is showing in all parts of her life.

Her mom, Jennifer, had mentioned in her letter that Rachel had written a report on a special person as a school assignment.

I’m eager to share it with you. 

“My Special Person
By Rachel 3-3-23

My special person is my mom. Do you want to know why? (I have lots of reasons I meen lots.). I love my mom because she takes care of me when I’m sick. She gets mad when I pass the sickness along to her, but she still loves me. When I was learning to ride my bike she pushed me forward (theoreticly not physically). I remember when I was in seattle, and it was Covid, she was are teacher at home. Every day for recess we would bounce on the trampoline. I loved those days. My mom helped us move. And when I was born she quit her job just like with Rebecca (my older sister). my family went to Plymouth. I got a fever and even then, my mom took care of me. I think you can see how important my mom is to me.” 

This is delightful and an amazing story for a second grader!

As I look at her story to see how she is doing, I notice her content is relevant and flows beautifully.

There are just three spelling errors: mean, theoretically (What an amazing vocabulary word and spelling attempt! She was so close you knew exactly which word she was using.), and our.

She needed to capitalize Seattle and the beginning of one sentence, plus she needed a couple of commas for adverbial phrases. That’s another thing! She is using adverbial phrases!! Also, her use of parenthesis within her story is outstanding!
 
Plus, her handwriting is beautiful!

This is exceptional writing for an eight-year-old and it’s so fun to share this with you. 

Her story illustrates two points that Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ provides us all:

First, with Silent Elephant “e”™, it doesn’t take 6 years to be a successful reader on a 6th grade level. She’s in second grade writing an essay like this one!

Second (maybe the most important, as it frees our students to read and learn freely), with Silent Elephant “e”™, they achieve a SOLID, STABLE foundation in reading, writing and spelling that is theirs for the rest of their life. Rachel is now reading and comprehending above 6th grade level and her writing and spelling is above age level as well.
 
This is why I wrote Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ -  so ALL children and adults feel the freedom of reading and writing.

Contact me here to explore how you can teach your kiddos with Silent Elephant “e”™ to give them the freedom of a solid reading, writing and spelling foundation that will set them up for life.
Or call me here Linda Smith-Jones 208-859-4406 

Keep a song in your heart!

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

This seems to be the season for up-dates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Jennifer” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Smith-Jones