“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 

Phraseology! It's a Game Changer!!! Part 2

Phraseology Is a Game Changer!!! Part 2

How to Teach the Silent Elephant “e” Hands On Approach 

In my last post in this series, I shared how to begin instruction on phraseology. Phraseology is a very important reading strategy that is often overlooked. Our students need us to teach them to focus on how phrases work in our language to improve their comprehension and their fluency.  

After my students have a clear understanding of phraseology in our spoken language and how our brain is always asking questions and searching for meaning, I introduce the following simple technique in their written language.

 “Let’s look at our sentence on paper: The soft, yellow duck will swim to me to get my bread.  

“I’m going to draw curved ‘rainbow lines’ above our words to show us where our phrases begin and end.” (Although I am using the word ‘rainbow’, I just use a regular, black pencil, but I draw bow-shaped lines.)  

“Watch me draw the rainbow lines as we read our sentence. The soft yellow duck…will swim…to me…to get my bread. 

“Let’s read our sentence together as our eyes and voices follow my finger that’s shadowing the rainbow lines.” 

“Notice that at the end of each rainbow line, we naturally make a very tiny pause in our reading by taking a tiny breath. To show that we take that very tiny pause, I will lift my finger quickly. Then just as quickly, I will put my finger back down so we can read the next phrase.  

“Let’s read our sentence together again and notice our very tiny pauses. This time you trace the rainbow lines with your finger making sure you lift your finger quickly at the end of a phrase and quickly put it back on the paper so we can read the next phrase.”  

I watch my students’ happy “ah-ha” moments as they begin using this technique.  

At first, I draw the rainbow lines to ensure that my kiddos truly understand phraseology. When I feel they are ready, I encourage them to draw their own phrasing rainbow lines. (Some children like the rainbow lines under the sentence.) 

I share with them that from this point on in their Silent Elephant “e” sessions, we will be practicing phraseology in everything we read. I also share that THEY will notice their reading getting smoother and faster. Their reading will sound more like conversation and they will understand what they are reading more easily and more quickly.  

Here are a few more sentences you can use for your introduction of phraseology and for practice: 

1.       I slid down the hill on a sled. (Children will notice that the word “I” immediately has meaning and that their brain will want to know more about what “I” is doing.)

2.       A spruce tree sprouted from the rich soil on the mountainside. (They will notice that “A” doesn’t hold meaning alone.)

3.       Three frightening dragons drooled all over me during my scary dream. (They will notice that “three” has meaning but can mean three of anything at this point.)

With my 6th through 12th graders, I teach them to note prepositional phrases, adverbial phrases, phrasal verbs, expressions, conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions, which instantly improves their comprehension and fluency. 

You will notice that the more children practice phraseology, they will naturally begin to combine two or three small phrases into one before taking that tiny breath and they will rely less and less on the rainbow lines. This will automatically increase their smoothness in reading and their fluency and reading rate. Their reading will sound more like conversation. 

As we continue to focus on phraseology, we talk about how their fluency is developing because of connecting the tiny phrases. At this point I stress:

 ·       Reading as if speaking in a conversation

·       Noting end marks at the end of sentences

·       Placing stress on different words within a sentence

·       Listening to me read the sentence or passage and mimicking the way my reading sounds

·       Recording themselves reading sentences and paragraphs

·       Playing their recordings back and analyzing their reading with their parents with this question in mind, “Does this sound like me talking to you?”

·       Re-recording the same sentences and paragraphs while listening and analyzing them again

·       Noticing their improvement

·       Celebrating what an awesome reader they are! 

Teaching phraseology is the best way to increase a reader’s fluency: smoothness, accuracy, proper expression and speed. Phraseology also improves comprehension because their reading flows like conversation and their brain easily finds meaning.   

I do want to add one VERY important last thought.

EVERY child needs instruction in phraseology and EVERY child needs to practice phraseology in their reading to improve comprehension and to develop smoothness and fluency.  

That said, I NEVER recommend timed tests for struggling readers! They will not be successful (at first) with timed tests, and it only makes them question their ability to read, read smoothly and comprehend. Timed test can be a blow to their fragile self-confidence.  

My wish is for you to enjoy teaching phraseology as much as I do and for your kiddos to fluently read with comprehension: to feel THE JOY OF READING in their heart!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Phraseology! It's a Game Changer!!! Part 1

Phraseology Is a Game Changer!!!  Part 1

 Here’s How I Teach It 

It is such an exciting time for me as a teacher when I know that one of my students is ready to begin learning phraseology! Understanding how phrases work in our spoken and written communication kicks their reading into a higher gear. 

Phraseology has many definitions. In general, it means the way in which language is used: especially in how words and expressions are chosen and put together to convey meaning. Simply put, phraseology is the study of word groups that have meaning and how we read them to gain greater comprehension of the text.  

When we teach phraseology, we are teaching our students to read as though they are telling a story—to read the passages as though they are sharing them in conversation. 

As we teach phraseology, we teach our children that their brain is always trying to connect words into phrases in its search for meaning and greater understanding.  

I usually begin teaching phraseology to students sometime after they have successfully learned short vowel sounds (Part 3), “h” consonant digraphs (Part 4), beginning and ending consonant blends (Part 5), and are about midway through instruction in Part 6 of Silent Elephant “e”.  

Their first lesson in phraseology might sound something like this: 

“Since you are such a strong reader, I’m going to teach you (and Mom and Dad if they are at tutoring) something new. It’s called phraseology. Phraseology is a BIG word that just means you are going to learn how to read in phrases today. 

“Phrases are two or more words that begin to form meaning in your brain. 

“If I say to you, ‘The’, and that is all I say, can you begin to make a picture in your mind about what I’m talking about? Could you draw a picture of ‘the’?” 

My confused students always answer, “No,” while wondering why I asked such a ridiculous question. 

I continue, “If I say, ‘The soft’, can you begin to make a picture in your mind about what I’m talking about? Could you draw a picture of ‘The soft’?” 

They most likely answer something like, “No, but I’m thinking of something soft like my pillow.” 

“Wonderful! 

“What happens when I say, ‘The soft, yellow’? Can you begin making a picture in your mind about what I’m talking about?” 

This is when their eyes begin to light up as they are getting a hint of what I’m teaching. “Yes!” they say with more certainty. 

“What new picture(s) do you have in your brain? Could you draw something soft and yellow?” 

We share lots of possibilities—real and nonsense. “Could a car be soft and yellow? Why or why not? Could an elephant be soft and yellow? Why or why not? Could pudding be soft and yellow? Why or why not?” 

We take plenty of time playing with the possibilities of soft and yellow before I continue the lesson. 

“Your brain is always trying to find meaning from what you’re listening to and from what you’re reading. 

“As your brain searches for meaning, it will begin asking YOU questions such as, ‘What is one thing that is soft and yellow?’ 

“If I say, ‘The soft, yellow duck’, your brain just received more information and will immediately form a picture or pictures in your mind about the meaning. Can you make a more detailed picture in your mind about what I’m talking about?” 

Now my kiddos are really catching on and enthusiastically answer, “Yes!” 

“Draw a picture(s) to show me exactly what’s in your mind.” 

As they draw, we talk about the picture(s) coming to their mind about ‘The soft, yellow duck’.  

“Your picture is awesome—such a beautiful, soft, yellow duck! Your brain really found meaning when we added that one word. 

“What are you thinking right now?” I ask them. “Does your brain want to know more about the soft, yellow duck?” 

“Yes!” exclaim my excited children. They are into finding meaning.  

“What questions is your brain asking about the soft, yellow duck?”  

Brainstorm with them things they might want to know about the duck: Is the duck somewhere? Is the duck doing something? What’s around the duck? 

Continuing to build a solid foundation in the understanding of why we learn about and use phraseology I explain further, “I just told you a phrase that was 4 words long: ‘The soft, yellow duck’. Some phrases are as short as 2 words, like ‘The cat’; some phrases are longer, like ‘on the old wooden door’. 

“A phrase is made of words that create a picture in your mind because the words make sense. 

“Let me add more words to help you answer the questions in your mind about our duck: ‘The soft, yellow duck will…’ 

“Did the addition of the word ‘will’ help you with your picture? Did adding ‘will’ help you understand where our duck is, where it’s going, or what it’s doing?” 

They may take a minute to think, but will answer, “No, not really.” 

“No, not really. You need more information—more words to finish the phrase. 

“If I say, ‘The soft, yellow duck will swim’, what instantly happens in your brain? What picture instantly begins to come into your mind that shows you know more than you did before? Are you making a more detailed picture in your mind? How will your drawing change?” 

They will be very eager to share how just adding the word “swim” to the phrase creates many pictures in their mind.  

“Draw a picture to show me exactly what you are seeing in your mind and tell me about your drawing. 

“Your picture is amazing! It’s showing me that your brain is finding meaning from phrases.

“Does your brain want to know more? 

“What questions is your brain asking now? Does it want to know even more about our soft, yellow duck? Perhaps it’s asking questions like: When is the duck swimming? Where might the duck swim? Does it have any friends?” 

After taking ample time for my kiddos to absorb how longer phrases create more meaning, I continue explaining phraseology,   

“I’ve just told you two phrases. The first phrase was 4 words long: ‘The soft, yellow duck’. The second phrase was 2 words long: ‘will swim’.  

Do you want to know more?” 

They will always answer, “Yes!”

 “Why do you want to know more?” 

We continue this lesson adding more words one at a time to make the complete sentence: ‘The soft, yellow duck will swim to me to get my bread.’ With each new word we add, we spend time talking about how the new word added meaning or not. 

When we have completed the whole sentence and have drawn a picture sharing its meaning, I have them listen to me read the sentence as they point to the parts of their drawing that indicate the phrase I’m reading.

 I have them listen carefully to how I am saying the sentence in phrases, “The soft, yellow duck…will swim . . .to me…to get my bread.” I have them say the sentence with me while paying attention to the phrasing. We talk about how natural it sounds for us to say the sentence in phrases because it sounds just like we are talking since we naturally talk in phrases.  

In the next post in this series, I will share how Silent Elephant “e” moves the study of phraseology from the spoken word into printed text with a simple tool to help develop both comprehension and fluency in reading.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Phraseology! Two Fledgling Readers Take Off

 Two Fledgling Readers’ Hearts Soar,

Mom’s Heart Soars and

My Heart Soars! 

I received a beautiful, heartwarming response to my two blog posts on phraseology from a parent educator who is teaching her two young daughters to read with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”. Wendy said I could share her email and her daughters’ drawings with you. 

Hi Miss Linda, 

The girls and I enjoyed learning about phraseology. Here are their pictures as they got more words in the phrase.  

FYI the numbers on their pictures represent the number of words they used to explain their picture. For example, when given only “The soft” Zoya added “Panda” and then drew that idea (3 words). When given “the soft yellow” Audrey added “Towel” to explain her picture (4 words).

 Your steps really helped them understand why they wanted more words to give fuller meaning to the phrase given.  

Then we played around with reading the final sentence with different emphasis and different pauses. This was especially helpful for Audrey as she has more of a tendency to read with even voice and level.  

I also wanted to let you know about my oldest daughter’s progress. Last we spoke on the phone, she had just taken the reading test. She took the reading test (STAR 360) in early Jan. and then again mid Feb. (about 6 weeks apart). During those 6 weeks, we focused most of our school time on reading—especially reading a chapter book from the Box Car Children series that was on a topic she enjoys a lot, the ocean. It was around a level 3 on the library AR, which I think loosely correlates to 3rd grade level. It was challenging for her, but she enjoyed it a lot. It took her about 10 min. to read a page when she was really focused.  

After the 6 weeks, her results on the test were so improved! The results said she had improved almost 6 months in 6 weeks!!! It says in Jan. she was testing similar to a 1st grader in the 1st month of the school year. She is in 2nd grade. When she retook the test at the end of Feb., it said she was now reading similar to a 1st grader in the 5th month of the school year!!! 

 I am so thankful for your encouragement and ideas when we spoke in Jan. I continue to see her progress.

 Today she was easily able to read her math instructions without me, understand them, and complete the problems correctly without complaining that the words were too hard for her to read. 

 I’m so glad to see her confidence building--especially with her 1st grade sister testing at a level similar to a 2nd grader in the 7th month of school.

 They both really enjoy writing letters and notes to people while we drive, and they ask me how to spell words. However, they are able to get very close to the correct spelling when I challenge them to sound out words for me.

 I’m so thankful for the solid foundation your program has given them and their continued progress. 

 Thanks again for your encouragement and support. 

Wendy

You can image the joy in my heart as I read Wendy’s email. My heart sings with her daughters’ progress. 

Aren’t their drawings sweet, and very meaningful?  

When you have your children draw a picture that explains a phrase, suddenly the words in the phrase become pictures in their mind and their comprehension grows quickly.

 Add to that, practicing reading as though in a conversation, both their comprehension and fluency flourish together.  

As your children begin using phraseology in their reading, they begin to see and hear a difference, and they begin to feel more confident in their reading and their comprehension.  

They begin to see themselves as a competent reader and a competent learner.

 Watching their progress will make your heart sing.

Keep a song in your heart,

which is easy to do when your children feel so good about themselves.

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Developing Fluency by Catching a Wave and Spreading Peanut Butter!

Developing Fluency by Catching a Wave and Spreading Peanut Butter! 

I bet that title piqued your interest. 😊 

As you know, fluency is an important component in comprehension. If a reader can’t read words or sentences smoothly enough for their brain to pick up the concepts presented, they are left feeling frustrated and wondering what they’ve read.  

Here are a couple of fun imagery ideas I suggest to my kiddos to use to improve their fluency. These have proven to be very popular with my kids and are very successful in helping them improve fluency and, therefore, comprehension.  

After I teach phraseology (Phraseology in Categories) to my children and have given them time to practice and gain confidence in their newly learned skill, I tell them I have another fun technique to further increase their fluency.  

“Have you ever gone surfboarding or watched someone surfboard?” I inquire.  

I see their eyes spark with interest and curiosity. Playing with their curiosity, we jump on the computer and search surfing to learn about surfing and to try to imagine what surfing would feel like. We talk about how smooth the board is flowing with the wave and how surfers have to quickly gain and keep their balance, or they’ll fall right off their boards.  

“Can you imagine what it would be like to catch a wave, keep your balance while standing on that floating surfboard and ride it smoothly all the way to the shore?” 

They are alive with the fun of our exploration and are wondering what it has to do with their reading.  

“Imagine yourself surfing as you read a sentence. Feel yourself climbing on your board as you look at the capital letter and the first word. Feel how you catch the wave of the words and while keeping your balance, off you go riding it to the end.” 

We take this imagery of smoothly riding a wave a step further by having them actually feel their smoothness when reading a real sentence.  

“Let’s imagine surfing a sentence again. Feel yourself climbing on your board, gaining your balance with the first word, and then catching that wave. Feel yourself balancing tall and steady and riding the word wave right to the end mark.”  

I ask them, “How did that feel?” 

They always have many answers, but all their answers share their relief and fun. They are impressed with how easy it is to ride the word wave when they are balanced at the beginning. It’s a delight to watch them relaxing with their fluency with this fun technique.  

I tell them, “Now that you have the feeling of surfing your sentence smoothly to the end, your reading fluency will just naturally improve. That’s exciting!” 

And now for peanut butter and fluency. 😊 

I start by talking about smooth peanut butter. “Do you like peanut butter? How do you like to eat and enjoy peanut butter?  

We act out spreading peanut butter. “Let’s imagine getting a BIG GLOB of peanut butter on a knife and smoothly spreading it on a delicious slice of bread. Feel how it spreads so easily, so smoothly. 

“Now picture yourself spreading peanut butter as you read a sentence. Imagine putting your BIG GLOB of your favorite smooth peanut butter on the first word and then spreading it smoothly, without stopping, clear to the end mark. 

“Now, let’s read a sentence. Pretend you are putting that BIG GLOB down on the first word and spreading it to the end mark as you read. Feel how smooth you are.” 

This imagery always makes them giggle and say, “YUM!” 

We play with these two fluency techniques for a couple of weeks during which time I ask them if they are thinking up any other fun ways we can imagine, feel and read more smoothly. 

It’s always a pleasure to hear their new ideas.  

And it’s always a pleasure to hear your new ideas. Please pass them on and we will share them.  

My next blog post shares some research on how our brains work to develop fluency. It’s interesting! 

If you have any nagging questions about fluency and comprehension, just contact us.  

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                  Nina Henson 

An Interesting Discovery About Our Brains and Fluency

An Interesting Discovery About Our Brains and Fluency 

After we’ve spent a couple of weeks having fun imagining surfing the word wave through a sentence and/or spreading peanut butter from the capital letter to the end mark to develop fluency, I’m ready to teach them a new concept to even further improve their fluency. 

I share that I discovered something very interesting about how everyone’s brains work. 

“When we begin to read a sentence in a choppy manner, such as: ‘I saw - a big - dog - in - the park’, we send a message to our brain that we will continue to read the rest of the sentence in that same choppy manner. Since our brain received that message, we continue like this: ‘playing - with - a little boy - and girl - with - a frisbee.’ 

“The whole sentence will sound like this: ‘I saw - a big - dog - in - the park - playing - with - a little boy - and girl - with - a frisbee.’” 

I ask them how that sentence sounds when read that way. They always have answers such as, “Not good. It’s too choppy. You sound like a robot, not a real person.” 

We discuss that when we hear or read a sentence in that way, it can be difficult to stay with the meaning of the sentence. In other words, our comprehension of what we are hearing or reading is slowed way down.  

I continue sharing, “It also works the other way around. When we begin to read the first three or four words in a sentence in a smooth manner, we send a message to our brain that we are going to read the rest of the sentence in that same smooth manner. 

“The whole sentence will sound like this: ‘I saw a big dog in the park playing with a little boy and girl with a frisbee.’”

We take a moment to realize and discuss that hearing or reading that sentence in a smooth way makes it easy to understand, to comprehend.  

I continue, “The control we have over how our brain works is amazing! By just reading the first three or four words in a sentence in a smooth manner, we truly send a message to our brain that we are going to read the rest of the sentence in a smooth manner.” 

I tell them, “You are going to be amazed at how much your reading fluency will increase just by sending this message of reading smoothly to your brain every time you begin to read a sentence! 

“Now, let’s practice our newest reading fluency tool together as we read a sentence.  

After they have practiced this new tool with a few sentences I have them reflect, “Did you notice that by just realizing this science fact about how your brain helps you relax into reading the rest of the sentence smoothly, you actually did read smoothly?”  

They are always so pleased to realize how smoothly they read and how well they understood what they read.  

It’s fun to begin this lesson by recording a child who reads in a choppy manner reading a sentence. After you have taught this skill and they are feeling strong with concentrating on just reading the first three or four words smoothly, record them again. 

You and they will be amazed at the improvement! They will love how easy it is to increase their fluency and comprehension. 

You and your students will have fun using this technique on unfamiliar sentences also to prove to yourself and to them that just by initially reading the first three or four words smoothly, their brain will send a message to read the entire sentence smoothly. 

Now one more small and powerful step, as your kids develop this skill and after you have taught them what a verb is, their fluency will increase even further when they concentrate on reaching the verb smoothly, as the rest of the sentence will just flow! 

Have fun with these techniques! Watch how their fluency scores on school tests such as Dibles shoot up. 😊 And, more importantly, enjoy how they are comprehending all they are reading.  

I’d love for you to share your experience with me! 

If you have any questions about fluency and comprehension, please contact us.  

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                  Nina Henson

Buttons are Popping!

Buttons are Popping!

I’ve been walked around with a big smile for days.
As the schools have been doing their winter assessing using Dibles (a timed reading assessment), I have been receiving several emails and phone calls from parents of children I am tutoring this past week. ‘My parents’ are so proud of their kiddos and want to share the tremendous improvement their children are making.

Now, it’s my turn to share. 😊

A parent of a profoundly dyslexic daughter with ADD sent me an email to tell me that her daughter had gone from 58 to 98 wpm since this past fall. Mom was so proud!

A 4th grade parent called to tell me that her son went from 64 wpm to 111 wpm. This young man needs to gain only 14 wpm by early June. He will do it! I have no doubts!

Another parent of a 3rd grader I am presently tutoring, called me this past week to tell me that her daughter went from 46 wpm this fall to 148 wpm! She has already met her grade level goal!

More good news arrived about another 3rd grade boy I’m tutoring. He scored 57 wpm this fall and just last week scored 161 wpm surpassing the 3rd grade goal!

A 2nd grade boy went from 28 wpm this fall to 97 wpm last week!

A Kindergartener is already reading at a First Reader level!

I even received this email from the parent of one of my former students who recently graduated from Silent Elephant “e”. “Thought you would be happy to hear about ‘Elizabeth’s’ reading improvement. (She is a third grader with degenerative hearing loss.) Elizabeth scored 58 wpm during fall Dibles (was nervous), but last week for winter Dibles she read 121 wpm! The goal is 110 wpm by the end of the year. We are so excited!! She is really enjoying reading now too!

I love that “my parents” are so proud of their young ones that they eagerly contact me to share.

I am so grateful that ‘my parents’ trust me to be a part of their children’s education.

I am extremely proud of each and every one of my kiddos!
I can't quit smiling!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

“Existentialism” - the Power of Dividing Words into Syllables

“Existentialism” - the Power of Dividing Words into Syllables

After one year of instruction with Silent Elephant “e”, one of my 11-year-olds bounced into tutoring excited to tell me that she had checked out a book on philosophy at the public library.

I tried not to show my surprise.

She enthusiastically shared that she had decoded the word existentialism.

I asked her, “How did you sound out the word existentialism”?

She proudly replied, “I used ALL the things you taught me about sounding out words - - dividing words into syllables with purple lines, looking for prefixes and suffixes, finding schwas - - you know!”

I was quite amazed, as a year prior, this young lady wasn’t reading at a first-grade level!

I quizzed her, “What does existentialism mean?”

She answered confidently, “It means I have free choice. Now that you have taught me to read, I can be anything I want to be!”

Tears filled my eyes as I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her.

Even now, my eyes fill with tears just thinking about her pride and her feeling of freedom that she had never experienced before.

Keep a song in your heart!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                         Nina Henson

You Get Two Desserts Tonight!

You Get Two Desserts Tonight! 

Last week while tutoring on Zoom, I sat watching one of my fifth-grade boys attentively and accurately add colors to all of the words on his last worksheet in Part 13. Each of eight colors I use in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” has a specific phonetic purpose much as diacritical markings do in the dictionary.  

“Carl” was marking prefixes, marking suffixes, marking root words, marking consonant digraphs, marking consonant blends, marking consonant twins, marking the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, marking all vowel diacritical markings, dividing words into syllables and putting in accent marks. I was filled with delight! 

When “Carl” first came to me for tutoring almost two years ago, he was at an instructional primer reading level. He is now at a 9th grade reading level. Besides being profoundly dyslexic, he has another learning difference and a behavioral challenge.  

As I watch him now - so calm, so in control, so meticulous – I am in awe! His reading of words flows smoothly and quickly with expression! His comprehension is outstanding for a ten-year-old! He is excelling with Silent Elephant “e”!  

With a look of pride and love on my face, I said, “You’re awesome! You’re brilliant, Carl! Tell Mom I said you get two desserts tonight!”  

We laughed! 

Presently I have 3 children completing the last lesson in Part 13! Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is changing so many children’s lives! 

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

A Challenging Suffix - worksheet included

A Challenging Suffix - worksheet included 

Recently, I have had three of my students advance into Silent Elephant “e”, Part 14, Level 1. It is an exciting time for my kiddos, their parents and me, as their teacher!  

When children have progressed to this level in Silent Elephant “e”, they are reading at a 6th grade reading level or above, no matter their chronological age. They are impressive, confident readers! 

They have previously mastered Syllable Rule #1, which is in Part 13: Every syllable has one vowel sound.  

Part 14 begins with Syllable Rule #5: Divide words into syllables between the root/base word and the suffix if the suffix has a vowel sound.

 Children have no difficulty understanding that the suffix -s never has its own syllable and the suffix -ed does not have its own syllable when it makes the /d/ or /t/ sound, as there is no vowel sound. 

To begin Syllable Rule #5 lesson, I teach them many new suffixes, the new suffixes’ pronunciations and the new suffixes’ definitions. Below is the suffix list included in Part 14: 

List of Suffixes, Pronunciations, and Definitions

-able, -ible /Ə bƏl/ able to, likely

-age /Əj/ action or process, collection, aggregate, state

-al /Əl/, -ial /Əl/, -ual /ū Əl/ characteristic of, referring to

-an, -ian /Ən/ and /ē Ən/ places, person

-ance. -ence /Əns/ used to form nouns, action, quality or state, end

-ant /Ənt/ forms adjectives and nouns from verbs

-ar /Ər/ characteristic of

-ary /âr ē/, /Ər ē/ back, connected with, for the purpose of

-ate /Ət/ state or quality

-ation, -ition, -sion, -tion, -ion /ā shƏn/, /i shƏn/, /shƏn/, /chƏn/, /zhƏn/, /Ən/ meaning

action, state, result, process

-ed /d/, /t/, /Əd/ past tense of verbs

-en /Ən/ cause to be, become, made of

-ence /Əns/ state or condition, action

-end /Ənd/ back, forming nouns

-er, -or /Ər/ one who does; compare 2 things

-ery, -ry /Ər-ē/ and /rē / forming nouns, indicating a place, collection, action, quality

-ess /Əs/ forms feminine nouns

-est /Əst/ comparing 3 or more things

-ful /fƏl/ full of, tending to

-fy /fī/ make, cause

-hood /h short double “oo” d/ state, condition, nature

-ic /Ək/ like, having characteristics of

-ing /Əng/ present participle of verbs

-ish /Əsh/ forms adjectives from nouns

-ism /i zƏm/ form actions nouns from verbs

-ist /Əst/doer, learner, person, noun

-ity /Ə tē/, -ty /tē/ state of

-ive /Əv/, -ative, -itive /Ə tƏv/ like

-le /Əl/ and /l/ forming nouns, forming adjectives, added to the end of verbs, repeated action, apt to

-less /lƏs/ lacking, without

-ly /lē/ like, characteristic of

-ment /mƏnt/ result, action, process

-ness /nƏs/ with, quality or state

-ous /Əs/, -ious /ē Əs/, /Əs/ full of

-s /s/, /z/, -es /Əz/ plurals, more than one

-um /Əm/, –ium / ē Əm/ suffixes that create a noun

-ure /yƏr/ action, function, result

-ward /wƏrd/ spatial or temporal direction

-wise /wīz/ direction of

-y /ē/ characterized by 

My students comfortably and confidently learn these suffixes. 

However, there is one suffix, the -ion suffix with its many variations, that seems to be a snafu to hinder their otherwise rapid learning and retention of the lengthy list of suffixes.  

-ion, -tion, -sion, -ation, and -ition make multiple sounds: 

-ion:  /Ən/

-tion: /shƏn/, /chƏn/

-sion: /shƏn/, /chƏn/, /zhƏn/

-ation: /ā shƏn/

-ition: /i shƏn/

 I thought perhaps you might have experienced this same challenge when teaching your kiddos the -ion suffix. I have an extra practice page for my students on this suffix and its multiple variances. Below you will find this worksheet. Please feel free to use it with your kiddos. 

Name _________________________                                                                 Date_____________________

                                                                                                    L1

SYLLABLE RULE #5    

DIVIDE BETWEEN A ROOT/BASE WORD AND A

SUFFIX IF THE SUFFIX HAS A VOWEL SOUND

Lesson on the suffixes -ation, -ition, -sion, -tion, -ion /ā shƏn/,

/i shƏn/, /shƏn/, /chƏn/, /zhƏn/, /Ən/ meaning action, state, result,

process

Add the suffix to the verb root word changing the word to a noun.

Directions: suffixes:                      circle with green

                  root word:                   underline with brown

                  vowels:                       mark all vowels with red.

                  syllables:                    divide with a purple, slash line

Please discuss word meanings.

                   Verb                                        Noun

  1. vacate  ______________        

  2. conclude             ______________           3. repeat   ______________

  4. reduce                 ______________           5. imagine  ______________

When my students complete Part 14, Level 1, they are at a seventh to eighth grade reading level, when my students complete Part 14, Level 2, they are at a ninth to tenth grade reading level, and when my students complete Part 14, Level 3, they are at a college reading level!

Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” truly is an amazing reading program for preschoolers to adults!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson