It Only Takes 2 Years!!

It Only Takes 2 Years!

Today I’d like to share more of my experiences with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™  and continue my thoughts on why I am realizing it shouldn’t take 6 years for a child to be able to decode 6th grade reading words.
 
Over the last 10 years that I have taught reading, writing and spelling with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ it’s been my experience that children master phonemic awareness and learn all the phonics rules and are able to apply the phonics rules to fluently decode 6th grade words by the end of their 2nd grade year, about 8 years old. In other words, it takes about 2 years to achieve reading 6th grade words. 

Further, Silent Elephant “e”™ was written so this goal can be achieved with only 2 hours of instruction per week. Again, that’s what my data is showing because I only meet with my students for 2 hours a week. Of course, if they spend an hour per day learning with Silent Elephant “e”™, they will be decoding words at a 6th grade level even sooner.
 
Why would this be true? Why is this my experience over and over?
 
Well, they learn so easily and quickly because they are learning the way they learn best, through whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities that stimulate all parts of their brain for both learning and retaining what they have learned. These whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities are embedded into every moment of their instruction in Silent Elephant “e”™. My experience and data share the results.

I can hear some of you thinking, “But my child struggles with reading. It’s so difficult for them!”
 
If your child has a learning difference, multiple learning differences or any learning struggles, it may take longer for him/her to reach that 6th grade word recognition level.
 
But, you can rest assured that he/she will attain that level with Silent Elephant “e”™ faster, more steadily and with more fun than with any other reading program. This is because they will be learning using all their senses (multi-sensory) therefore connecting their learning in all parts of their brain. In the case of dyslexic learners, it activates under stimulates parts of their brain and makes learning and retention of learning much easier. 
 
This has been my experience with Silent Elephant “e”™, it may take them longer if they have learning differences, but they get there and they have fun getting there.
 
Let me share an example. I have been tutoring an ELL boy for 2 ½ years who has multiple learning differences and speech and language processing disorders (one can barely understand his English or his native tongue). He is also considered to have a low IQ.
 
When he came to me halfway through his 3rd grade year, he wasn’t reading at all. He didn’t know letter sounds or letter names. He was illiterate and basically non-verbal.
 
Today as I write this, he has mastered phonemic awareness and knows all letter sounds and letter names. He fluently reads simple to complex words, such as: so, ran, sphinx, lush, squint: words with single consonants, consonant digraphs and/or consonant blends. He knows how to read and write (spell) words with the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, and -ing. He has also mastered the first 425 words on the Fry Word List of the most common words. Further, he is formulating answers to high level thinking questions. 
 
When this beautiful boy, who has a goal of becoming a police officer, first came to me, his teachers were sure that he’d never learn to read.
 
That thought crossed my mind from time to time also when we first began, but I knew I couldn’t give up on this sweet, hard-working boy. He certainly isn’t giving up! Like I said, I knew he WOULD take longer than 2 years because of his learning differences and his language processing difficulties, but I had faith he would get there because of my experience with Silent Elephant “e”™. We started out very slowly and have slowly picked up speed. 
 
He’s now reading early readers’ books. You should see the smile on his face as he shows me a book he’s read: one about veterinarians, one about astronauts, one about dinosaurs. He beams with pride! He is feeling the freedom and joy of reading.
 
His dad, who had been told his son would never read, says over and over to me, “You, Mrs. Jones, you are really teaching him to read!”
 
I humbly thank his dad and I think to myself that I’m so glad I wrote Silent Elephant “e”™. It has been the steady, consistent, multi-sensory instruction his son needs to understand language and learn to read.
 
From my experience with other students, I know that now that he’s almost finished with Part 6 of Silent Elephant “e”™ his reading growth will speed up! I can’t wait, I can already see his face beaming with both pride and relief. He realizes he is succeeding. He is feeling the joy of reading.
 
This Fall he headed off into middle school with more of a feeling of confidence and that he has a future than he has ever felt. He’s still not reading on grade level yet, but he knows he is moving there, however long it takes.

This young success story has not been my only student whose parents were told their child would never read. Recently I had a fun experience with one of my 9th grade boys admitting to me with both embarrassment and pride that he got caught red-handed reading his mom’s text messages. A year ago, he was a nonreader.
 
He hadn’t meant to snoop into his mom’ phone, he just started reading, got caught up in what he was reading, didn’t even realize that he was reading so effortlessly, and didn’t even think about the fact that he really shouldn’t be reading his mom’s private messages. 😊
 
His mom told me later that she didn’t know whether to be excited and happy, because he was actually reading and engaged in reading or to be upset because he was reading things she hadn’t planned on him reading. In the end, she was thrilled!
 
He shared, “I wasn’t trying to snoop. I just started reading and I got so excited that I couldn’t quit. My mom was stunned!” He asked me immediately to give him a reading assessment to see what reading level he was on which, of course, I did. We celebrated the growth he’s made in ONLY 9 MONTHS.
 
Let me go back to where I started today, it’s been my experience with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ over and over these past 10 years that when you teach children, especially struggling children, the way they learn best with whole child/whole brain, multi-sensory activities embedded into every moment of learning, it doesn’t take 6 years to be reading at a 6th grade level. The average is 2 years, and that’s the average!
 
Those who don’t have learning differences learn more quickly but EVERY SINGLE ONE will succeed. That’s been my experience. I have many, many success stories. And I LOVE it!
 
Check out this blog post to enjoy a young one who flew - She Was Reading at a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten.  There are also many more success stories here on my blog.
 

Contact us here – Linda Smith-Jones                   Nina Henson

It Shouldn't Take 6 Years to Learn to Decode 6th Grade Words!

It Shouldn’t Take 6 Years for a Child to be Able to Decode 6th Grade Level Reading Words!

I know you are probably thinking to yourself, “Why not? Isn’t that the way it works? A child goes to kindergarten and then 1st through 5th grade, that’s six years of instruction. It makes sense that they would be at a beginning 6th grade reading level when they start 6th grade, doesn’t it?”
 
The thing is, if a child is taught to read, write and spell the way they learn (whole body/whole brain/whole child), they learn quickly, they transfer that knowledge to prior and future learning easily and they RETAIN their learning.
 
It all has to do with teaching them the way they learn and that’s what we do with Silent Elephant “e”™. We teach the whole child; we activate their whole brain.
 
Our data shares the story; Children learning with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ progress on average one full grade level their first 2 months of instruction. This amazing data isn’t based on daily Silent Elephant “e”™ instruction, it’s based on just 1½ to 2 hours instruction per week. Also, this data includes many students with multiple learning differences which makes it even more impressive.
 
Now add this, our Silent Elephant “e”™  students advanced 4.25 grade levels with 6 months of instruction! That’s advancing over 4 grade levels in just 6 months.
Silent Elephant “e”™ learners experience such rapid growth at first, because Silent Elephant “e”™ Part 1 begins reading instruction where it needs to begin, with phonemic awareness.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear the individual sounds within words and is the foundation of learning to read for every child.
On average with Silent Elephant “e”™ children master phonemic awareness in only 3 months.
 
While they are having fun mastering phonemic awareness, you begin teaching them their first phonics lessons in Part 3 – short vowels and the suffix -s. They quickly become excited as they realize they are beginning to know how reading works and are learning to read, write and spell.  

I can’t even begin to tell you how many children who were struggling with reading at the end of kindergarten, first grade, second grade or third grade blossomed within only a month of Silent Elephant “e”™ phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.
 
Both they and their parents expressed their amazement at how fast they were learning, especially if they had been struggling.
 
A parent of a little boy that struggled through kindergarten and just began tutoring with me on June 20th, 2022, sent me this email last night, “’Marcus’ has made so much progress this summer, and I have learned a lot too!”
 
A 3rd grader said to me after just 7 times of tutoring, “I know what you’re trying to teach me. There are single, separate sounds in words! I never knew that. I think I’m going to be able to learn to read now!”
 
A 9th grader said after just 5 times of tutoring, “I never knew what rhyme was! I never heard individual sounds in words before!”
 
A 1st grader’s parent said to me, “I know my daughter doesn’t belong in special education. She’s truly very intelligent. Can you help her learn to read?”

That little kindergarten boy is now hearing individual sounds in words. He is connecting sounds to letter names and shapes. He is beginning to spell two and three letter words. He is beginning to learn the Fry List of words using the word cards he is making. He is happy, excited and so proud of himself. I hardly recognize him as the little boy I met in June! He’s ready to soar with his classmates this fall!
 
It took that newly confident 3rd grader 3 months to go from Primer to a 3.2 reading level and a total of 8 months to be at a 6th grade level in comprehension and a 7th grade level in word recognition. She went from being way behind her peers to being far ahead! Now she’s starting college at 16½ years old.
 
That struggling, scared 9th grader who is now a oh-so confident junior in college majoring in neurology at just 20 years old took 4 months to go from a 5th grade reading level to a 9th grade reading level and another 9 months to reach a college reading level while in 10th grade.
 
That profoundly dyslexic first grader who began tutoring with me halfway through her 1st grade year was frustrated at a mid-kindergarten reading level. Within 6 months she was at a 1.8 reading level – almost caught up with her peers. Within 11 months, she was decoding words at a 6th grade reading level and within 18 months, she was comprehending at a 4th grade reading level – a grade level above her peers. To put icing on that cake, she was staffed out of special education at that time. She continued with me and within 3½ years was reading at an 11th grade level when she completed 4th grade!
 
Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™ isn’t just for those with learning differences, it’s for ALL learners like the sweet, little girl who began with me in July of 2020. She doesn’t have any learning differences. Her mom asked me to tutor her because she was worried about what her daughter’s kindergarten year would like on-line. This bubbly, bright little girl began tutoring with me twice a week for just 30 minutes as she was so young. She didn’t have phonemic awareness and wasn’t reading on a PrePrimer level. She did know most letter names and sounds. Within 7 months, she was at a 1st grade reading level although she was still in kindergarten. In July of 2021 she was at a 4th grade reading level getting ready to enter 1st grade, and within 2 years, she was decoding words at a 6th grade reading level and comprehending at a 4th grade level. Right now, she’s getting ready for 2nd grade.
 
So, you see, when we teach children the way that is best for them to learn and the way they love to learn with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, it DOESN’T take 6 years for them to be
reading at a 6th grade reading level, even if they have learning differences.
😊
 
If you have questions and/or want more information about Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”™, feel free to contact us.
Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

Knowing What They Know Makes All the Difference!

Knowing What They Know Makes All the Difference!

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

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

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

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

• Part 1 is the 47 phonemic awareness lessons.

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

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

Once Learned Through Experience, It's Theirs Forever

When Learning is Fun, It’s Easy and It Stays!

The eyes of the young boy hunched over his last worksheet in Part 14 moved effortlessly word to word. His hand stretched into the colored pencils spread in front of him with a smooth motion as he chose the next color he needed to mark the decoding in the next word.
 
Shaun quickly and confidently used different colors and different symbols to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks.
 
He did all of this from memory.
 
By repetitively using colors to mark prefixes, suffixes, root words, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, consonant twins, the sounds of “c’s” and “g’s”, vowel diacritical markings, syllable division and accent marks, Shaun easily put the “puzzle pieces” in a word together to find meaning.
 

Example of a Level 3 worksheet with phonetic markings for decoding.

The Silent Elephant “e”™ colors and phonetic markings Shaun chose to indicate how to decode words are not random markings taught in isolation.
 
Instead, the phonetic markings and the colors used to mark them are the logical outcome of the fun, multi-sensory activities that Shaun experienced as he learned each phonetic concept. More importantly, he had fun learning the concept and the markings.
 
These activities included acting, puppetry, cooking, games, singing and many other multi-sensory activities that set the phonetic concepts firmly in multiple parts of Shaun's brain.
 
In Silent Elephant “e”™, every phonetic concept is introduced with a multi-sensory activity.
 
As he finished his worksheet, he began to glow with pride and as he raised his head, his bright smile beamed at me. He was proud.
 
Shaun was so calm, so in control, so meticulous and so very pleased with himself as he flew through that worksheet marking word after word, reading each sentence effortlessly with expression and comprehending completely.
 
He knew that he knew how to decode and read every word on that page, and he knew that he comprehended everything he read.
 
He also knew that just two years before, he wasn’t even able to read at a first-grade level and now here he was reading at a 9th grade level, 4 years ahead of his grade level.
 
He knew school was easier now and getting easier all the time.
 
He also knew that he is profoundly dyslexic and that learning to be calm and focused had been hard. He knew that learning to read, write and spell through the fun activities in Silent Elephant “e”™ had not only helped him find calm in learning to read, but helped him understand what he hadn’t been able to understand before. 
 
Looking up from his worksheet, his bright smile told me the truth of all of this.
 

Example of a Level 2 works showing phonetic markings for decoding.
Each marking takes their mind back to the activity they experienced to learn that concept.

Let’s ask those questions that come to mind, WHY was Shaun able to make such fast progress with Silent Elephant “e”™? WHY was this profoundly dyslexic young boy able to move from primer to 9th grade in two years?
 
It’s because Silent Elephant “e”™ is experiential, it’s multi-sensory, it’s fun.

It teaches the whole child through fun activities that activates all parts of their brain through their senses, thus “wiring” their brain with memories of these fun activities and with the knowledge learned during them to decode unfamiliar words. It teaches them the way they learn best – through fun experiences.

Long after he completes Silent Elephant “e”™, Shaun’s brain will retrieve memories of the fun activity he experienced while learning the phonetic markings associated with each learned phonetic concept. His brain will retrieve this knowledge when he needs to decode any unfamiliar word.

Shaun’s anxiety is gone; he will always feel confident that he has the skills to support him as he moves into high school, college and adulthood.
 
When children learn to read, write and spell experientially through fun, meaningful, multi-sensory activities, learning WILL be FUN AND FAST and it WILL STAY with them.

Contact us here or call us at:

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones   208-859-4406       or Nina Henson   208-860-3125

LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK QUESTIONS! You write a reading program for ALL children!

LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK QUESTIONS!
You write a reading program for ALL children!
😊😊

I have a passion for teaching children with learning differences. I never thought of leaving a child behind. I always wanted to make sure EVERY ONE of my students was learning.

However, that desire became stronger and more personal when I first discovered that my own daughter is dyslexic.

When she was three, I began noticing in her drawings how she was struggling with directionality.

One warm summer day as I weeded a flower bed, she sat under her favorite tree drawing. Suddenly, she jumped up and danced over to me to share her artwork.

As I looked down at her drawing, I asked her in my happiest “Wow! That’s beautiful!” voice to tell me about her drawing.
She joyfully exclaimed, “I drew my first picture of our family!” She pointed to each person in the drawing telling who they were.
Again, I asked with my cheeriest voice, “How are we all feeling?”
She looked up at me with the biggest smile and said, “We’re all happy!”
“How do you know we’re happy?” 
“Look at our big, happy smiles!”
“You drew a beautiful drawing of our family! I love it!”
She happily skipped back to continue drawing.

As I stood there watching her dance away, my thoughts began to spin. She had not drawn happy smiles. She had drawn frowns, but SHE was not seeing the difference.

That was the moment I knew she was dyslexic.

My husband is dyslexic, and he struggled in school. He was even retained in third grade.

I felt a little scared. My thoughts were whirling. I didn’t want my little girl to feel the unhappiness my husband had felt in school.

I knew she was going to face many struggles as she tried to learn to read. I stood there wondering how I, her mom, was going to help her meet all those struggles. What could I do? How could I help?

I promised myself that day, that very moment that I discovered she was dyslexic, that I would learn the best way to teach her and any other children with learning differences, because I knew they all had a long, hard road ahead of them.

As I set about learning even more about the best practices and strategies to teach all people with learning differences, I thought to myself, “Wait! I’m bouncing around hoping these strategies will work when what I really need to do is ask them! I need to ask my daughter, my husband, and my students, whether they have learning differences or not, for their help. I need to ask them questions, so I understand exactly what really works for them.”

I began to ask questions and I didn’t stop. I asked:
“What helps you learn to read, write and spell?
What did I do today that helped you learn more easily?
What did I do today that didn’t help you learn easily?
How can I teach differently to help you learn more easily?”
I asked these questions the day I first taught a lesson, a few days later, a week later, a month later, and several months later.

I began to notice a pattern.
EVERY ONE of them, whether they had learning differences or not, learned best and retained information best when I taught using “whole-body” and “multi-sensory” instruction.

I realized that “whole-body” and “multi-sensory” instruction was the best for ALL learners!
This knowledge guided every word and every activity in Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

Their answers to my questions and the research that supports whole-body and multi-sensory instruction, guided me to write activities that introduce every vague phonics concept with rich multi-sensory activities that stimulate all parts of the brain in every learner, whether they have learning differences or not.

This knowledge guided me to create Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™that teaches phonemic awareness and all phonics rules in a way that ALL children are immersed in learning the concepts and easily move from concept to concept because the rules are made tangible for them.

As I look at other reading, spelling, and writing programs, I realize even more why Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™is so powerful – it’s the ONE that was developed by asking the learners how they learned. I’m very proud of Silent Elephant “e”™.

 
My entire Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” ™program (Parts 1-14), the posters, the picture book My Awesome Grandma, and the videos are 25% off through December 31st, 2021. You can purchase the program as a whole or by parts. Click here for the store.

As always if you have questions, contact us at silentelephante@gmail.com

Keep a song in your heart!

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

She Was Reading on a Fourth Grade Level at the End of Kindergarten

Pre-schoolers Blossoming with Silent Elephant “e”!

At the very end of June 2020, I had the pleasure to begin tutoring a four-year-old pre-Kindergartener with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”.

This bubbly, spunky, sweet little girl had hardly had the opportunity to attend pre-school before COVID.  

“Chloe” loved being read to but at that time wasn’t at all interested in learning to read herself. Chloe’s parents definitely wanted her to learn to read and were concerned about what her soon to be on-line Kindergarten experience would be like. She didn’t have any discernable learning differences; she was a happy bouncy 4-year-old.  

Since Chloe was only 4 years old, I began our Zoom sessions tutoring her for only about 20 minutes a day 5 days per week using Silent Elephant “e”’s caterpillar and train games.  

Young children, really ALL children, need to have FUN while learning, so I kept every lesson upbeat and positive with lots of smiles, giggles, and encouragement. I never rushed Chloe through a lesson; we progressed at her pace. We only moved to the next phonemic awareness lesson when I knew she had mastered the lesson we were working on.  

As we progressed, she became more and more interested in what she was learning and began to work diligently to learn phonemic awareness.  

The phonemic awareness portion of Chloe’s lesson only lasted about 9 to 10 minutes, then she and I would sing our hearts out as we sang our special version of “Old McDonald” at the top of our lungs to learn the short vowel sounds. (See my blog post https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/category/Vowels at www.silentelephant.com to learn my adapted version of “Old McDonald and how to use it.) 

After enthusiastically singing, if Chloe wanted to learn one new reading word, both of us would write the word using specific colors on 4” x 6” note cards. Because she was only 4 years old, I didn’t push her, we spent time forming the letters and remembering the sounds as we created her new word. For this part of Silent Elephant “e” I use the Fry Sight Word List of 700 words. (Learn in detail how I teach sight words at https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/2021/2/15/how-do-you-teach-sight-words-36Xh1. This sight word blog post explains why some sight words are really phonetic, https://www.silentelephante.com/blog/2021/2/15/ts-truesome-sight-words-are-really-phonetic-heres-why) 

Whenever Chloe was still eager to learn, we delved into the phonics part of her lesson. We used Silent Elephant “e”, Part 3. Using Silent Elephant “e”’s excellent, extremely well organized “cookbook” directions, I made sure that Chloe knew letter sounds and letter names; the difference between sight words and phonetic words; how to read simple short vowel VC and CVC words; and how to read, write, spell, and comprehend sentences. At the end of Part 3, Chloe learned about root words and the suffix -s. 

In September of 2020, Chloe was ready for 30 minutes a day. She was excited to learn—truly bouncing in her chair! The more she learned, the more eager she was to learn!

By January 8th of 2021, she had mastered the entire Part I, Phonemic Awareness section of Silent Elephant “e” with 100% accuracy on both assessments!

At the beginning of February 2021, she was reading, writing, and spelling at a second semester 1st grade reading level (one full year above her expected reading level)! She read smoothly using beautiful expression and comprehended everything she read! 

At the completion of her Kindergarten year in June of 2021, Chloe was reading, writing, and spelling at a 4th grade reading level with excellent word recognition and comprehension! She loved reading. 

Presently (November of 2021), Chloe continues to tutor with me only twice a week for 45-minute sessions. She is now at a 5th grade reading level in first grade! She is in Part 7 of Silent Elephant “e”! Her parents want her to continue with me because she is having so much fun and learning so quickly.

I’m so happy to share this success story with you! I’m so proud of Chloe! It has been so fun to watch how a young learner without any learning differences speeds through the lessons with confidence, eagerness and joy.

Teaching children beginning in preschool with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, provides them with the best learning tools in lessons that are FUN—using their whole body to learn!

Recently I began tutoring two three-year-olds in phonemic awareness! We are having a great time playing the caterpillar and train games with no real expectations! It’s such a pleasure for me to watch these two young minds at work as they eagerly understand how our language works. They are a joy.

Just imagine where they’ll be a year from now!

Contact us with questions at:

LInda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson

Keep a song in your heart!

What IS Phonics? Adding Phonics into Their Lessons

What IS Phonics? Adding Phonics into Their Lessons  

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

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

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

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

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

They are now ready to begin their exploration into phonics.

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

So, you ask, just exactly what is phonics? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Ready to Have FUN Diving Into Teaching Phonics

Ready to Have FUN Diving Into Teaching Phonics with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

My Specifically Designed Worksheet Formatting Requirements

My Specifically Designed Formatting Requirements

 For Student Work Pages 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My second consideration was the size of the font.

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

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

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

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

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

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

·       I only used one format on a single page.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

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

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

Let’s talk about partner work!  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

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

Partner Work in Part 1 Phonemic Awareness 

“I like books about fairies!” exclaimed Shelly. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

·                 Turn to each other.

·                 Say the word.

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

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

·                 Discuss how many sounds they hear.

·                 Tell each other what sounds they hear.

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

·                 Explain their choices to each other.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They have brought so much joy into my life!  

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

“Old McDonald” Teaches the Short Vowels

“Old McDonald” Teaches the Short Vowels 

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

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

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

 Do you have some practicing to do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 It’s fun. It works!

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

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

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

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

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

the*                 of*                    and                 a**                   to*

in                      is*                     you                  that                 it

he                    was*                for                    on                    are*

as*                   with                 his*                   they                 I

at                     be                    this                   have               from*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

How Do You Teach Sight Words?

How Do You Teach Sight Words? 

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

Preparation: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Directions: 

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

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

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

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

4)   Practice word cards every day. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

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

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

The Silent Elephant “e” nutshell:

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

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

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

·       phonemic awareness

·       morpheme awareness

·       working memory

·       short term memory

·       long term memory

·       auditory sequencing

·       and auditory processing   

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

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

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

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson