Learning to read can be a challenging task for our youngest learners. It can be an even more challenging when students get to 3rd grade and they are looking to decode multi-syllabic words from a science text that they have never heard before. Of course, students will use all they know about that science topic and the other clues from the text to help figure out that word, but they will also lean on their decoding abilities to help them. Backing up to kindergarten, we want students to use meaning and comprehension to help them read unknown words, but we also want them to have strong decoding skills as well.
Through the reading horizons program, students are being taught to recognize that even though each sound exists by itself, it is the joining of sounds that creates words, the building blocks of language. Here is the sequence of instruction that is happening
1. Teach Individual Phonemes: | 2. Join Phonemes |
"Teachers provide instruction on individual phonemes through an interactive, multisensory technique that engages every student simultaneously in learning to hear, say, identify, and manipulate individual sounds. Nothing is presumed about students’ prior knowledge; instruction starts at the very beginning to make sure that there are no gaps in understanding for any student." 3. Build WordsFinally, students learn to add ending sounds onto slides to build real words using any phonemes taught up through the current point of instruction. Students can then practice identifying and exchanging the individual phonemes in words, recognizing rhymes, andcounting the syllables of words. | "Next, students learn to join these phonemes to form “slides”— letter combinations containing a beginning consonant and an ending vowel. Slides are important for teaching students to “blend” from one sound to the next without inserting pauses or extra sounds between spoken phonemes. Developing this “blending” habit will prove valuable for preventing the insertion of extra letters during phonics instruction." |
My favorite part of this program is that steps 1-3 are not done in isolation. We are doing steps 1-3 as we progress through the alphabet. For example, once we learned the individual phonemes of vowel A and consonant B, we immediately introduced the "slide". A slide happens when you join a consonant with a vowel. The first slide students learn is the "ba" slide. This makes the /ba/ sound like in "bat." Now that students know how to blend phonemes together, we move to building words using that slide. We keep repeating this process as we learn new letters.
When students go home with these pages, give them a little quiz! Ask them, - "what's the name of this letter?" - "what sound does it make?" - "can you think of a word that starts with that sound?" - "what sound does this slide make?" - "do you know a word that starts with this sound?" **You can also practice writing the letters! If you need a special whiteboard with lines on it, e-mail me! I will send one home with you :) |
In addition to these little quizes, if you think your student still needs a little more practice, they can log into their Reading Discovery account at home and keep practicing!
Here is how you login:
- On a desktop, go to queenanne.rhdiscovery.com
Your student's login info is their first name and the first letter of their last name (renew).
- If you want to download the app, make sure you download all the components of Reading Horizons Discovery! (clubhouse, vocab, library, and games). Once all of those apps are downloaded, students can log in through the CLUBHOUSE app with their first name plus the first initial of their last name (renew). The first time they log in, you will need to put in the site ID (queenanne). You will only need to do that once!
Here is how you login:
- On a desktop, go to queenanne.rhdiscovery.com
Your student's login info is their first name and the first letter of their last name (renew).
- If you want to download the app, make sure you download all the components of Reading Horizons Discovery! (clubhouse, vocab, library, and games). Once all of those apps are downloaded, students can log in through the CLUBHOUSE app with their first name plus the first initial of their last name (renew). The first time they log in, you will need to put in the site ID (queenanne). You will only need to do that once!