Learn to read with the Reading For Kids (and Adults!) beginning phonics reading program.
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How this program works
Learn to read with Shelterwood Books' phonics reading program, Reading For Kids. This reading program consists of three basic steps. The instructions are clear and simple, you do not need prior knowledge in teaching reading or teaching phonics to use this program. There is very little preparation involved, except printing the lessons. The purpose of this reading program is to provide the resources so that anyone can teach someone to read. It is hoped that more people will be given the confidence to teach beginning reading skills. If each literate person reaches out to one illiterate person, illiteracy in the US would be wiped out. This is a grassroots approach, that starts with individual people instead of an organization. It has the potential to help our society in ways nothing else can. The thrust behind this approach is "Each One, Teach One." By reaching out to others in our communities, one person can make a difference. Step 1 Sound-letter recognition and blending of simple and most commonly used wordsThis is the foundation of the whole, learn to read process. Letters and their most common sounds are introduced to the student first. Each letter and its sound are presented in a way that learners and teachers can go as slow as they need or as fast as they want. There are lots of worksheets and simple stories to go with the letter-sound combinations presented each week. At the conclusion of this step the learner will be able to sound out words phonetically and thus learn to read simple words. Phonemic awareness will be improved also. Step 2 Advanced sound-letter recognition and blending.It is at this step that a learner masters all the different letter combinations for each common sound. For example he, eat, see and sieve all have the same e sound (this is the long vowel sound of e) but it is spelled four different ways. The same sound can be spelled: e, ee, ea, ie and even with a y (baby). This is one of the major problems to overcome in learning English. It would simplify things if there was only one letter combination to represent the sound of Long e. But, our language just didn't evolve that way and thus it's one of the more difficult languages to learn to read. It is usually at this step that we see most reading problems begin. By following Shelterwood Book's well organized Reading For Kids program step by step, you will be able to coach someone through this process. Step 3 Creating meaning and comprehensionIn the reading process, this is the "putting the words together" part to make meaningful stories and to most people is the best part! This step puts sounds together to create meaning, such as reading a story or a newspaper ad. This includes reading longer words by grouping syllables together. The learner will be able to read two and three syllable words by chunking each syllable into sound units which are represented by letters or combinations of letters. By breaking down longer words into meaningful chunks and then blending those chunks together, longer words can be read by almost anybody. By learning to read in the way this program teaches (mostly by phonics) the learner will avoid a lot of reading comprehension problems later. Sounds kind-of confusing, right? Don't worry, it will all be clear as you actually begin to learn the reading process. It's really a lot simpler than it sounds and all you have to do is follow the simple steps in each lesson laid out for you.
Phonics 101 You can skip this technical stuff if you want. But, if you are interested in learning more about phonics, then click
Phonics 101
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