STARTING TO LEARN TO DECODE BASIC READING SKILLS

It may seem that my reading guide is for Grade One children but it only appears that way. The truth is there are primary to middle school reading students struggling to understand basic phonological instruction because the teaching strategies being used couldn’t meet their learning needs.
To start this program your child requires skills to listen for and identify the different sounds of letters and combination of letters that correspond to words they view on a white board, screen or read from books. I will be teaching basic word attack skills such as blends, digraphs and consonant word endings with the vowel sound that all reading teachers should use, if they wish their students to learn to read. Middle school students without these decoding skills will need to relearn them if they are to enhance their reading progress and to understand the reading instruction to follow. For example, “Can your child spell this blend, “squ” as in squaw?” My grade one reading class was able to spell every blend, double blend, digraph and consonant ending before the Christmas break. I suggest that you review “Cursive Writing Skills” and read the science behind why rewriting the word over and over will help your child to remember.
My guide provides children with a systematic program of reading development skills that will require 100% of their ability to pay attention, if they are to remember and use what they learned to strengthen the development of more complex reading skills. Your child’s brain can remember every skill required to understand what they will be challenged to remember. For those parents who may have skipped lessons required to follow my lesson plans and your child is struggling to keep up with my reading lessons, I’d advise you to teach or reteach earlier lessons if your child is to learn to read. Here’s a quick test for children seven to twelve years of age. Ask your child to say aloud the ‘Short Vowels’ in alphabetical order. Those children able to do so will find my reading program easy to understand. If they can’t, they will be taught a phonological series of reading skills that are essential toward their learning to read. Since I always start from the known to the unknown, I expect that every lesson to be taught to a level of automaticity.

The Secret Sound that Makes Reading Easy for Children Understand

What is the easiest sound for the human voice to produce? This sound is made by babies the world over. I begin my reading program with this sound and continue with it until at the conclusion of that unit your child will be able to read, spell and define the meaning of the hundreds of words they were taught to remember to a level of automaticity. If you wish your child to achieve reading success use ‘tough love’ but be patient in your approach to help your child learn.
With the thousands of reading methods and strategies offered to teachers for the past few decades, my reading program provides the beginning reader instruction that is achievable. I try to make the learning of each lesson failure proof for all students. There are North American reading teachers using teaching strategies that often confuse the student and methodologies that don’t follow the principles of the science of reading. All I ask is that teachers experiment with my learning strategies, I believe they will find what I offer to be of value.

The Secret Sound

It’s called the ‘doctor sound’ by teachers but they don’t use it to begin their reading lessons. Some begin a program of word attack skills with long vowels and then teach the vowel sounds in alphabetical order. Each vowel lesson my parents teach are designed to teach regular vowel patterns (vcc) that follow rules. An example of words that follow a regular vowel pattern order, words that don’t break rules are: mom pop cat big stand see skate flame sea seal steel steal, etc. To begin my word attack decoding program, your child requires a complete understanding of vc/vcc words, their meaning and how they are spelled. Irregular vowels are introduced when the student has learned all regular pattern vowel sounds. There are teachers who begin phonological instruction with long vowels. Long vowels break too many rules. My decoding reading program has been designed to teach phonological skills that always follow rules. Cŏst and lŏst follow a regular vowel/consonant/consonant (VCC) word pattern. This may explain why children are confused by words that look like a short vowel pattern word but have a long vowel sound, words such as mōst and pōst. Mōst and pōst break the vcc rule with vowel sounds that are long (say their own name).
I begin my vowel sound program with short Ŏ and stay with this easy to produce vowel sound until I have taught the student to blend all single, double and triple blends, digraphs and final consonant and digraphs before going on to the next lesson with Short Ĭ. This method doesn’t require they learn new blends and digraphs, it reinforces all initial blends and digraphs, as well as all final digraphs and consonant ending. Your first reading lesson begins with teaching the blending of learned sounds of letters of the alphabet with short Ŏ. You are to stay with the same vowel sound until every single, double and triple blend, digraphs and all final consonant word endings have been mastered before moving to the next vowel sound.
Unfortunately, because of copyright issues, I am unable to provide parents with pictures of words to help their child to understand the meaning of words. I suggest that you use a picture dictionary, comic book pictures or Google cartoon pictures to teach word meanings. Words are of no value unless the child understands their meanings. If this becomes too time consuming, simply let the word pass, although I don’t recommend this omission. All word meanings are important but not at the expense of the time you are putting into searching for a meaning. Teach your child to Google cartoon words such as pop, as in popping a balloon, a soft drink or an affectionate word to call a father. Ask your child to find the origin of the word cop. COP is short for Constable On Patrol.

Lesson #One - The Short Sound of Ŏ

I will provide the wordlist you will need to teach each lesson. I recommend you teach the recognition of each word in this order. Read each word two times, one colmn at a time. Then read the same column with your child, reading each word twice. Then your child is to read every word, repeating it twice. If your child has been taught cursive writing skills, this cognitive activity will more than double their ability to remember and spell the word. Continue until all five columns of words can be read without hesitation. I will soon be able to offer parents a program of cursive writing skills that will be found on my Learning Tree under Cursive Writing Skills.
Try blending the first consonant with the Short Sound of ŏ, as in mo m po p bo b for each column, repeat your instruction following this example. When they can read each word, help them to understand how to spell each word and then teach them word meanings. This will be the same procedure for every lesson from now on.

Ex. #a)	mom	box	log	lop	job
	pop	lot	sob	lob	jot
	bob	cop	rot	pot	fox
	dot	cod	rob	hog	top
	pox	cob	rod	mop	jog

When teaching word meanings, eg, the word lot can be a parking lot or I got a lot of candy on Halloween and cats are a happy lot. Bob can bob for apples. Pop can be a soft drink, the sound of corn popping in the microwave or an affectionate name for a father. The more words your child commits to memory, the better educated the child will become. Teach ‘cop’ as Constable On Patrol.

Initial Blends and Digraphs with Short Ŏ

Ex. #b)	blot	drop	trot	from	shot
	prom	slob	clob	clot	plod
	plot	clop	shod	slot	slop
	chop	frog	blog	clog	spot
	shop	prop	stop	flop	smog

Everything will remain the same as in the last lesson. You should begin as soon as possible to sharpen your child’s listening skills by asking questions such as, “What is the fourth word in column three? Then ask, “What is the meaning of the word above the word stop?” Continue with listening skills by asking questions such as: “What word in column three means to put a shoe on a horse?” “What is smog?” Spell the word slob, “What does it mean?” What word in column five means to work hard when walking in the snow?

Consonant and Digraph Endings

Ex. #c)	cost	mock	loss	long	fond
	pond	boss	sock	doll	lock
	loft	song	lost	moth	dodge
	toss	bond	honk	moss	lodge
	josh	soft	bong	dock	conch

Repeat as in Ex #b). Must be able to read, spell and provide at least one meaning for each word. Ask, “What word in column two means to tip your cap or hat?” “What is a conch?” Spell the word conch.

Consonant Blends and Digraphs

Ex. #d)	cloth	block	smock	sloth	chomp
	crock	cross	froth	strong	tromp
	lodge	blotch	blond	frock	thong
	slosh	flock	broth	stomp	throng
	clock	shock	gloss	dodge	prompt

Same procedure for every lesson, except that I suggest you review lessons #a), #b and #c by asking questions such as, “When do you wear a smock?” Spell the word chomp. In Ex. #c, Ask, “What does the word ‘sloth’ mean?” With your child, go to Google and look up a cartoon picture of a sloth, then teach a geography lesson so your child can tell others where the sloth lives and some of the countries with jungles where they are found. Remember that you are not only teaching your child to decode. You are helping them learn. Then ask, “What does it mean to be prompt?”

Lesson #Two The Short Sound of Ĭ

Same Lesson as the Short Sound of ŏ, Except the Short Vowel Will be Short Ĭ

Ex. #a)	pip	six	rip	pit	jig
	bib	his	rib	tip	fit
	bid	wiz	rid	fig	fix
	big	din	dim	sit	gym
	dig	pin	fin	kid	gin

Continue with listening skills. When teaching the word fit, explain being physically fit and that your shoes fit. Do this with as many words as you have time for? Ask your child to read the first word in column one, the second word in column two, third in three, etc. Explain ‘aeiou’ and sometimes Y as in gym (see Basic Rules on The Learning Tree).

Ex. #b)	quiz	shin	skit	flip	slim
	whiz	chin	trip	grin	skip
	quiz	chip	ship	grim	spin
	quit	this	trim	grip	strip
	twit	whim	snip	skim	split

Same as above

Ex. #c)	inch	lift	sing	lick	wish
	risk	bill	pick	fish	wick
	sick	list	with	tick	wind
	wing	will	fill	ring	sink
	wink	milk	sink	rink	link

Same as above

Ex. #d)	sixth	which	shrill	think	squid
	binge	whiff	script	swing	shrimp
	thick	quilt	whisk	swish	squint
	quick	guilt	twink	sprint	squinch
	slick	switch	shrink	splint	Grinch

If your child hasn’t had the story of “The Grinch who Stole Christmas” read to them, this might be a good time to do so. If they know the story, ask them to tell you the story. This will improve their verbal expressive language skills. Explain the concept of the soft sound of g as in binge. The g is a hard sound as in the words spring swing swing guild and Grinch.

Lesson #Three The Short Sound of ă

Ex. #a)	mam	ran	fad	jam	had
	gag	ham	tag	rat	add
	dad	zag	mat	act	tax
	tat	axe	bat	zap	map
	pat	cap	wag	ash	dam

Ex. #b)	chat	swag	slab	slap	span
	than	quag	slat	snap	slab
	wham	span	crab	grab	glad
	scat	sham	clam	chap	cram
	flap	that	scan	stab	scram

Ex. #c)	sang	sand	camp	lack	past
	lamp	rang	lash	last	mass
	bank	gasp	bang	band	ramp
	tank	mast	mash	pack	rang
	half	bath	math	calf	dance

Ex. #d)	shack	cramp	smash	trash	stack
	champ	match	chant	shall	grass
	thank	catch	snack	crack	slack
	whack	hatch	tramp	track	trance
	quack	batch	stash	crash	chance

Point out that the four words in ex# d, column two, have a silent letter ‘t’, as do the words half and calf in ex. #c.

Lesson # Four The Short Sound of Ŭ

Ex. #a)	pup	hum	cut	mug	sun
	nun	fun	gun	gum	hug
	mum	bun	lug	cub	rub
	bub	sub	tub	rum	sum
	dud	bus	but	tug	yup

You may need to come up with verbal expressions for words such as mum bub dud mug yup sun (explain the homonym son) and especially the word ‘but’ which is usually a conjunction that joins words to phrases. When explaining the word hum, say the word hum while humming its pronunciation.

Ex. #b)	chum	plum	slug	smug	drug
	shut	stub	glut	smut	rung
	chub	drum	slum	grub	glum
	thug	spun	shun	shut	spud
	chug	sput	plug	flub	plus

Ex. #c)	much	ramp	sung	junk	lush
	mush	lung	luck	such	such
	hush	bunt	hunt	runt	lump
	rust	jump	tuck	suck	bump
	dust	lung	pump	duck	dumb

Remind your child of two things about the word dumb. First that the b is silent and the meaning shouldn’t be stupid before dumb as being unable to speak. A person can have “dumb” luck.

Ex. #d)	skunk	scrub	clump	bunch	struck
	stunk	shrug	stump	lunch	crutch
	slush	scrum	brush	brunch	clutch
	blush	skull	slump	crunch	sludge
	crush	flunk	thump	scrunch	smudge

Lesson #Five The Short Sound of ĕ

Ex. #a)	elf	set	wet	hen	hem
	end	den	ten	beg	get
	zed	leg	net	met	vet
	pep	keg	web	fed	yet
	yes	ten	wed	jet	gem

Point out that the g in the word gem is soft and pronounced jem

Ex. #b)	sped	when	Fred	stem	shed
	trek	whet	Bret	bred	fled
	when	sled	Chet	prep	cleft
	then	step	Shep	wren	theft
	them	glen	Rhett	bled	chef

You may have to explain that ch says ch-church ch-Chicago ch-Christmas shk

Ex. #c)	rest	tent	help	lent	went
	felt	bend	kelp	left	well
	sent	bent	pest	jell	rent
	west	best	peck	neck	belt
	text	hemp	jest	vest	desk

Ex. #d)	french	knelt	flesh	welch	swept
	trench	dwelt	chest	belch	crept
	sledge	dwell	quest	quell	cleft
	stretch	twelfth	whelp	quench	tenth
	wretch	twelve	wrench	squelch	strength

You will notice that there are more words that your child will need help with learning. By now, your child should be able to recognize dw, as a blend and be able to sound it out, without your help. There are words that require a full understanding of the Consonant Sounds of C and G. Google this rule if I didn’t explain it properly. Word meanings will require that they listen and remember. Many of these words will be used in stories that I have written plus the vowel sound exercises that I am about to teach. It is the irregularities of vowel sounds that cause so many spelling errors.

This completes the Short Vowel Sounds lessons.

LONG VOWELS THAT FOLLOW RULES

Few teachers use my method to help their students move from regular pattern short vowels, which have become automatic, to long vowels which is the next word attack skills lesson. It only made sense to help children learn from what they understand, short vowels, into the concept of regular Long Vowels Final E.

Long Vowels Final E (VCV) Regular Vowel Sounds (the Rule)

Your child has already learned the three and four letter short vowel words, they will easily find that by adding a final to one syllable short vowel words that the first vowel is long and final e is silent. Everything else will be the same. By the end of this lesson, your child will be able to read the words, spell them and be able to produce at least one word meaning for each word. There is one more rule to learn.

Why Understanding the VCV Rule Helps Children Become Better Spellers

A child must be taught the vowel consonant rule in order to spell correctly. Vowel/consonant words such as: hop, shop and shop would become long if the consonant wasn’t doubled when adding ed, er and ing. By doubling the final sonant, this keeps the vowel sound short. Remember the vcv rule, ‘regular pattern words with one vowel sound ending with a final e are long. By adding an ed, er or ing, you drop the final e and add an ed, er or ing. Words such as hop, shop and chop would become long when adding ed, er and ing without doubling the final consonant. For example: hop would become long if you added an e without doubling the final consonant. This way it keeps the vowel sound short.

There are a great many words that break rules. I will ask that you teach only those words that follow phonetic rules.

Lesson # One (Regular pattern short to long vowel sounds final e VCV words)

cap - cape	cut - cute	cop - cope	sit - site	hid - hide	rod - rode
Rob - robe	hat - hate	hop - hope	rat - rate	kit - kite	mat - mate
bit - bite	tub - tube	fat - fate	dim - dime	dud - dude	cod - code
lob - lobe	din - dine	fin - fine	fad - fade	top - tope	can - cane
Man - Mane	not - note	pal - pale	win - wine	cub - cube	pip - pipe

Lesson #Two (Same as above but with blends and digraphs)

plan - plane	slop - slope	slid - slide	spin - spin	scrap - scrape
prim - prime	thin - thine	glob - globe	chim - chime	strip - stripe
skat - skate	slim - slime	spit - spite	plum - plume	grip - gripe
whit - white	grim - grime	trip - tripe	shin - shine	smit - smite

Words with ‘final e’ that aren’t from short to long but still need to be learned.

squire	spike	strike	pride	stride	stole	stoke	stroke	smoke	stroke
swine	quote	graze	blaze	phrase	crape	scribe	shrine	swipe	scheme

I know that I am asking a great deal for word meanings but words like skat can be easily explained with phrases such as, “I have to scat now.” I had to go to Google to come up with a meaning that made sense for scat. It works for me!

The good news is that the next lesson of Long Vowel Sounds has always been the easiest vowel lesson I taught. It’s the Two Vowels Together Rule.

The Rule:When two vowels are together as in words such as: eat, meat, heat,oat, boat, float or aim, claim, pain or paint: “The first vowel is long and the second vowel is silent.

Lesson #One (One syllable words)

ai	oa	ee	ea	ea
sail	oak	peel	leaf	read
jail	soak	feel	seal	leap
pail	boat	feed	heal	heap
pain	goat	tweed	heat	peal
paint	goal	wheel	wheat	leap

Lesson # Two (One syllable blends and digraphs)

train	float	speech	please	teach
sprain	groan	sneeze	steam	reach
chain	poach	freeze	stream	sheath
trail	toast	squeeze	steal	squeak
quail	throat	fleece	grease	squeal

This completes the regular pattern of long vowel lessons.

This was the easy part of decoding because all the words follow rules. From now there will be words that break rules and require your child to remember. I suggest that they hand write those words they find difficult to remember. We will see how well your child can ‘remember’ what they see and hear.

The next lesson is an example of what to expect from now on.

Introduction to Why Vowel Sounds are Difficult to Remember

(An example of Short ŏ vowels with various spellings)

I earlier explained that the easiest sound for the human voice to pronounce was the Short Sound of ŏ. These words are spelled in a variety of ways but they all end up as a Short Sound of ŏ. Some examples:

al – I taught vc/vcc vowel patterns that followed this rule. Words such as:

hal, add a second l and the word is hall (short ŏ)
  gal, add a second l and the word is gall) (short ŏ)
  Sal, add the letter t and the word becomes salt (short ŏ)

More words spelled with an l. These word all have the short sound of ŏ pal/pall Cal/call chalk tall talk small wall walk ball balk hall halt malt father
Clam says short a but calm palm says calm short o as do swab waft wand want what, wash, as well as, wad was wallow swallow water watch la ah blah

aw - paw saw jaw law paw raw chaw claw draw flaw slaw thaw straw squaw
au - aught taught August daughter audio sauce auger Australia author auto
ou - ought thought brought sought fought cough trough

To keep on the same topic of words that fool children, I will introduce them to homonyms.