"Learn to Read Then Read to Learn"

TUTORING: Kindergarten thru 6th grade.

"Learning does not occur because behavior has been primed (stimulated); it occurs because behavior, primed or not, is reinforced." 

-B.F. Skinner, Harvard University

           Reading ability is not, however, neurologically pre-wired the way spoken language ability is.  It's heartbreaking to see so many children desperately trying to ‘discover' how the written language works.  "American citizens are not learning to read because they are not being taught how to read.  The research evidence on this point is unequivocal."  Whole language or memorization of thousands and thousands of spelling and reading words is very ineffective.  It's a shame that children who have started out as anxious and eager learners feel it is their fault for lack of success.  They have tried over the years to memorize random words with no logical order.  This develops comments from students such as  "I'm bad at reading."  " I hate spelling."

           Children that are given solid knowledge on ‘the how to do its' and ‘the whys' learn rapidly. They are excited about their new-found skills and abilities to learn.  Solid concrete skill acquisition is essential is success. 

           My Smart World teaches and tutors using the Spalding method to acquire these essential skills.  A brief overview is given below.  Parents are encouraged to learn the ideas and methods to help ensure their child's success.

 Reading is a complex skill comprising of sub-skills:

·        Phonemic Awareness (pairing letters with sounds)

·        Rules of spelling (grouping letter-phoneme units lawfully)

·        Thinking, analyzing engaging all senses

           The English Language has 45 basic sounds.  The alphabet has only 26 letters. Different combinations of those letters compose or represent the different sounds.  A phonogram is a single letter or a fixed combination of two, three or four letters that is the symbol for one sound in a given word.  There are 70 combination of letters that comprise the 45 sounds.  These letters in spelling practice are underlined to help visually see the separate the sounds (ie light - 3 sounds).  Knowing the phonograms, also increases understanding of why the word is spelt that way.  Teaching children to recognize these phonograms highly increases success in reading and spelling.

           To fuller understand the letter sounds, Spalding's marking system puts a number over the letter to identify the sound the letter is making.

            For example, the word ‘is'.  If a child thinks that s only says [s] they would sound out i[s].   To avoid the confusion, the child is taught directly that S has two sounds [s & z].  Therefore in the word ‘is', the s is saying it's second sound of [z].  A small #2 is written over the s to help the children identify which sound the letter is making. 

 Rules of spelling (grouping letter-phoneme units lawfully)

           Another essential sub-skill in teaching children to read is in understanding the organization of the written language.  It's not as random and inconsistent as one may think.  There are 29 rules of spelling.  Individuals applying these rules when spelling words, allowing them to analyze and understand why the words are spelt the way they are.  Memorizing thousands of words is very ineffective and overwhelming.

            For example:  Rule 17  We often double  l, f, and s  following  a single vowel at the end of a one-syllable word (will, off, miss)

 Other rules to get you thinking. 

Why does the letter ‘c' in the word concept have different sounds?

What are the 5 jobs of silent ‘e' at the end of a word?

Why is the word ‘find' written that way?

          I'm hearing the same sounds; why are they spelled differently and when do I know which spelling to use?  (ie saw, taught)

           The guidelines, rules and marking system lawfully order letters for spelling and reading, giving the child and adults rich usage of the language.  Without traffic rules, travel would be devastating.  So as with reading.

 Thinking and Analyzing words using all senses

            Know the sounds, identifying the groupings of letters (phonograms), underlining them, and explaining how and why a word is spelt, engages all senses (hearing the sounds, repeating the sounds, processing the sound in the brain to a symbol, using hands to write the symbol that represents the sounds and saying the sound as it is written. This multi-sensory system of writing spelling words is very successful!   Children that just copy spelling words 3-5 times often misspell words in the process.  They are not analyzing and internalizing the word.  They will not have full use of that word.  What a waste of time.

             Children and adults can have command of the English language when given the proper skills by developing higher level thinking skills.  It empowers!!  Teaching effectively and efficiently is the key to ensure our children's success.

 Math Tutoring

             Addition and subtraction facts are taught, practiced and learned with music. 

             Multiplication and division facts are also taught using music.  Songs are sung as the children regroup and move markers to understand the math concepts.  This is a fun easy way for children to master these facts enabling them to have a solid math foundation.