Everyone has a passion. Mine is reading – more specifically, teaching reading. I love teaching kids who can’t read how reading works. It’s so exciting when they understand the basic letter sounds and how they work together to make words, and when they learn that some words don’t follow the rules of phonics and need to be memorized. I love it when they learn about punctuation and capitalization. This knowledge opens up a whole new world – communication through reading and writing.
As a child, I was one of the 25% of kids who has trouble learning to read. I’d listen to the other kids and repeat what they said. I loved looking at the illustrations in my reading book, but the symbols on the page meant nothing to me. My first grade teacher noticed that I was just pretending to read. She contacted my parents to ask their permission for me to stay after school so she could teach me how to read. What a great teacher!
I went on to college and got a degree in elementary education. I taught first grade. I got to teach beginners how to read! Later, I had kids of my own and I got to teach them how to read! I taught neighbors how to read! I volunteered at school and helped kids learn how to read! It’s definitely my passion.
Throughout my adult life, I worked on ideas for a reading program. I wanted to create something that would make it easy for children to learn how reading works. I wanted to make a program that anyone who knew how to read could use to teach a non-reader how to be a reader. I wanted it to be fun and interesting and colorful and hands-on.
Over the years I’ve created several different reading programs. I’d have friends and family test them. I’d get tons of feedback… some positive… some negative. Those comments inspired me to try a different approach…again and again and again. The author, Malcolm Gladwell, has said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. I have easily put in that amount of time.
The newest and final reading program I’ve created, Phonics Funsters, is based on a collection of monsters and other comic characters designed to help children remember the pure sound of each letter or letter combination. In one of my earlier reading program creations I’d represent the sound of, for example, the letter b, by writing “buh.” A very excellent Montessori teacher said, “If you teach it that way, I have to reteach it.” She explained that it’s better to teach how the letter sounds at the end of a word, because you never want to add a vowel sound to a consonant letter sound – it makes it hard to sound out words. That was great advice!
Phonics Funsters is a 14 page workbook. Each page includes a guided lesson that tells you, the reader, what to say to the non-reader. On the same page, there’s an activity to help the non-reader practice the lesson. There are flashcards and worksheets to use with each lesson. I’ve also invented games for each unit – for the kids who enjoy hands-on learning. In 14 days, your non-reader will go from memorizing a few letter sounds and sight words to reading and writing simple sentences. There are 15 units of Phonics Funsters. Each unit introduces a few more letter sounds and sight words. Your non-reader’s vocabulary of written words will just keep growing. By the time they complete unit 15, they will be able to read almost anything.
I really want you to try Phonics Funsters to find out if this reading method works for your child. (It will!) So, I’m offering the first unit for free. You can print a copy or download it to your tablet or computer. Work on one lesson each day. In 14 days, your child will be able to read a little bit.
Teaching someone how to read is as gratifying as learning how to read!
Best wishes,
Tracey
Author of Phonics Funsters