Word Families are fun!  

 

Let’s face it, rhyming is always fun, that’s why so many reading programs include Word Families.

Likewise, Candy 4WAY Phonics also uses Word Families.  In fact, our step-by-step lessons are loaded with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.  

However, we make absolutely sure that we teach Word Families at the correct time and in the correct proportion to make certain that children learn a balanced approach to sounding out words.

 

 

Unfortunately for parents and teachers today,

far too many reading programs

start children out

learning their letter sounds

but then immediately

rush

their students

into Word Families. 

 

 

Although a good reading program should most certainly include Word Families, Word Families should not be presented to a child too early in his reading program.

What’s more, when we introduce Word Families too soon in a child’s reading program, it can eventually lead to bad reading habits and poor spelling.  

In fact, rushing a child into the Word Families Method too soon means: 

a)   that the child is skipping much-needed practice blending a beginning consonant sound with the vowel sound from left to right. 

 

b)    that the child is learning to approach his beginning words by looking at the ending of words instead of by looking at the beginning of words, thus interrupting his correct directional tracking responses. 

 

c)     that the child is skipping much needed practice sounding out and hearing the individual letter sounds and the distinct vowel sounds.

 

Moreover, whenever a curriculum rushes into Word Families too quickly, a child is taught to learn his vowel sounds only as those vowels are attached to word endings such as:  at, et, ig, op, and up.

 

This is so wrong!  A child should start out blending “into” a vowel from left to right so that his initial approach to the word is from the beginning of the word not from the middle of the word.  

 

By rushing into Word Families too soon in his reading program, a student is encouraged to look at words that vary their beginning letters but repeat over and over again their ending letters.  As a result, the student learns to incorrectly approach a word from the middle of the word instead of from the beginning of the word. 

How?

How does introducing Word Families too soon into a reading program teach a child to approach a word incorrectly from the middle of a word instead of from the beginning of a word?

Answer:

To answer that question, let’s look at the teaching steps given whenever a child begins his reading instruction too soon using Word Family combinations such as the word ending ag:

 

(Step 1) – The instructor could attach the consonant letter t to the beginning of ag and the child would read the word tag.

 

(Step 2) – The instructor could then attach a different consonant letter such as letter b to the beginning of ag and the child would read the word bag.

 

The child continues to drill the word-family combination of ag by having the instructor place more and varying consonants in front of the word ending ag.

 

As a result, here is what the drill family for ag looks like:

 

bag    hag    nag    sag    lag

 

Look at which part of each word stands out. 

The end of each three-letter word stands out to a child’s eyes, and, again, this is so wrong when it’s the method used to teach a child his vowel sounds! Vowel sounds should be “punched” as individual, distinct sounds before they are ever attached to similar word endings.  

Furthermore, we see that by introducing children to Word Families too soon, they are taught to approach a word from the middle of the word instead of from the beginning of the word.

 

It’s true!  Far too many children are learning to approach words backwards because they are rushed into the Word Families Method too soon!

 

Rushing into Word Families before a correct Synthetic Phonics Approach has been mastered results in three negatives for students:

 

1)    the “rush” simply doesn’t work with every age group

 

2)    the “rush” causes way too many children to approach a word by looking at the end of the word instead of at the beginning of the word

 

3)    the “rush” fails to teach children to distinguish individual letter sounds and to “punch” the vowel sounds. Children need to know those vowel sounds without having to have those sounds attached to similar word endings.  

Why?   

Why?  Why is attaching vowel sounds to word endings too early so wrong?  

Answer:

It’s wrong because not all vowel sounds that children will encounter are attached to similar word endings. However, to answer that question further, let me stop here and explain the difference between a phoneme and a phonogram.

 

A phoneme is an individual letter sound. A phoneme, therefore, represents the smallest sound segment a child can hear within an English word. When learning to read, children need to begin with phonemes rather than with similar pairs or triplets contained inside repetitive word endings.

 

When taught properly, beginning phoneme sounds should be blended together in a word, from left to right, starting at the beginning of the word, blending the first phoneme sound into the next and proceeding through the rest of word from left to right.

 

When a child is given the chance to hear and practice blending together individual phonemes before focusing on Word Family endings, then that child will learn to distinguish the individual letter sounds within words which is essential for his reading success throughout the rest of his education.

Becoming skilled at hearing the difference between the individual vowel sounds is especially vital!  A spoken vowel needs to be “punched” as it is blended so that a child can clearly hear the distinction between the individual vowel sounds.  

Far too many children and high schoolers cannot hear the difference between the vowel sounds of e and u or between the vowel sounds of i and e.  You simply wouldn’t believe how many times I have seen high schoolers spell the word “just” using the vowel letter e instead of using the vowel letter u.  The word “jest” is a completely different word than the word “just.”  

Likewise, the word “sense” is a completely different word than the word “since;” the word invelope isn’t even a word, and yet far too many high schoolers use that spelling instead of the correct spelling of envelope.  

Why?  

Why are they spelling these simple words incorrectly?  

Answer:

They are spelling many simple words incorrectly because they cannot hear the individual vowel sound distinctions.  

They cannot hear the vowel sound distinctions because they were introduced to vowel sounds within the context of Word Family endings before they were taught to distinguish the individual vowel sounds.  

 

When a child can capably hear those vowel distinctions, then later on, he will able to blend ANY combination of letter sounds, not just the combinations that would have been given to him during a limited set of designated Word Family endings or “chunks.“

 

 

In addition to learning to distinguish individual consonant and vowel sounds, children also need to learn to approach words from the correct direction.  Correct directional tracking is extremely important to insure continued reading success.  Sadly, when a child switches back and forth too soon between the initial consonant sounds placed at the beginning of repetitive Word Family endings (as he most certainly will if he is rushed into Word Families too soon), it can cause him to begin reading from an incorrect right to left backward reading sequence. This is especially true with younger children.  

How?

How does rushing into Word Families too early cause so many children to adopt a backward reading habit?  

Answer:

When a student rushes too soon into Word Families, a child will jump from individual letter sounds to a reading process that looks like this:

 

bag   nag   sag   rag   tag

 

Once again, Mom, Dad, Teacher, try to imagine yourself not knowing any of the words above.  Which part of those words stands out to you? 

Answer: The ag stands out, and the ag is located at the end of each word.

 

So the child focuses on the end of the word first, thus practicing a backward reading focus of right to left; thus interrupting a correct directional tracking response. 

 

Now let’s look at a typical 3-letter word string found in a Phonics First, Synthetic, Intensive Phonics curriculum such as The Candy 4WAY Phonics Program.  In a strong synthetic phonics reading program, a child will correctly be presented with:

 

ba   be   bi   bo   bu 

bam   bed   bit  bog   bus

 

Which part of these strings stands out? The letter b stands out, and the letter b is located at the beginning of each reading item.  So when the child approaches his first printed words, he is correctly focusing first on the beginning of the words, thus practicing a correct left to right reading habit.

 

Moms, Dads, Teachers, children should be fed the main meal before they are presented with the dessert.  Only after a child has learned to approach all words from the beginning of the word, should he be given the fun of Word Families. 

In fact, after the correct habits have been formed, that child can have even more fun with rhyme and rhythm because she can easily move into varying Word Family endings such as:

 

bent    rent    pant    lint    punt

 

This is because her focus will be on blending the first two letters (a consonant sound with a distinct vowel sound) and then tacking on the nt ending. 

 

One final complication of introducing Word Families too soon is that it plays on a child’s natural, developmental tendency to see a word from the wrong position.  

How?

How does introducing Word Families too soon play on a young child’s natural tendency to view a word from the wrong position?  

Answer:

Up until the age of eight or nine years old, a young student easily reverses the positions of many items.  For example, if a chair has been knocked down and is resting on its side, a child will simply pick up the chair and place it upright so she can sit down. She won’t stop to notice if the chair is facing sideways or upside down when she finds it, she’ll just put it in the position that enables her to sit down.  Furthermore, she will see all the dimensions of the chair all at once.  To her, the top of the chair is the chair, the side of the chair is the chair, and the back of the chair is the chair.  The whole thing is the chair, so any part of the chair is the chair — it doesn’t matter in what position the chair is found.

 

Likewise, to a child, it doesn’t really matter in what position letters are placed or in what direction words are read.  Moreover, it’s just as natural for a young student to read a word from right to left as it is for him to read a word from left to right.

 

That means it’s just as easy for him to learn to approach words incorrectly from the middle or from the end of words as it is for him to learn to approach words correctly from the beginning of the words.

 

 

However, by focusing and receiving plenty of practice blending, from left to right, the beginning letters of phonics strings, a child will come to the conclusion that words should be read from left to right. This, of course, makes sense, since sentences and paragraphs and books are all read from left to right.

 

Sadly, many younger children who are rushed into Word Families too quickly find it harder to read a word from left to right because they are constantly looking for the familiar word ending, thus approaching the word from the middle and having to backtrack to the beginning of the word in order to read the entire word. This is because a young child will naturally focus on what is “constant” in a word string, and what is “constant” within Word Family strings, unfortunately, is found at the end of the word instead of at the beginning of the word.

 

Does this mean that Word Families should not be used as a tool for learning phonetic reading? Absolutely not!

 

In fact, Word Families make up a very distinct phonics approach that is vital for a COMPLETE phonics program. However, Word Families should not be presented in a strong phonics programs until after synthetic phonics blending from left to right has been fully mastered.

 

Parents, Teachers, start your students out with a systematic, synthetic phonics reading approach that begins reading instruction by giving plenty of practice with synthetic phonics before jumping into Word Families.

Word Families should be included

in every good phonics program,

but Word Families

must be presented at the right time. 

 

To read more about a tried and true, affordable and COMPLETE Synthetic Phonics curriculum that gives students plenty of practice developing the proper approach to words as well as a well-timed presentation of Word Families, click here. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Carol Kay, President

Candy 4WAY Phonics

www.candy4wayphonics.com

 

 

 

When the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade (Arizona Republic (9-15-2004)).  Sorry to say, the evidence tells us that children who do not read by third grade often fail to catch up and are more likely to drop out of school, take drugs, or go to prison. 

 

In fact, there are so many nonreaders winding up in jail in Arizona,

that Arizona officials have now found they can use the rate of illiteracy

to help calculate future prison needs.

 

This is because the Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” Over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

 

How does all this happen? 

 

A pattern develops early on for children who do not learn to read by the end of 3^rd grade. 

 

Children who cannot read:

a)    often become disruptive in the classroom

b)   find it difficult to focus on their studies

c)    many times choose other children who cannot read as their friends

d)   find excuses not to attend school at all.

 

So is it only the folks in Arizona who know the link between illiteracy and youth imprisonment?  Sadly, no!  Michigan educators know it, too.  Did you know that according to the Michigan Department of Education, half of all the adolescents and young adults with criminal records have reading difficulties?

 

This truly is tragic!  It means that half of the young people locked up today as criminals started out in elementary school struggling in reading.  I have to wonder exactly where their bad behavior problems started – was it shortly after they realized they couldn’t read or was it during the whole learning-to-read process? 

 

The bottom line is this: 

60% of Urban children in the U.S. do not graduate from High School. 

and 

40% of those children who do graduate only read at a 4th grade level.

 

 

I mean, let’s face it, reading serves as the major foundational skill for all school-based learning. If a child can’t read, he’s not going to learn much in school, and that reading handicap is an absolute set-up to entice a child to hang out with the wrong friends. 

 

So is it just Arizona and Michigan students who have the problem?  In other words, is it just the Arizona and Michigan Departments of Education that know about this reading disaster? 

 

Your child’s doctor most likely is also aware of the problem.  Pediatricians all across America know about it.  In fact, the reading struggles of our children present such a grave problem that the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at their child’s regular check-ups. Moreover, many of America’s doctors now believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not “a fully healthy child.”

 

Well, if our doctors think that just holding a book or listening to a book represents a healthy child, how much more healthy if the child could actually READ the book?

 

O.K., so we’ve heard from Arizona and Michigan educators, and we’ve heard from those who compile urban school children literacy statistics, and we’ve heard from America’s doctors.  Who else knows about this perilous problem?  (I say perilous because – well – half of all the adolescents and young adults in our nation’s prisons began their lives NOT learning to read).

 

It just so happens that America’s book publishers for children are also aware of this reading catastrophe.  In an article printed by Personalized Children’s Books  & Music, they tell us clearly that “Difficulty with reading does not just affect your child’s ability in school, but carries over as low self-esteem into every aspect of life. Surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records show that about half have reading difficulties.”

 

So why isn’t somebody doing something about this reading tragedy? 

 

Believe me, something is being done, but it’s hard to hear the solution voices over all the noise being made by those voices that are dodging our concerns.

 

For example, if you would like to see a sampling of the overwhelming voices that are misdirecting our questions, I dare you to Google this question:  “Why do children struggle in reading?”  Go ahead, do it!  You’ll find all kinds of webpages explaining to us why children with learning disabilities cannot read, but you won’t find much of anything about why all the other children WITHOUT learning disabilities cannot read. 

 

In your Google search, you’ll hear all about dyslexia, and learning disabilities, and hearing problems, and vision problems, and speech problems, and how children have so many difficulties in listening or speaking or writing or reasoning that they just can’t learn to read. The problem is that these explanations do not concern any of the 4 out of 10 American children WITHOUT learning disabilities, those 40% of all children who are currently in the fourth grade who cannot read at grade level. 

 

Instead, whenever reading struggles are mentioned we get bombarded with webpages that talk about children with learning disabilities instead of all those children without learning disabilities who, for some strange reason, cannot read.

Those Google searches would have us believe that the MAIN reason that children struggle in reading is because they have a learning disability.

 

But the truth is,

only about 5% of children across America

actually have any learning disability at all

and 60% of THOSE children

DO NOT have a reading disability. 

 

So what’s going on with the other 40% of these learning disabled children; why aren’t they learning how to read?  Furthermore, what’s going on with the 4 out of 10 children – the 95% of children WITHOUT any learning disability – why can’t they read?  Why are all of THOSE children NOT showing up in the Google searches for “Why do children struggle in reading?”

 

Ever get the feeling that our questions are being avoided?  That’s because they are.  Instead of hearing factual answers as to why our children aren’t learning to read, we’re hearing things like: “Learning to read is difficult because it is a multifaceted experience” and “Learning to read with phonics doesn’t teach our children to read for meaning.” 

 

Here’s what I have to say about all of that – bologna! 

 

Moms, Dads,

your children CAN learn to read

if they’re given an affordable, step-by-step,

systematic phonics-based curriculum. 

 

I have good news!  

For less than $10 you can purchase an INSTANT DOWNLOAD of a step-by-step systematic phonics COMPLETE curriculum that includes all of the following: 

• 100 Daily, Step-by-step Phonics Lessons that teach every phonogram you child will every need to learn in order to sound out every word on every page

• 20 Sequenced Phonics Story Readers With Real Story Content

• Rhyming Alphabet Phonics Charts

• Multisensory Vowel Helps

• Continuous Phonics Drill and Review

• Rhyming Phonics Flashcards

• Rhyming Lifetime Phonics Charts that enable children to remember all the sounds they’ve learned for the rest of their lives.

• Free Email Support For As Long As You Need It!

 

Sound too good to be true?  It’s not!  Unlike those Google searches, we are hitting the nail on the head and giving children everything they need to learn to read every word on every page. 

 

Check us out:  www.candy4wayphonics.com

 

Oh!  Don’t forget to read Candy’s TRUE reading story.

 

Sincerely,

Carol Kay, President

Candy 4WAY Phonics

www.candy4wayphonics.com

 

 

Reading for Meaning? 

What exactly

do we mean

by that?

 

Reading for meaning begins when a child develops the skills to fluently sound out every word on every page.  For most children, this requires systematic training in phonics. 

After children develop the capability to read all the words on the page, they must then develop the ability to see and answer the basic Who? What? When? and Where? questions posed by the text.  However, this is not where reading for meaning ends.  In fact, this is where reading for meaning begins. 

Some at our federal educational level feel that testing children frequently will help them develop better reading and comprehension skills.  However, tests simply reveal what students have failed to learn and what teachers have failed to teach; tests do not give teachers the skills they need to correct those failures.  Tests do no good unless a child’s Individualized Education Program includes the correct reading/discussion strategies specifically aimed at developing inferential thinking abilities. 

Others believe that developing long vocabulary lists will help children to better connect with the meaning on the page.  It’s true, better vocabulary skills definitely will help children to understand what they read, but “connecting” with the text – well – that’s a whole different story. 

What do we mean when we talk about “connecting” with the text?  Connecting with the text, first of all, means that a child can personalize the meaning found in the words he reads.  In othe words, he must learn to routinely determine how the material on the page personally affects him.  It is this personalization, together with a student’s ability to grasp the meaning inbetween the words on the page as well as his ability to draw researched-based conclusions based upon those words that gives a child inferential thinking abilities. 

To be sure, drawing inferential conclusions should be the whole goal of learning to read.  In fact, research done by Marie Clay, P. David Pearson, and other educators reveal that good readers of all ages continually use what they know and have experienced to thoroughly understand and apply what they hear and read. Unfortunately, very, very few of our students today have gained the skills necessary to do that. 

 

Inferential comprehension takes place when children

go beyond the standard facts given on a page

and draw their own research-based conclusions.

 

Can children really learn to do this?  Yes!  Absolutely they can, if an adult in their lives takes the initiative to teach them.  Children can learn to answer more than the basic questions written in a text; they can learn to ask and answer the “Why?” questions and to persuade others of their point of view using attestable facts, testimony, and reasoning. 

Marva Collins took children that the public school system declared “learning disabled” (children who had been shuffled into the special education mainstream) and activated the inferential thinking skills hidden inside each one of them.  In turn, many of Marva’s students went on to colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.  Many of those students became lawyers, doctors, engineers and educators. 

In contrast, did you know that almost 4 out of every 10 students in today’s public schools are reading below the basic proficiency reading level?  What’s more, as Marva Collins discovered, far too many of those students are being wrongly labeled as LD children.  That’s disturbing, because a recent study revealed by the National Center for Learning Disabilities reported that 66 percent of special education students are reading three or more grade levels behind and 20 percent of them are reading five or more grade levels behind. 

Try to imagine that.  What’s really sad is that almost every one of those children could have learned to read correctly if given adequate, systematic, phonics-first reading instruction, and almost every one of those children could have gained inferential thinking abilities had they been connected with an instructor or a parent or a grandmother who interacted with them through reading-aloud/discussion times aimed at developing inferential comprehension skills. 

Would you like to know more about what YOU can do to help that child in your life develop the proper “reading-for-meaning” skills, skills that can make the difference between his/her success now and later?  Click here to read more about how you can give a child much-needed inferential thinking skills.   

 

Sincerely,

Carol Kay, President

Candy 4WAY Phonics

www.candy4wayphonics.com