When teaching children to read, color coding the alphabet can help them learn the different kinds of letters in the English language. Color coding also helps highlight common letter combinations, such as consonant blends, and shows how these combinations create a variety of consonant and vowel sounds. As a result, children learn to recognize letter and sound patterns, helping the reading process become more intuitive. This approach is often used in Montessori teachings. For example: Red: Consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z) and Consonant Blends (bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, ld, nd, nk, pl, pr, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st) Blue: Short Vowels (a, e, i, o, u) Green: H-Digraphs (sh, th, ch), Long Vowels (a, e, i, o, u), Silent e (e) and Spelling Patterns (ck, ff, ll, ss, ay, ee, ow, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar, ing) Once the red consonants and blue short vowels are mastered, the remaining spelling variations are noted in green to distinguish that these sounds are different than the recognizable consonants or short vowels. The series is taught in a specific order to develop familiarity: Short a Short i Short a and i Short o Short a, i, o Short u Short a, i, o, u Short e Short a, i, o, u, e Consonant Blends H-Digraphs Silent e / Long Vowels Consonant Phonogram Spelling Patterns ck, ff, ll, ss Vowel Phonogram Spelling Patterns ay, ee, ow, y, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar. BONUS: Short Vowels and Silent e Comparisons. This is the first book in the series, Book 1: Short a, written by a mom, edited by a Montessori Director.

Build essential skills while having fun with Home Workbooks! Now updated with fun, colorful pages and engaging art, each book measures 7" x 9.25" and is filled with 64 pages of age-appropriate activities, puzzles, and games. These teacher-approved books are perfect for home, school, summer breaks, and road trips! Skills covered include beginning and ending consonants, blends and digraphs, long and short vowel sounds, word families, and more! An incentive chart and 140 full-color stickers are also included to help parents or teachers track student progress. Home Workbooks are available for prekindergarten through grade 3 students, and feature titles in a wide variety of skill areas to suit any need.

"Words Their Way" is a hands-on, developmentally driven approach to word study that illustrates how to integrate and teach children phonics, vocabulary, and spelling skills. This fifth edition features updated activities, expanded coverage of English learners, and emphasis on progress monitoring.

Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade was first published in 1980 by Hazel Logan Loring, who had taught it for many years in her first grade classes. It features instruction in directional guidance, which helps prevent reversals in reading. It has also proven very valuable in helping older students with reading problems. The accompanying Blend Phonics Fluency Drills were written by Mr. Donald L. Potter to help students to develop high levels of decoding fluency (accuracy and speed). The Fluency Drills have proven particularly valuable in helping struggling readers to overcome the whole-word guessing habit and improve reading efficiency.