An educational toolkit for teaching phonics, consisting of a book, posters and musical CD, all of which provides for multiple options and inputs for learning, including: visual-icons, auditory and kinesthetic motor skill manipulations, as well as a variety of dramatic and emotive cuing-systems designed to target the affective learning domain. This "backdoor-approach" to phonemic skill acquisition is based on current neural research on Learning & the Brain--specifically how our brains actually learn best!The Secret Stories® primary purpose is to equip beginning (or struggling, upper grade) readers and writers, as well as their instructors, with the tools necessary to easily and effectively crack the secret reading and writing codes that lie beyond the alphabet, and effectively out of reach for so many learners! It is not a phonics program! Rather, it simply provides the missing pieces learners need to solve the complex reading puzzle--one that some might never solve otherwise! The Secrets(tm) are sure to become one of the most valuable, well-used, and constantly relied-upon teaching tools in your instructional repertoire!

Grade Level: 1-2 Interest Level: 3-12 Reading Level: 1-2 Designed specifically for the student who has been introduced to vowel sounds but still needs further practice to reach mastery levels. This comprehensive book offers over 120 pages of delightfully illustrated activities involving each vowel sound along with rhyming, riddles, letter substitution, sentence writing, word drill, alphabetizing, dipthongs, digraphs, and more! Phonemic awareness is an essential component of reading success… so give your students plenty of practice with this indispensable book! 132 pages.

Despite the efforts of teachers and educators, every year secondary schools across the English-speaking world turn out millions of functionally illiterate leavers. The costs in human misery and in wasted productivity are catastrophic. What can schools do to prevent this situation? In this highly accessible book James and Dianne Murphy combine more than 50 years of experience to provide teachers with a thorough, easy to use introduction to the extensive research on reading and its effects on student achievement. Drawing on the work of experts from around the world, the authors explore how we learn to read, how the many myths and misconceptions around reading developed, and why they continue to persist.Building on these foundations chapters go on to examine how the general secondary school classroom can support all levels of reading more effectively, regardless of subject; how school leaders can ensure that their systems, practices and school culture deliver the very best literacy provision for all students; and what it takes to ensure that a racing intervention aimed at adolescent struggling readers is truly effective. The overall message of this books is one of great optimism: the authors demonstrate that the right of every child to learn to read is entirely achievable if schools employ the best research-driven practice.

Phonics for Pupils with Special Educational Needs is a complete, structured, multisensory programme for teaching reading and spelling, making it fun and accessible for all. This fantastic seven-part resource offers a refreshingly simple approach to the teaching of phonics, alongside activities to develop auditory and visual perceptual skills. Specifically designed to meet the needs of pupils of any age with special educational needs, the books break down phonics into manageable core elements and provide a huge wealth of resources to support teachers in teaching reading and spelling. Book 1: Building Basics introduces basic sounds and explores their relationship with letters. It focuses on sounds and letters where there is a simple 1:1 correspondence between the two, and explores the sounds in simple words that follow the pattern of vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel-consonant. Sounds are grouped into seven sets, with each set containing more than 50 engaging activities, including: sound story, dynamic blending, reading race, spot the word and spelling challenge. Thorough guidance is provided on how to deliver each activity, as well as a lesson planner template, handy word lists and posters for teachers and teaching assistants to use to support learning. Each book in the series gradually builds on children’s understanding of sounds and letters and provides scaffolded support for children to learn about every sound in the English language. Offering tried and tested material which can be photocopied for each use, this is an invaluable resource to simplify phonics teaching for teachers and teaching assistants and provide fun new ways of learning phonics for all children. This book is accompanied by a companion resource, 'Phonics for Pupils with Complex SEND ', to be used alongside the Phonics for Pupils with Special Educational Needs programme. The activities from Books 1-6 of the programme are adapted to be accessible for non-verbal pupils, including AAC users, and those with physical disabilities.

This book provides resources for teachers of older children and adults, who want to use phonics to help learners who struggle with reading and spelling. Phonics Stories for Older Learners provides a story at each level presented in the same phonic progression as its companion book, Phonics Resources for Older Learners. Each story is one A4 sheet and is accompanied by a comprehension exercise. The book comprises of two sections: Section One contains the English Alphabet Code in its simplest form. It deals with the single letter sounds and consonant digraphs within CVC words at first, gradually increasing the level of difficulty to 5-sounds such as CCCVC. Section Two looks at the main vowel sounds in our language and presents the varying spellings that we use to represent them. Along with its companion book Phonics Resources for Older Learners, this is the perfect teaching resource for teachers of older children, as well as tutors in Adult Literacy and ESOL classes.

Phonics and Word Study for Struggling Readers is a comprehensive reproducible resource that provides scaffolded practice of important phonics and word study skills that struggling readers need for success. Pretests provide the assessment needed to differentiate instruction. Scaffolded practice allows students to start successfully at the introductory level of a skill and gradually progress to the application of the skill in a meaningful story context. Practice pages feature formats that are fun and engaging for students. Phonics and Word Study for Struggling Readers gives teachers everything they need to assess students' skills needs and provide age-appropriate practice for mastery. - Overviews guide teachers to a clear understanding of the skill and offer suggestions for introducing the skill to Grades 4-6 students. - Pretests assist the teacher in determining each student's specific needs, allowing for differentiated instruction. - Scaffolded practice pages are provided for each phonics and word study skill: Learn It gives a simple explanation of the skill and presents words to read aloud and an activity based on recognizing the targeted phonics or structural analysis skill. Practice It builds on what was learned, presenting words in the context of a fun word game. Review It reviews the skill in a cloze activity presented in test format. Read It incorporates the skill in an engaging illustrated story. Apply It applies the skill through phonics-related questions, develops comprehension through critical-thinking questions, and practices for fluency through an oral reading activity. - High-frequency word lists, compiled from well-respected Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and Fry's Instant Words, feature 240 sight words to master. A reproducible cover

"Supplementary phonics program designed to teach phonemic decoding to students who have not yet mastered those skills. The program was originally conceived for students in grades 3-6, but may also be used for students in grades 1 and 3, for lower performing students in upper grades, and for adults learning to read English."--Curriculum Associates website, accessed 5/15/2009.