💡 Instruction follows the Phono-Graphix method for teaching reading and spelling which is based on the Science of Reading. This method was developed with the dyslexic learner in mind. 

Students will be assigned a weekly spelling list. During our live class, we will discuss patterns in the words and spelling rules as they apply. A list of 20 spelling words will be provided, as well as 5 bonus words to meet the needs of a range of skill levels.  

📝 Students will be expected to participate by writing the spelling words as modeled and trying different ways to study the words using colors and shapes. We will also discuss proper usage and share creative work.

📝 Students will learn to divide words into "chunks" (similar to syllables) and segment each chunk in order to identify all the sounds in the words. Learners will use a color and shape coding system as a study tool to focus on sounds spelled with more than one letter.

📝 Students can expect an informal quiz over a sampling of the words at the end of the class period. Each week a new list will be assigned. A recorded spelling test video will be provided after class ends so students can take a complete written test of all the words after completing homework and studying the lists. 

👀 Learners will need to know the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet, as well as letter combinations like: sh, th, ch, and ck.

Optional homework assignments are given to be completed after class. Learners are welcome to upload their homework and share it with the teacher to show accountability for their work. 

Topic schedule for 2024:
Week of August 5: Words with Long A spelled with -ay, a_e, -aigh, and -ai like in, "crave, sway, straight, and entertain"

Week of August 12 : Long A spellings -a, -ea, -eigh, -ei, and -ai like in, "apron, neighbor, vein, steak, aiming"

Week of August 19: Long E spellings -ea, -ee, -ey like in, "valley, stream, and speech"

Week of August 26: Long E spellings -y, -ie like in, "nieces and battery"

(No class the week of Sep 2)

Week of Sep 9:  Long I spellings -ie, i_e, -y, and -igh like in, "delight, divide, might, pie, rely and deny" 

Week of Sep 16: Long O spellings -o, o_e, -oa, -ough, -ow like in, "obey, explode, afloat, although, and throw"

Week of Sep 23:  Long U and /oo/ like in, "amuse, June, tissue, and stew"

Week of Sep 30:  Silent Letters like in, "salmon, colonel, wrestle, and subtle"

Week of Oct 7:  Endings with -tion, -ment, and -able like in, "portable, fiction, and apartment"

Week of Oct 14: Focus on Long Vowels in multi-syllable words

Week of Oct 21: Homophones

Week of Oct 28: Prefixes re-, dis-, and un-, like in "recycle, disappear, and unreal"

Week of Nov 4: Prefixes mis-, over-, pre- like in, "precaution, overgrowth, and misfortune"

Week of Nov 11: Words with endings -ly, -ful, and -less like in "honestly, wonderful, and breathless"

Week of Nov 18: Words ending in -er, -ier, -est, and -iest like in, "friendlier, quietest, hairiest"

(No class the week of Nov 25)

Week of Dec 2: -ed and -ing endings like in, "capitalizing, excelling, and dismissed"

Week of Dec 9:  Irregular plurals like in, "echoes, thieves, moose, people"

Week of Dec 16: Words with special endings like, "capture, conscious, freesia, and atrocious"

Classes resume January 2025

Topics coming in January: 

Words with Soft C and Soft G like in, "cymbal, digital, sentence, and engine"
Contractions
Words with -en or -on endings like in, "frighten, lesson, wagon, sharpen"
Focus on long vowel sounds and special endings like in, "straight, creature, fiction, delight"
Words with the sound /er/ spelled with -ar, -or, -our, -ear, and -urr, like in, "learned, comfort, linear, courage, and furry"

-phonics -spelling -phonemic awareness -weekly -ongoing -ESL