Are you frustrated with the number of times you tell your child "you just have to memorize it?" Do you find yourself wondering why letters make the "wrong sounds" in so many words, or throw your hands up and say "English is just illogical?" Are you drowning in flash cards? In reality, very few high frequency words are "un-decodable" if you know all the rules. The 100 most frequently used words comprise 50% of the words in text, and being able to read and spell these words is essential to reading and writing fluency. In this course, learners will master not just the sight words, but the sound-spelling patterns required to read and spell many other words as well.

In this class, your learner will receive the foundation for reading "sight words" (and so many other words as well), with clear rules and sound guides. This class is largely based on the "Logic of English" curriculum "Sounding Out The Sight Words" by Denise Eide and Cindy Kringelis. This curriculum is built on the science of reading. Learning the rules for the sounds is a far more efficient way of mastering so-called "sight words" than memorizing by sight. 

Students will be most successful if they know the "most common" sound for each letter (/a/ as in apple, /s/ as in snake) and they can blend sounds together with little or no help (if this is still difficult, consider taking "Sound it Out 1" simultaneously with or prior to this class). 

Lessons will follow the following format:

Warm up, introductions,
Phonics or spelling skill introduced
Practice with the skill through games
Say-to-spell practice with high frequency words and others with the same sound patterns

Students should be prepared for class with a whiteboard and marker or paper and marker (marker makes it easier for me to see their work). Additional games and activities will sometimes be sent after class for additional practice.

By the end of our 12 session, students will be able to read 152 of the 315 Dolch sight words (nearly 50%), and spell many of them phonetically. 

Lesson 1: 

a-z most common sounds--Dolch words: on, ran, get, did, but, at, am, up, run, red, not, it, in, can, big, and, top, sun, pig, men, man, let, dog, cat, box, bed, ten, six, if, hot, got, cut, us, sit, its, let, him, had, an, yes, went, jump, help, wind, nest, milk, hand, drink, fast, best, stop, just, ask, must, robin, rabbit, seven, upon

Lesson 2:
 s says /s/ and /z/ Dolch words: is, his, as, has;
ee says /E/: Dolch words: see, green, sleep, keep, feet, seed, tree, street


Lesson 3: 
th says /th/ (voiced) Dolch words: that, them, then, this
th says /th/ (unvoiced) Dolch words: think, thank, with

Lesson 4: 
er says /er/ Dolch words: her, never, under, letter, after, sister, better
ar says /ar/ (the pirate sound): Dolch words: far, start, car, warm, farm, garden

Lesson 5: 
ng says /ng/ Dolch words: long, sing, song, bring, ring
ck says /k/ Dolch words: pick, stick, duck, back, black

Lesson 6: 
Spelling rule: we often double F, L, and S after a single, short or broad vowel at the end of a base word
Dolch words: will, well, tell, bell, doll, hill, grass, egg, off

Lesson 7:
ai and ay say /A/. Spelling rule (English words do not end in I, U, V, or J
Dolch words: way, may, day, play, say, rain

Lesson 8:
e says /E/, o says /O/, and a says /A/ at the end of a syllable (usually)
Dolch words: he, be, me, we, so, no go, paper

Lesson 9: 
Any vowel may say one of the schwa sounds in an unstressed syllable or word
Dolch word: from
When a word ends with A, it says its broad sound. A may also say the broad sound after a W or before an L
Dolch words: want, all, ball, fall, small, call

Lesson 10: 
o can say /oo/
Dolch words: to, do, into
u can say /yoo/, /oo/, /u/, 
Dolch words: put

Lesson 11: 
The vowel says its long sound because of the E
Dolch words: home, make, take, came, name, ate, game, cake, made, here

Lesson 12:
Review learned words; learn words that combine more than one phonics rule
Words: three, farmer, thing, open, over, going, a, away, the, been, water, was, always, father, together, today

**Please note: sessions of this class generally run twice a week for six weeks. Occasionally sessions will run once a week for 12 weeks. Please pay careful attention to all listed meeting dates.