Do sight word flashcards help my child read?

Edward Fry's research tells us the first 25 sight words make up 33% of all print. The first 100 sight words make up about 50% of all print.

Fry and Dolch chose the words on the list because they recur over and over, on every page of print. Fry named the list sight words because a child needs to know the words instantly, "on sight." Stumbling over recurring words creates a cascade of other reading problems.

Since the words are seen over and over, it seems like children would learn them. However, most of the words look-alike to the child and don't seem to have a meaning. And, most can't be sounded out. Examples: does, goes, were, where, why, who, could, should, would, etc.

Sight word lists are all the same, regardless of the name your school gives them. The words are placed on the list according to how often they are seen in print. The comes 1st because it is used most often. 

It is much more effective for a child to learn these words within sentences. Sentences give the child a way to get a grip on words with vague meanings. Words like cat and tiger make sense to a child; but they are not sight words. Sight words like are, was, and that are abstract and vague.

Look: The cat and the mouse are friends. The cat was looking for the mouse. The mouse is under that big leaf. 

 A flashcard is useful for review after the word is pretty well secured within your child's mind. Flashcards are also important for quick review for grade-level readers in 2nd and 3rd grades.

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.
You might like to look at my Giraffe book to help you be sure your child learns the sight words. Your child will have fun learning the words in sentences, stories, blends, rhyming words, and Bingo games. My books also teach a special comprehension method and the tricky phonics are in bold, making it easier for your child to see which letters are special.  Lots of color pictures and unique teaching tools. All include my contact info, email or call for help.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have fun reading with your child! Mary Maisner

Sh words help my child read

Children expect their ABCs to have only one sound each. Your child knows letter s has the sound that comes at the start of: sun, soap, silly, star, and smile. Say those s words with your child.

Tell your child that when s is standing side-by-side with h, sh become a special team that makes the sound we say when we ask someone to please be quiet: shhhhhh.

We put our pointer finger to our lips and say shhhh.

Ask your child to say these words with you:  ship,   shell, shimmer,    shark,     shake,    share,     shadow,    shaggy, shade,    sheep,    sheriff,    shine,    shiny,     shirt,     shoe.

Does he hear the sh sound you sometimes say to him when it is time to be quiet? Shhhhhh

Watch for sh words as you read stories together. 

You might like to look at my Panda book which was created to be sure early readers get the best start. It starts with clear, easy rules for the important letters b, d, g, p, and q;  then it teaches all the essential reading lessons for beginning readers. It is not a letter-practice book except for the tricky letters b, d, p, g, and q.

I use eBay. Search Instant Reading Help, all my books will come up for you. All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help.

Write with questions. Thank you, Mary Maisner

teach wh kindergarten

Children expect the letters of their ABCs to have only one sound each. Your child knows that letter w has the sound that comes at the start of wave and wasp. We are going to start there.

Ask your child to print letter w. Talk about things that start with w: wagon, waffle, walk, walrus, wart hog, wasp, water, wave, will, with, weasel. 

Tell your child that just as he works in a team sometimes, like carrying the other end of a small table, or a chair - that is teamwork - our ABC letters also work in teams.

When wh are standing side-by-side, wh work in a team that sounds like whale, whip, white, whizz, whisper, and wheel.

If you blow on your fingers, you feel and hear the sound the wh team makes.

Blow on your fingers as you and your child say: whisper, whistle, whale, wham, what, whacky, where, whip, wheel, wheat, while, whine, white, whiff, whirl, whiz. 

Tell your child to say with you: which    and    witch.

Did one of those words use the wh team and one used letter w by itself? 
Do you blow on your fingers for each word? Which    and    witch?
Say the two words until your child can hear the difference.

Which word needs to be printed with w by itself?  (witch)  Print witch and say it several times.

Which word needs to be printed with wh? (which)  Print which and say it several times.

Look for wh words as you read stories together.

I have created a few books to help your child get the best possible start with reading. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.  Scroll down to see the Panda book. It teaches easy special rules for printing the important letters b, d, g, p, and q. After that it teaches many early reading lessons. All books include my contact info; email or call for help.
 Write with questions. Thank you for visiting my blog, Mary Maisner

Short vowel words: adding ed, ing, s



What fun!

Our ABCs have two categories of letters: vowels and consonants. The vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y. 

Consonants are all of the other letters: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z.

Each vowel is called long when you hear its letter name in a word: snake, rain, ear, eel, pipe, pie, nose, float, rule, ruin, type. Long y says long i.

Ask your child to say the words above and look with you to see if each word uses one of these two long vowel rules: 

1) Only one consonant between two vowels.

2) Two vowels side-by-side, the 1st vowel says its name.

When two vowels go walking, the 1st vowel does the talking.

Short vowels do not say their letter name. Rules: 1) When there is only one vowel in a word, the vowel is usually short:  tap, let, slip, top, run, myth. Short y says the short i sound.

2) And, when there is more than one consonant between two vowels: father, better, little, bother, monster, clutter.

*Very important: our endings (called suffixes) either start with a vowel: ing, ed, er, en, able  or start with a consonant: s, ly, ful, ness, less, ment. 

Rule: add a consonant ending to any word: taps, tapes, bits, bites, biteful, gladly, gladness, hatless, careless.    But, it you add a vowel ending to a short vowel word like tap or bit - you must double the last letter to protect the short vowel from changing into a long vowel. (Because of the long vowel rule: only one consonant between two vowels means the 1st vowel says its name: tape, bite).

Look at the word tap.  The boy likes to tap on the table. Tap only has one vowel - a - and a does not say its letter name. The boy likes to tap on the table. 

Vowel endings ing and ed start with vowels. To add ing and ed to tap we must double the last letter - p - to protect the short a from changing into long a: tap > tapping > tapped. The boy is tapping on the table.

Look at bit: The bug bit the mouse. Is bit a short vowel word? Yes. So, lets double the last letter when we add the vowel ending en: The bug has bitten the mouse.

Knowing this these rules can make it easier for us to read some tricky words. Look:

The rabbit can hop fast. The rabbit was hopping as fast as it could to escape the fox. The rabbit hopped in and then out of a tiny hole in the fence. The fox was too big to hop through the hole.   

Below, ask your child to pick the correct word from the two choices. This will be fun:

The frog (hopped or hoped) as fast as it could to escape the snake. The frog was (hopping or hoping) to a tall bush. The snake was near. A fat cat saw the little frog. The cat (poped or popped) in front of the snake. The snake (stopped or stoped).The snake slid away.  

If you would like a book, I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All books are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. Being a skillful reader makes everything easier.            Thank you, Mary Maisner

Short vowel words long vowel words reading help

Let's look at the difference between a short vowel sound and a long vowel sound.

The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, and y.     Basic sounds:

Each vowel has a short sound: bat, bet, bit, bot, but, byt (say bit).

Each vowel also has a long sound: bait, beet, bite, boat, beauty, and byte (say bite).  

Notice long vowels use their letter name as their sound: make, stream, etc.

Short y has the short i sound. Long y has the long i sound.

Rule: Most of the time, when there is only one vowel in a word, the vowel uses its short sound: clap, snap, hop, stop, slid, rid, met, scar, snack, pack, rest, help, push, pinch, witch, wish.

Rule: Most of the time, when there are two vowels side-by-side, the 1st vowel uses its long sound: boat, pail, eat, sneak, knee. Helpful rhyme to teach your child: When two vowels go walking the 1st vowel does the talking.  

Rule: when there is only one consonant between two vowels, the 1st vowel uses its long sound: lake, scare,     before, reward,       bike, pipe, smile,    open, note,   mule, refuse  

Teachers draw a mental picture of this rule by saying: When there is only one consonant between two vowels, the 2nd vowel reaches back to poke the 1st vowel causing the 1st vowel to say its name.

Look: not / note;   rid / ride;   met / meet and meat;   scar / scare;   bit / bite;   led / lead

Though there will be exceptions to the rules, the rules usually work. Be aware that knowing vowel rules will be critical to adding ed, ing, etc and changing y to i. These word functions are studied at the end of 3rd grade, into 4th and 5th Grades. 

I now use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help Vowels (rabbit hopping through the woods cover). Instant Reading Help changing y to i; or Instant Reading Help add ed, ing.    All my books teach a special comprehension method and the tricky phonics. Lots of stories, lots of color pictures, and lots of unique teaching tools.  

Being a reading star is great fun!    Thank you, Mary Maisner

Short vowel: add ing to a short vowel word

Ask your child to print each vowel and tell you its name: a, e, i, o, u, y.

Each vowel has two sounds, a long sound and a short sound.

Determining whether the vowel in a word is long or short is important before adding ing.

When a vowel is long, you can hear it say its letter name: game, nose, rain, flea, tie.

When a vowel does not say its name, it is called short. With your child, say and listen to: fan, Jan, man, Nan, pan, plan, ran, scan, Stan, span, tan.  

Did your child hear vowel a say its name in ran? (No - it would have been rain.) Did your child hear a say its name in pan? (No - it would have been pain.) Do we hear a say its name in fan?  (No - it would have been fain.) 

Say: We always protect the short vowel when we add ing to a word like fan. 

What should your child do to protect the short vowel? Double the last letter, the consonant, of the word: fan > fanning

Look: fan > fanning    plan > planning    // tap > tapping     flip > flipping   stop > stopping

The baby puppy was too hot, so the boy was fanning his puppy with a piece of cardboard.

Why do you have to double the final consonant of a soft vowel word, like fan or sad or stop? 

Answer: ing starts with a vowel, so does ed, able, er.  Adding s is easy because s or ly or ful do not start with a vowel: fans, panful of soup, sadly.  Look: sad > sadder.

Long vowel rule: If there is only one consonant between two vowels, the 1st vowel will be long - say its letter name: hope > hoping > hoped > hopes > hopefully. 

Endings ing, ed, er, able start with vowels so just trade one vowel for another vowel > scare > scaring > scared > scary. If an ending does not start with a vowel, just add it > scares.

I have created several books to make reading and letter skills - like vowels - easy for your child. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All my books include my contact info; email or call for help. 

All of my books also cover the tricky phonics and a special comprehension method.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a great day reading with your child! Mary Maisner

Teach my child to read



Mother skunk and her baby skunks



In our previous lesson, your child was pointing to each word as you guided his finger and you read the words.

You asked your child for a word from the story to watch for, a word like: cat, kitten, puppy, bird, etc.

You were helping your child see his chosen word, over and over. Ask your child how he can find his chosen word on his own without your help?  How can he tell his word from all the other words? 

(Answer: His word always has the same letters, printed in the same order, every time. This makes it different from the other words.)

Read another story in the same pattern: your child points to each word as you guide his finger while you read. Let your child read his chosen word. Now, pick a 2nd chosen word. Your child is now looking for two words.

Ask your child how he can find his two chosen words? (Answer: Always the same letters, printed in the same order.)

Use today to make sure your child is picking up simple but important lessons:

1) Do you see the space between each word? Each word must have its own space, just as cars on the street must have space between them. Otherwise the cars, and the words, would crash into each other.

When printing words, ask your child to put a one finger-space between each word he prints.

2) Do you see that words always start on the same side of the page and travel along to the other side? Let's look at that pattern.

Yes, it always starts on this same side - the left side. The words always travel along to the other side of the page.

In ancient times, words traveled like a snake. At the end of the top line, the reader dropped down to the next line, then ran back to the left side. This was a confusing plan so people had to change to the one we use today.

I have created special books to teach children the tricky lessons. My Panda book is wonderful for new readers. It does not practice letter writing except for the small tricky set: b, d, g, p, q. The Panda teaches the lessons an early reader needs. Lots of color pictures and fun ways to be a star reader. Click this link, then click bookstore, scroll down to see the Panda: http://www.zoomreadingstrategy.com    Give your child a smart start!

Have fun reading with your child. Thank you, Mary Maisner