ce ci say s circus, excite, science



Does this make you think of a circus parade?
Albrecht Durer drew this with a pencil in 1518.

Tell your child that just as people sometimes work in teams, our ABC letters can work in teams. The letter teams ce, ci, cy always say s, as in, cereal, cell, centipede, circus, excite, and spicy

Let's look at words that end with ce. Ask your child to point to each word as you read this list four times. Take turns telling each other sentences using these words. Ask your child to read each word and tell you the letter team that says the s sound.

nice    ice       price      once     prince         
rice     mice    spice     twice     since     
 
These are hard words, can you try them?
peace                 sentence
piece of pie        patience say, pa shuns; to wait

Let's try the ce team and the ci team inside words. Ask your child to point as you read. Let your child read the words when he can. Tell each other sentences using the words. Before moving on, ask your child to point to the letter team that says s in each word. (Note: soccer is British slang created to distinguish it from rugby.)

circus     center          decide    receive     scene    cell     necessary
circle      centipede     excite    science     ocean   cellar a room below ground, a basement

Quiz. Ask your child to tell you the letters in each word; for the 1st word, he will say: a  c  e.  Now, ask if the c is going to say the s sound or the k sound? I am intending these quiz words be too difficult for your child to read on sight; the point is to learn to recognize the ce, ci teams and realize they will say the s sound. After your child tells you which sound the letter c will say, let him try the word, then tell him the word.

1. ace      s sound or k sound?

2. peace    s sound or k sound?

3. prance     s sound or k sound?

4. tractor   s sound or k sound?

5. reduce   s sound or k sound?

6. candle   s sound or k sound?

7. could    s sound or k sound?

8. dance    s sound or k sound?

9. pencil    s sound or k sound?

10. excellent    s sound or k sound?

When you are reading stories with your child, after you have finished the story, go back and find 6 words within the story that use the ce, ci, or cy teams. This helps your child become more aware of these teams within his own stories. You can also ask your child to write these 6 words in order to help anchor this lesson in his mind.

Answers to the above quiz: 1. s, 2. s, 3. s, 4. k, 5. s, 6. k, 7. k, 8. s, 9. s, 10. s.
Be aware that words like, cancel and circle have ce, ci as the s sound and c as the k sound.

You might like to see my books which practice this lesson and many other important reading lessons. All my books use stories, skills pages, and lots of color pictures. All my books teach a special comprehension method proven to rapidly change a child's reading power.  I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All include my contact info, email or call for help.            Have a great day, Mary Maisner

ce ci cy say s once, decide, bicycle: reading help

What is little Cindy saying to the policeman? 

Rule: Letter c says the s sound in these three teams: ce, ci,  cy; as in cents, decide, bicycle, police. 

Soccer is a slang word made up by British boys. It is the only exception to ce, ci, cy as the s sound I seen in my many years of teaching.

Ask your child to point to each word as you read this list four times. Let your child read the words when he can. Tell each other sentences using these words. Before moving to the next part of today's lesson, ask your child to point and tell you the letter team that says s in each word.

cent        cell                  centipede         cement        
center    cedar tree        ceiling               century

Try:
cereal           certain               celery                   ceremony                     recent
central          certainly            celebrate              cease stop doing                decent

Try the same teaching steps with ci at the start. Help your child see that some words have a ci team and also c which says the k sound, as in, circus, circle, also bicycle, cancel, concern.

Be clear that c only says s when the next letter is e, i, or y. (cce and cci are coming)

circus       city            cinnamon            cinema movie theatre          Cindy

circle        citizen       cinder block        apple cider                           Cinderella story

Try ce, ci inside a word. Remember, c says k when e, i, y are not the next letter. Tell each other sentences using each word.

concert                  except             pencil                decide                icicle

concentrate           receive            scissors            fascinate            bicycle

Being instant with these lessons makes it easy to pull them from long-term memory and pop them into place while reading a line of print.  This helps your child love reading and soar!

You might like to see the books I have for your child. All my books underline or put in bold the tricky letter teams like ce and ge in the words of my practice stories so that your child sees them and learns to become instant with them. All my books teach a special comprehension method proven to rapidly improve your child's reading power. 

I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help to see all my books. Thank you, Mary Maisner

aw au ou Tiger's paw story: reading help

No one wants to play with a big, mean paw.

Aw   au   ou say the sound you hear in paw, claw, pause, because. Ask your child to point as you read the list below.
Let your child read the list. Before moving on to the story below, ask your child to point to the letter team that says the paw sound in each of these words:

caw     draw     law        paw        saw       slaw 

claw     jaw      gnaw      raw        straw    

Caw is the sound that crows make. Slaw is a kind of salad people like to eat.  Let's try a story:

The story:    A surprise

All of the animals were afraid of the tiger's big paw. The mother mouse told her son, "If you get caught in that big paw, you will never get out. Take care and be cautious." 

The mother monkey told her daughter, "If you get trapped in that big claw, you will never escape. Take care and be cautious." 

The mother goat told her daughter, "If you get caught in that big jaw, the tiger will gnaw on your leg. Take care and be cautious."

One day the little mouse, and the little monkey, and the little goat were crawling around in the rocks at the river. A big rock rolled over the little monkey's long tail. The mouse and the goat ran to look at the big rock and the monkey's trapped tail. The three little animals knew this was bad because no one was strong enough to push the rock away. The little animals were sad and worried (a big word for this feeling is distraught).

The mouse thought so hard his whiskers were wiggling. The monkey thought so hard her hair stood straight up. The goat thought so hard her ears folded down. Not too far away, a tiger was watching.

The tiger saw the tail trapped under the rock. As fast as a frog can swallow a fly, the tiger was standing next to the little monkey. With all of the might of thunder in the night, the tiger pushed the rock into the river. The monkey, and the mouse, and the goat ran away as fast as they could but they were calling back to the tiger, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." 

The tiger smiled, no one had ever told him, "Thank you."

For more stories, you might like to look at my books. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. 

They teach a special comprehension method and the tricky letter teams like ce are underlined so your child sees them and learns while reading stories.  All books use stories, skills pages, and lots of color pictures; and come with my contact info.  Thank you, Mary Maisner

cy always says s mercy, fancy

A cat named Silly Cyril.

Rule:  cy is a team that always says the s sound, as in mercy, bicycle, and cymbals. 

Ask your child to point to each word in the list below as you read; then ask your child to read the words with you.

Tell each other sentences using these words to help anchor them in your child's mind. Cymbals are a metal instrument in music. Before moving on to the next part of today's lesson, ask your child to point and say the letter team that says s, in each of these words.

   cymbals        bicycle       mercy       icy 

 

   cyclone         tricycle       fancy        spicy  

Try this list:

racy           Tracy       Stacy        Lucy          a bouncy ball      

 

lacy            Jacy        spacy        juicy          a pouncy puppy

                        

Ask: Does your child think Silly Cyril the cat might like to play with a bouncy ball and a pouncy puppy?

1) Writing a few sentences about Silly Cyril the cat can help anchor cy as the s sound in your child's long-term memory. 

2) Finding and circling cy in the words of a story or book your child can write in, is another good practice task.  When letter-sounds are firmly anchored in long-term memory it is much easier for a child to be a good reader.

You might like to look at books. I now use eBay as my website: Search Instant Reading Help. All my books will pop up for you to see.  All are brand new and teach the tricky phonics and a special comprehension method proven to rapidly give your child reading power.  

All books use stories, colorful pictures, and skills pages; none have a grade-level printed on them. Be sure your child is ready for the challenge of the upper grades.

Have a fun day reading with your child.  Mary Maisner

aw au ou I saw a fawn in the dawn

I saw two fawns in the dawn, did you? 

Vowel teams aw and au use the sound you hear in saw, paw, claw and cause, pause. 

Ask your child to point to each word as you read this list. Read the list four times; ask your child to say the words with you. Tell each other sentences with the words to help secure them in your child's mind. (Silent g in gnaw.)

saw           caw         draw        law           paw

straw         claw         jaw         gnaw        raw

Try:
dawn           lawn            scrawny     
drawn          fawn            tawny      

Tawny is the light brown color of a fawn.
Gnaw: to chew, as in, the squirrel likes to gnaw on a nut. 

Read these words together:

awe             awkward         crawl         mall         small  

   
awful           awesome        brawl         tall            stall     

Awe means to inspire feelings that a thing is special or holy. Hundreds of year ago, awful meant a thing made a person feel full of awe, as in, the beautiful baby fawn was an awful sight, an awe-inspiring thing to see. We do not use the word awful in that way today. Awkward came into being to mean the backside of awe-inspiring. Awkward originally meant that something made a person think things were not quite right, not smooth, not properly done.  We still use awkward in the same way today.

Try:
walk    hawk         waddle      cause        pause          caught    bought      taught

talk     squawk     dawdle      because    applause     fought     brought     thought

Dawdle means to be fooling around, wasting time, as in, Charlotte dawdles with her toys when it is time to put her corner of the bedroom in order. Ducks waddle and they dawdle, too.

To build your child's reading skill, ask him to write at least one rhyming family, like: saw, jaw, law, claw, draw, paw, gnaw, straw, slaw.  Your child might like to write a story about the picture of the two fawns and the squirrel used in this blog. Writing words is important, it helps the brain anchor the aw, au, ou pattern in the long-term memory.

Some of our oldest words use this same sound: bought, caught, thought. You hear this same sound in ball, fall, small.

This blog site has lots of reading lessons. They are listed on the right side of this page.

I now use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help Kindergarten  or Instant Reading Help 1st Grade, 2nd Grade or Instant Reading Help Vowel. 

My books teach through stories, skills pages, and a special comprehension method proven to quickly give your child reading power.  Have fun reading with your child,  Mary Maisner

Doe in the snow story

Can our doe protect her fawn in the cold snowy night?

Ou and ow sometimes says the long o sound.

Start this lesson by asking your child to look through the story below for the words that he knows, sliding over any unknown words. (This pre-reading helps your child get a stronger grip on comprehension.)

Now, ask your child to point to each word as you read the story. Let your child read the words he is able.

After reading the story several times, you can ask your child to find words that rhyme with doe.

Writing word patterns is very important to anchoring lessons within a child's mind. Ask your child to write six rhyming words of his choice.

The story:  Doe in the snow

The doe and her fawn were lost in a snowstorm. This place was unknown to the doe. She could hear a river flowing. She wondered if it was the slow, shallow stream near the hill where she had grown up.

The doe stood very still as the blowing snow billowed around them. She must find shelter for them. Lowering her head, the doe pushed her fawn deep into the shelter of the evergreen branches behind her. Though it was not perfect, it would do for now.

                                                            The End

You might like to look at the other lessons on this blog. They are listed on the right side of this page. 

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All my books teach the tricky lessons plus a special comprehension method proven to help your child become a powerful reader. 

My wonderful graphics come from Corel clipart, originally created by Micrografx.
Have a great day. Thank you, Mary Maisner

ADD ADHD reading help

What are these animals saying to each other?

ADD /  ADHD children are too distracted at school to get enough practice to master the basic letter to sound connections that are vital to success.  

   

Confusing letters b / d and p / q / g need your attention. After reading the rest of this lesson, put into my search box - at the top - backward b and working memory.  Five minutes a day is enough to change your child's control of them.

Two quick tips. 1st - ignore the printing of backward letters. This will not slow your child's  progress, is rarely dyslexia, and will self-correct by 2nd Grade. 

2nd - quit stopping to sound out. Stopping is counter-productive for everyone's short term memory. Instead, tell your child to keep reading, sliding over unknown words. After a paragraph or two, stop to recap what is happening so far in the story. Reread the paragraph, telling your child any unknown words as you go. As your child gets a stronger connection to comprehension, there will be fewer unknown words.

Your child wants the good feeling of completing a task but he will need your calm guidance to get himself on track. Do this:

Once you have one of my books or another skills-building book - start by cutting one page into three or four sections - top of page, middle of page, bottom. (If you are doing this with school assignments, call the teacher. Explain that you are trying something to help your child, get the teacher's permisson. Then be sure to place your child's work in a pocket folder so that none of the work gets lost.)

Tell your child to keep his eyes down on his work section until it is completed. When he has the section finished, he is to stand up and walk over to a box you have set aside for him to deposit his finished work. (Moving around is important to a child; so make it "task related.")

He can even give himself a star for having completed one section. You can give him a 2nd star on the section if the work is correct.

Next, have an assigned box for him pick up and do the 2nd section of his work; keeping his eyes on his page until it is completed.  Once you and your child have worked through this process a few times, you will see the beauty of it!

Write me; let me know how this works for you. I have used this structure with extremely troubled children in my classroom. Children love it!

I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. Please feel welcome to write me with questions. There is a comment space below.

Write with questions. Have a great day, Mary Maisner