Decoding

Letters have a name and show a sound or sounds. ex. 'b': name /bee/, sound /b/.

With consonants, we use only the sound of the letter to read. With vowels, we use both the sound of the vowel (aka short vowel) and the name of the vowel (aka long vowel). Since a vowel/vowel team appear in every word, the focus in the text is on the vowel and vowel teams/letter pals since the consonant sounds are constant (except, 'c', 'g' 's').

Vowel (V): a single vowel most times shows the sound of the vowel (aka short vowel). The vowel self correcting principle is taught. Simply put, if the sound of the vowel does not work, then try the name of the vowel and vice versa. Ex. table, kind, ice, practice, etc.

Vowel Teams/Vowel Letter Pals

Vowel and 'w' (Vw); Vowel and 'r' (Vr); Vowel and 're' (Vre); Vowel-Consonant-'e' (VCe). Two Vowels (VV); Two Vowels and 'r' (VVr); Two Vowels and 'gh' (VVgh).

Being able to quickly label the vowel vowel teams in a word makes it easier for the student to 'chunk big words'. To chunk, the students simply locate the vowel/vowel teams and cut after them unless there are two or more consonants after the vowel/vowel teams at which point they cut between the consonants.

PACKBUS

Phonemic Awareness: recognizing that a word is made of discrete sounds at the phonemic level: 'cat': /c/ /a/ /t/; 'taught': /t/ /augh/ /t/

Code Knowledge: mastering, at the reflex level, the sound attached to a letter or letter team: 'a' shows /a/, 'dge' shows /j/

Blending: smoothly joining the sounds to come up with the pronunciation of the word. This skill is difficult for some students to master. However, frequent, short distributed practice sessions do help. The student should be taught to blend smoothly slowly dragging out the sounds, then saying the word normal speed: ex. 'and': /aaaannnd/, /and/. A word of caution: discourage 'choppy blending' in which the student says each sound separately and then attempts to say the word. ex. /a-n-d/, /and/. Once formed, this choppy blending creates a challenge to correct.

Understanding: making sure the student understands what he reads by having a visual, using the word in a simple sentence, etc. The only reason we decode print is to extract meaning.

Segmenting: recognizing the discrete phonemes (smallest unit of speech sound) in a word. In addition to the digital sound manipulation board (PACKBUS) and the suggested actions listed at the back of the text for teaching the letter sound relationships, other appropriate resources from the web could be used to supplement the program so as to create a richer multi-sensory learning environment. Sound Reading uses phonics controlled decodable text in the initial stages. In other words, the student is asked to read print containing only sounds taught. This builds success and leads away from forming the almost incorrigible bad habit of guessing words.

High Frequency Words (sometimes called 'sight' or 'tricky' words) are sprinkled across the text and are taught in a manner that reflects more on how the brain learns to read (based on the latest neuroscience findings^[1]) as opposed to learning them as 'whole words' to be blindly memorized.

Once students have mastered the basic code and can blend, they should be encouraged to read age appropriate authentic material fiction and non fiction.

One final, but very critical, observation is the parental/guardian role in the whole process. Reading with and to the child and dialoguing about what is read would produce miraculous results and therefore must not be underestimated but vigorously encouraged.

Sound Reading is not a complete language arts program. Its primary focus is to produce rapid decoding of print^[2] while developing some writing, vocabulary fluency and comprehension skills. It provides a solid foundation on which fluency, semantic, and syntactic knowledge and comprehension in depth can follow as the student moves from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn'.

¹ Stanislas Deheane:How the Brain Learns to Read (2009) Stanford Professor, Bruce MaCandliss, of the Graduate school of education and the Stanford neuroscience Institute Stanford study on brain waves shows how different teaching methods affect reading development He found that beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading. https://news.stanford.edu/2015/05/28/reading-brain-phonics-052815/ May 28, 2015)

² Relation between Early Reading Acquisition and Word Decoding with and without Context: A Longitudinal Study of FirstGrade Children. Stanovich, Keith E.; And Others Journal of Educational Psychology, v76 n4 p668-77 Aug 1984. “The speed and accuracy of skilled and less skilled first-grade readers were assessed in the fall and spring. Children read random lists of words and coherent paragraphs. Poor decoding skills, rather than an inability to use content to facilitate word recognition, caused the poor performance of less skilled readers.”