Author Archives: Jessie

After the English reading student learns the short vowel sounds and the long vowel rule, the student should be introduced to the concept of digraphs. There are vowel digraphs, and there are consonant digraphs. The vowel digraphs, for the most part follow the long vowel rule. For example, ‘ea’ and ‘ee’ usually indicate the longContinue reading “Digraphs”

I woke up this morning while dreaming I was taking a multiple choice test.

One day I wanted to be a photographer. One day a writer, One day a teacher. This picture is from one day when I wanted to be a photographer.

The easiest and quickest way to teach the long vowel rule is to have the students themselves discover the rule using lists of words. Back — Bake, Bit–Bite, Bot–Boat, Cat–Cait, Cot–Coat, Cut–Cute, …, Wan–Wane

So, once you learn the basic consonant sounds, it’s time to study vowels. Vowels are like consonants in that they have a basic sound, but unlike consonants in that they change their sound when they are close together. The basic sound of a vowel is called the ‘short vowel sound’. a=/a/ as in ‘Cat’ e=/eh/Continue reading “Vowels”

There are basically three aspects of mastering the ability to read English. These are, using word attack skills, using sight word skills, and using comprehension skills. Word attack includes learning letter sounds and variations, all the way to learning root words, prefixes and suffixes. Using sight words requires some memorization of small words that one canContinue reading “Three Aspects of Reading English:”

This blog is on a brief hiatus while I recover from this cold. Coming in the future: The three parts of elementary reading and how they can work for you at any level.