There is nothing magic about e
Magic, by definition, is unexplainable and mysterious; silent e isn’t that. When I hear teachers say "magic e" it usually makes my toes curl. I want to jump up and say what is so magical about it? What are these...
Thoughts From My Notebook
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Things could be so much easier if we understood the letter s
What possibly is there to know about <s> you ask? Well for starters it has two sounds, /s/ and /z/ as in cats and dogs, known as voiced and unvoiced sibilants. Teaching the two sounds to our students gives them...
Why not just call them phonemic and nonphonemic words?
Sight words, high-frequency words, red words…..are they the same thing? So what are the Dolch word list and the Fry lists all about? Why do we have these words grouped separately from other words? What makes them so special they...
What do you mean Orton Gillingham is emotionally sound?
When I look back on my career as an OG practitioner I can count on one hand, with fingers left over, the number of students who didn't like tutoring. Sure, sometimes they put up a little fight, however, once the...
Short a, sounds simple, right?
Introducing short a is so much more than just short a. When a student is learning to read and spell so many skills are being developed. It goes beyond memorizing words. Students who have not absorbed the English language,...
What is an Orton Gillingham lesson?
So often I hear from people, parents and teachers alike, “What really is Orton Gillingham?” Since Orton Gillingham is not a curriculum, but rather a discipline, it is like explaining an abstract noun! I find myself struggling to describe the...
Welcome to Thoughts From My Notebook
Looking back at my life I never imagined I would be here, talking to you now. I am quite sure none of my teachers would have predicted this either. I hated school, and it felt like school hated me back....