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STEP 1
- TEACH THE VOWEL SOUND
The first step in the ReadingKey Student Vocabulary Wall technique is to
teach your student the short "a" sound made by the colored letters in each word
below. If you need to review the sound yourself – click the “short
a” link at top right. As you point to the red letter in each word,
your student should say the short “a” vowel sound. When this is done without
errors from top to bottom – proceed to Step 2.
STEP 2
- STOP AT THE VOWEL SOUND
The student is to then say the sounds made by the letters only up to the
color-coded vowel sound (with the first 4 words the vowel sound is the
first letter so stop there - for the final 3 words your student will
make the sound of - ca - ha
- ha. This technique teaches proper blending skills and gives the
child an effective and simple technique that can be used consistently
when attempting to read new words. When the child can say all “STOP AT
THE VOWEL SOUNDS” with no errors – proceed to Step 3.
STEP 3
- READ EACH WORD SLOWLY
Tell the child we are now going to do the same “STOP AT THE VOWEL SOUND”
trick as before, however, this time you want them to also add the
sounds after the red vowel sound - in other words – to read the
entire word. When words are all said from top to bottom with no errors
– proceed to Step 4. |
STEP 4
- TIMED READING
Get out
the stopwatch - To provide the practice necessary for permanent learning
– we are going to time the student on how long it takes to say all words
in the list. Record the student’s time in the vertical bar graph below
(Our actual time chart has 5 columns for recording up to five students)). When
3-4 seconds is
reached (most students can easily make the 3.5 second mark), have the student
next read the right "R" column words (which do not have the color sound
helper). When the student can do this in 3-4 seconds (you pick the
appropriate time goal), they are said
to have “PASSED” the list and given a well deserved - Congratulations !
PROOF OF PERMANENT MEMORIZATION
Once
your student has "passed" both columns, we want you to come
back the next morning
and test your student again (record their time in the third "Next Day" bar graph
column). You'll most likely find their first attempt on the 2nd
day is at or near their fastest time from the previous day. Their
second or third attempt is typically faster than their best time ever!
This clearly visible improvement is due to the efficient transfer of
information from short-term to long-term memory that research shows
occurs during the sleep process. |