I am happy to offer my phonics stories collection, which includes 20 individual stories. I specifically designed these stories to help struggling readers. They gradually progress in difficulty, allowing students to gain confidence as they build fluency. Each story focuses on an individual phonetic sound. This way, the student can build up his reading ability, one simple step at a time. My 20-set book collection is perfect for K-2 readers, readers who are struggling, and dyslexic readers.
Getting the Most Out Of My Phonics Stories
The stories in my phonics book set progress from easy to difficult. Therefore, it’s best to read them in sequence. Your child or student will gain confidence as they complete each book. Story difficulty progresses in two ways- length and phonetic sound.
The first measure of difficulty is length. The easiest stories are also the shortest. Consequently, they take less time to get through. Each time the student completes a story, he or she gains a little more confidence going into the next one. That’s why it’s important to start with the easiest ones- it makes it easier to transition into more difficult phonics stories.
The second measure of difficulty is in terms of phonics sounds. The first stories in my set start with the easiest phonics sound to pronounce, which is ‘short a’. From there, we move on to the next most difficult phonics sound, ‘short i’. This is followed by short ‘short o’, ‘short u’, and finally, by ‘short e’. If students begin with the easiest sounds, it’s make for a smoother progression toward more difficult ones.
The Method Behind My Phonics Stories
In putting together my phonics stories, I focused on methods that are proven to work. Oftentimes, reading specialists place theory at the forefront of their teaching approach. Consequently, they end up utilizing methods and techniques that are ineffective. My approach is the other way around. I stick to techniques that are backed by sound research and supported by positive results.
My overall philosophy for helping struggling readers is actually quite simple. In essence, I help them master the fundamental building blocks of learning to read. Once they have a good grasp of the basics, reading fluency comes about naturally.
Teaching the Fundamentals
When I refer to reading fundamentals, I am talking about phonics– the most common units of sound, as well as sight words. Once a struggling reader learns phonetics and masters all the individual sounds, they unlock many many words, far beyond the number of individual sounds. In sum, learning the parts allows them to grasp the whole. There is no way for a struggling reader to memorize the hundreds of thousands of words in the English language. However, if they memorize only the common sounds that make up the words, the words become much easier to master.
Untapped Reading Potential
Oftentimes, the reading potential of children is left untapped. Those around them see their struggle and give up hope. Consequently, these children are unable to properly express thoughts and feelings for lack of vocabulary. This in turn leads to long term behavioral problems. I vehemently oppose the defeatist notion that some children simply don’t have the required tools for reading literacy.
When a child fails to attain reading fluency, it is invariably a failure of the system, rather than the child. A research-based, results-oriented approach to teaching reading will always yield positive results when applied correctly. With my sequential phonics stories, I condensed all the most effective techniques I’ve learned into a fun and engaging package. No child should be left behind when it comes to reading fluency. All it takes is a little patience and a lot of practice!
Recommended Phonics Resources
There are plenty of great resources out there about phonics teaching methods. Here are some of the most useful ones I’ve come across.
Wikipedia Phonics Page
The Basics of Phonics
14 Phonics Rules for Reading and Spelling
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