OnTrack Reading

Preparation: Have this written on the board already: Main Rule: Stop each chunk after the vowel sound and use the First Vowel Sound.

Nearby, set off a spot on the board with four columns, drawing lines for five entries in the each of the first three columns and four entries in the fourth column. Leave room to add a heading to each column later.

Also, download this PDF file and make copies for each student: First Vowel Sound Practice

Finally, go to the Guide Page Notation for the 43 Sounds and review the vowel sounds in the curriculum if you think it necessary.

Class time elapsed: 0 minutes

Review the concept of a Vowel Sound giving a word volume, reminding them of fish with and without the /i/ sound.

Class time elapsed: 2 minutes

Ask the students to come up with new Vowel Sounds and an example word for each, telling them there are nineteen Vowel Sounds that will be covered in the course.

As students volunteer new vowel sounds, list them on the board using the following groupings and notations: Put /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/ together in the first column, leaving room at the top to write a heading later. Put /ae/, /ee/, /ie/, /oe/ and /ue/ in the second column again leaving room for a heading to be added later. Put /oo/, /oul/, /ow/, /oy/ and /aw/ in the third column and put /ar/, /or/, /er/ and /err/ in the fourth. Thus, if the first student volunteers the sound /ee/ with the example sheep go to the second column and put /ee/ in the second slot down on that column and write “sheep” next to the /ee/. Explain that the /../ means that a sound is indicated by the slash marks.

When a student volunteers a sound, say /oy/, but uses an example spelled with a different spelling of the /oy/ sound, just write /oy/ on the line reserved for the /oy/ sound (line 4 of the third column) and write his example, say coin, after it. Explain that there is more than one way to spell the /oy/ sound and that you will designate it with /oy/. Give them an example using that spelling, such as boy.

Class time elapsed: 7 minutes to get all 19 vowel sounds listed, even if you have to add the last ones yourself.

Explain to your students that the first column of sounds will be called the First Vowel Sounds and then

Write “First Vowel Sounds” as the heading of the first column.

Ask what a logical heading for the second column would be.

Write “Second Vowel Sounds” as the heading of the second column, ideally in response to a student suggestion.

Ask the class to quickly recite, from memory, the five Second Vowel Sounds.

Point out that they already have them memorized.

Ask the class to quickly recite from memory, the five First Vowel Sounds.

Here, point out that they don’t have them memorized yet, even though they were the first vowel sounds they ever studied in school, and that they must learn them just as well as the Second Vowel Sounds.

Note: At some point in the first three or four lessons you need to have the “This is not rocket science” discussion, and so if you have extra class time available here, do it now. Explain that many students struggle to learn to read because of undiagnosed and untreated vision problems when they were in first and second grade and that by the time the vision problems resolve one way or another, they have missed a lot of easy-to-learn, but important, information. Tell them that learning to read is not “rocket science” because six year olds manage to do it, but you have to have had the proper visual and motor skills in place or the instruction didn’t sink in. The point is to make it clear to your students that they can do this, and showing them that they can quickly and easily learn the First Vowel Sounds with just a bit of practice is a good way to start convincing them that they can, in fact, become much better readers.

Hand out a copy of the First Vowel Sound Practice sheet that you have already downloaded.

Demonstrate its use and tell them that learning to automatically be able to come up with the five First Vowel Sounds will be the first step in improving their reading of unfamiliar words.

Assign the task of learning to automatically be able to quickly say the five First Vowel Sounds on any of the lines of the practice sheet.

Class time elapsed: 10 minutes

Next mini-lesson: Applying the Main Rule

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