Spelling Games For Your Kids

Parents can do a lot when it comes to teaching their kids to check over and to enhancing the cognition they receive at school. One key way to mature their child's communication competencies and snatch of the English language is to help them in becoming good spellers. This need not be a formal lesson. With a little bit of thought, parents can devise fun ways for their youth to find out.

When our son was about four and had just begun to browse on his own, we would often play spelling games with him in the car. We would call out a word which we knew he'd be familiar with and he would take the challenge of strivingto spell the word. It was amazing how long this game would capture his attention and many long car rides were spent in this way. So it really is simple to come up with spelling games for kids. These games can be very no dilema, but the kids ferver the attention and praise when they spell a word correctly, and it's a good way for parents to keep up-to-date on their kids progress.

Some other ideas for spelling games for kids include drawing pictures on flash cards and then allowing the children to spell out the words using a corresponding set of alphabet cards. Or parents can devise a straight forward game of hangman that has long been on the directory of great spelling games for kids. There are likewise lots of these spelling games online. Parents can sit with their children and work on the spelling puzzles together. It's a great way to spend quality time together and kids of all ages can join in, especially if the puzzles can be randomized.

There are also mini-computer systems that characteristic spelling games for kids. These can be found in nearly any toy store. Parents can assist their children in choosing from a variety of topics - from math, art and language programs, that are sure to include spelling games as well.

If you just have some time to spend, a simple game of eye-spy can be turned into a spelling game, if the child must guess the object and then spell the word. Of course, parents would be careful to select objects that are within the child's range of ability.

There are lots of other spelling games for kids that can be made up, copied or purchased. The foremost dohickey is that the children are engaged and that the parents are really paying attention, since this will go a long way in making the spelling game fantastic for the kids and the parents.

And that’s what the experts say. At least now you know you’ve got the most accurate information, and you didn’t have to go through hundreds of sites to find it! Now that’s practical, convenient, and enlightening… didn’t we say you’d have a good read?

Phonics Is The Key To Strong Reading Skills

To date, over 180 research studies have confirmed that phonics is the best way to teach children how to read. Unfortunately, 80% of our nations schools do not use an intensified phonics approach for reading instruction.
They use a whole word approach (see and say) or a combination of phonics and whole word. While children can learn using the whole word method, it is not the best or most efficient way to learn how to read. The whole word method teaches reading through memorization and guessing. Unlike the Japanese and Chinese languages which are picture based, the English language is phonetic. There are only 44 sounds while there are about 1 million words in English.

These facts readily explain why having to memorize 44 sounds as opposed to memorizing hundreds of thousands of words is the most efficient way to learn to read. Reading and writing is simply talking on paper. When children learn to talk, they do so by imitating sounds. They then combine the sounds to form words. The brain is programmed to learn language in this fashion. Therefore, the most efficient way to learn to read is through phonics because it teaches children to read the same way they learned to talk.

A two decades study on the best way to learn how to read, funded by the National Institute of Health, discovered that the three important aspects of reading - identifying letters, identifying sounds associated with the letters, and reaching for meaning of the written word - are each accomplished by different parts of the brain.

A three-part plan that incorporates this information to guide you as you help your child learn to read.
- Part 1: Phonemic awareness, or learning the individual sounds that constitute a language, for example, "kuh" as the sound of "c".
- Part 2: Phonics, or the letter-sound relationships available in the language, for example, "kuh---aah---tuh" sounds out "cat".
- Part 3: Exposure to meaning of the written word through reading and being read to, for example, "kuh---aah---tuh" sounds out "cat" which is "a furry mammal that purrs".

These elements should be used as building blocks, each necessary to support the next. With phonemic awareness as the first block, a child can begin to puzzle out words in books. With the help of a parent or sibling by his side he'll begin to have the answers to questions he will soon begin to ask.

Now is the time to point out important clues, such as how letter sounds blend, how an "e" at the end of a word changes a vowel sound from short to long, how some consonants have more than one sound. Discuss lower and upper case letters. Point out the eighteen frequently used words best learned by sight. And remember to keep reading to your child to include exposure to meaning, the all important part 3.

What does your child need in order to read well?
You need to provide 4 things to your child, preferably at an early age, to build a proper reading foundation:
1. Phonics information and the ability to manipulate the sounds that make up spoken language.
2. Phonics skills and the understanding that there are relationships between letters and sounds.
3. The ability to read fluently with accuracy, speed, and expression.
4. To apply reading comprehension strategies to enhance understanding and enjoyment of what they read. There are many commercial reading programs available that combines whole word and phonics based principles. Whatever reading program you decide to use, make sure that it's recommended by parents and teachers, find out how long the program has been on the market and verify it's success rate.

By Rich Daniels

Practice Spelling for Children

Even as adults, there are some who have great aggravation when it comes to spelling. For some of these individuals, having to write a easy note to a teacher or even a concise email can be a daunting task. For still others learning disabilities impair their ability when it comes to spelling. On the other hand, whatever the reason, much improvement can be made if these ones take the time to practice spelling.

Added than likely, there are certain words in particular, that proffer a challenge when it comes to spelling. If lists of these dilemma words are made, a family member can be asked to do pop quizzes throughout the week, to assist the individual having difficulty. It can even become a game, and the thorough family can find involved and practice spelling as a quantify of sport.
So too, a good way to practice spelling is to write out the problem words on pieces of paper and stick them up around the house or office area. That way, by seeing the words spelt correctly, those having difficulty can resort to their memory of seeing the word written out, and thereby overcome their difficulty with spelling the actual word.

There are also online spelling tests that can be used to practice spelling. Some of these tests will also keep track of words that have given some difficulty and pop quizzes will be provided along the way.

For words that are especially difficult, one can even resort to writing lines. By writing the worry words out over and over, the right spelling can be imprinted on the brains. This is another good way to practice spelling.

For individuals who work in the medical field, info of medical terminology is normally required. This is another situation where practice makes perfect. A family member or a friend can be highly helpful in assisting the individual to practice spelling the highest difficult words, or the individual can practice the words themselves by recording their own voice saying each word and then playing it back and trying to spell each term correctly. With spelling the key to accuracy really is practice and any difficulty can be overcome if enough time is spent working on it.
Unfortunately, many young people come out of school barely being able to debate, so it's not surprising that accurate spelling can be such an field for so many. But with diligence and tough work this problem can be overcome.

After reading the article above you may ask yourself “did it take the writer a lot of time to do all of that research?” The answer to that is YES. The experts we ask to write the articles for the website are known for their fanatical attention to detail and quest for information so you are assured you are only getting the best.

Language and Phonics

There are two methods for teaching children to read; whole language and phonics. Whole language is a "whole - part" method of teaching children to read, while phonics is a "part - whole" reading method. These terms will be explained more fully in the article. The advantages and disadvantages of both of these methods have been debated for decades. School systems have switched from one method to another and back again countless times over the years. The debate continues. In the meantime, we as parents are still left asking the question, “What is the best way to teach my child to read?” My answer is an unequivocal combination of both methods, with a stronger emphasis on the phonics approach.

Phonics: The “part – whole” reading method
In the phonics method, children are taught how to "sound out" new words. Phonics is a series of rules that children have to learn, memorize and apply when they are sounding out new words. Children are taught a rule, for example, “short a”, and then they practice reading words with “short a” (hat, cat, sat, bat, rat, etc.) Then children do skill sheets at their desk highlighting the “short a” rule. Children must learn letter sounds to an automatic level - they must be able to see the letter(s) and say the sound immediately.

Most teachers who rely on the phonics method teach the rules in the following order:
Teach your child alphabet letter names and sounds. Start with the consonant letter sounds: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z · Blend sounds: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, wr, bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, scr, str, sm, sn, sp, sc, sk · Short vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u Always teach short vowel sounds first: a - apple, e - elephant, i- igloo, o - octopus, u - umbrella) · Digraph sounds: sh, ch, th, wh Two letters combine to make a totally different sound. · Double vowel sounds: ai, ea, ee, oa These pairs say the name of the first vowel. · Other double vowel sounds: oi, oo, ou, ow · Silent e: Silent e is bossy, it doesn't say anything but makes the vowel before it say its own name. · R controlled vowel sounds: ar, er, ir, or, ur Notice that er,ir and ur make the same sound.

The problem with relying solely on a phonics approach is that usually the reading/practice materials aren't very interesting, "See Spot run. Run Spot run. Spot runs fast." In addition, children who struggle in reading memorize phonic rules, and then are unable to apply phonic rules to connected print. To remedy this problem, two things must happen:

1. Only the most important phonic rules should be taught in the least complicated manner possible. For example, in teaching vowel sounds, it is distracting to talk about "short versus long" vowels. Instead, a child should be taught the short vowel sounds first. Then when a child encounters a long vowel as in the word find, tell him, "That vowel says its own name."

2. Phonics must be taught in a way that allows children to immediately practice phonic information in real stories. Every time a child is taught new phonic information, he should be given a short reading selection that highlights the phonic rule. Completing a skill sheet is good, but even better is to help the child practice applying the phonic skill to connected print.

Whole Language: The “whole – part” reading method
In the whole language approach, teachers use connected print to introduce reading to children. Children are encouraged to memorize words as whole units. They do hands-on activities such as writing in journals, and analyzing words in context, by using pictures, for meaning.

Teach your child how to read a couple of sentences or one paragraph until it sounds great. The whole language method helps your child learn to read "sight words." Sight words must be memorized because they don't follow phonic rules. Half of all words in the English language are sight words (the, said, find, etc.)

Whole language has strengths in that children begin to write early. They are involved in connected print, and they are using personal language skills making the process of reading more interesting. The weakness of whole language methods is that some children never get a full phonics foundation. They are unable to decode (sound out) unfamiliar words. Research has shown that good readers always use phonics to decipher new words.

To summarize, reading is best taught using a combination of three methodologies: · Auditory training - training for the ears to prepare the child's brain for reading. Auditory training was discussed in the first article in this series. · Phonics - knowledge of letter(s) sounds. A child cannot learn to read without proper knowledge in phonics. It is the foundation for success in reading.

by Tom & Shelley Cooper

Building Blocks to Reading

Phonics & Whole Language
The two basic philosophies on how to teach reading.
We will examine the two basic philosophies used to teach reading, whole language and phonics.

Phonics is the oldest method of teaching reading. Phonics is the systematic teaching of the mechanics of written language. That is the teaching of letter sounds, letter combination sounds, the rules of putting these combinations together, and then sounding them out to make word, sentences, and ideas.

Phonics seems to work well with most children. However if phonics is used in isolation or used in an inappropriate manner, children can misunderstand what reading is all about. For example, young children should not sit with a deck of flash cards for extended periods of time to drill phonics facts into their minds. Such inappropriate activities can cause a young child to decide they don't like to read and so avoid every opportunity to try reading. You can teach a child the mechanics of written language; but, without exposure to fine children's literature they may not develop that love of learning we want for all our children.

Whole Language is the most widely used method in US schools today. It is based on the philosophy that learning to read is a natural step in language development and that children will learn to read as naturally as they learned to speak.

When a child is born we begin to immerse him in spoken language. We coo, babble, and talk to and around our children from the day they are born. Almost every moment of their lives, they are surrounded by spoken language from radio, TV, siblings and adults. We immerse them in spoken language and they naturally learn to speak.

Whole Language has extended this process into reading. If we immerse a child in written language he will naturally learn to read. If we read to a child daily, label things, involve him in reading and writing activities, and immerse him in written language, he will learn to read just as simply and as naturally as he learned to speak.

A child who is read to often, but is taught no phonics, may one day pick up his favorite book and "read" his mother the picture story. The next thing you know, the child is really reading. This is how whole language works in a perfect world. However, whole language alone seems to break down when children at-risk are added to the picture.

Both of these philosophies seem to be valid methods for teaching children to read. The philosophy of most educators is a combination of whole language and phonics. Whole language and phonics can go hand-in-hand. We can use the best of both worlds to help our children achieve a love of learning that can last them their entire lives. A child should be immersed in written language and should also be taught the basic mechanics of written language.

Phonics Rules

The vowels are "a,e,i,o, and u"; also sometimes "y" & "w". This also includes the diphthongs "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others. The consonants are all the other letters which stop or limit the flow of air from the throat in speech. They are: "b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,qu,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z,ch,sh,th,ph,wh, ng, and gh".

1. Sometimes the rules don't work. There are many exceptions in English because of the vastness of the language and the many languages from which it has borrowed. The rules do work however, in the majority of the words.

2. Every syllable in every word must have a vowel. English is a "vocal" language; Every word must have a vowel.

3. "C" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "s". Examples: "cyst", "central", and "city".

4. "G" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "j". Example: "gem", "gym", and "gist".

5. When 2 consonants a joined together and form one new sound, they are a consonant digraph. They count as one sound and one letter and are never separated. Examples: "ch,sh,th,ph and wh".

6. When a syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel, that vowel is short. Examples: "fat, bed, fish, spot, luck".

7. When a syllable ends in a silent "e", the silent "e" is a signal that the vowel in front of it is long. Examples: "make, gene, kite, rope, and use".

8. When a syllable has 2 vowels together, the first vowel is usually long and the second is silent. Examples: "pain, eat, boat, res/cue, say, grow". NOTE: Diphthongs don't follow this rule; In a diphthong, the vowels blend together to create a single new sound. The diphthongs are: "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others.

9. When a syllable ends in any vowel and is the only vowel, that vowel is usually long. Examples: "pa/per, me, I, o/pen, u/nit, and my".

10. When a vowel is followed by an "r" in the same syllable, that vowel is "r-controlled". It is not long nor short. "R-controlled "er,ir,and ur" often sound the same (like "er"). Examples: "term, sir, fir, fur, far, for, su/gar, or/der".

Different writing systems require different reading skills
Unlike speech, which evolved over thousands of years, writing was invented, and many different writing systems have been invented in different parts of the world at different times in history. Some, like the traditional Chinese writing system, represent a whole word with a single symbol - writing systems like these are called logographies (Sometimes they are mistakenly called idiographies, but in an idiographic writing system, symbols represent ideas, not words - there is no known idiographic writing system in the world, although many primitive writing systems such as Mixtec do use a mix of logographs and idiographs.)

Logographic and syllabic writing systems
To learn to read in a logography, students must memorize the whole symbol for each new word they learn to read. This is an overwhelming challenge for literate adults because there is no theoretical limit on how many words can exist in a language, but there is a practical limit as to how many symbols we can learn (some say about 5,000 in isolation - although with contextual cues, it is possible to recognize a few thousand more). Estimates of educated adult vocabularies suggest that an adult knows between 50,000 and 75,000 words. Moreover, it is extremely taxing for a person to memorize and discriminate among the thousands of symbols that exist in a written language. Reading in a logographic system is often slow and laborious, and learning to read a logography is a lifetime endeavor. In short, logographies are somewhat inefficient, and because of this, they are being replaced by other writing systems.

Other writing systems represent word parts with symbols rather than representing whole words with symbols. For example, in the American Cherokee writing system (invented by Sequoya in the early 19th century), each syllable in the language is represented by a unique symbol, and those symbols are combined to make words (hence, they are called syllabaries). This is more efficient than a logography, because in any language, there are fewer syllables than words. The Cherokee language is even more suited for a syllabary than most languages because there are only about 65 unique syllables in the Cherokee language, and words in Cherokee typically follow an alternating vowel-consonant structure (VCVCV).

Alphabetic writing systems
Most languages of the world, however, like English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, etc., contain considerably more than 65 unique syllables, and the syllables do not follow a regular vowel-consonant pattern (consider the word strengths which only has one vowel). In these languages, it is more efficient to use a symbol to represent the phoneme, and to assemble written words at the phonemic level. English, which has thousands of unique syllables, only contains between 39 and 47 phonemes (the larger number includes diphthongs and glides as separate phonemes). Assembling words at the phoneme level is considerably more flexible, generative, and efficient than attempting to maintain a lexicon of symbols to represent either syllables or words, so it should come as no surprise that this writing system is the most universal writing system across languages.

The writing systems that use a symbol to represent a phoneme are called alphabetic writing systems, and while alphabetic writing systems are relatively efficient and easy to learn, they do vary in complexity. Consider English and Spanish as examples. In Spanish, there is nearly perfect one-to-one correspondence between the letters and the phonemes. In general, words in Spanish are spelled the way they sound - this is what linguists call a "shallow orthography." English, on the other hand, definitely does not have one-to-one correspondence between letters and phonemes. Many words in English are "irregular" or "exception" words, and are not spelled the way they sound. English, therefore, is an example of a "deep orthography."

In English, there are only two letters that always represent the same sound - the letter V always corresponds to the sound /v/ and the letter /q/ always corresponds to the sound /k/. Even in this case, however, the reverse is not true; the sound /v/ can be represented by either the letter V or the letter F (as in the word OF), and the sound /k/ can be represented by the letters C, Q, and K. This inconsistency between letters and sounds in English results in spelling ambiguity. Many words in English are "polyphonic," meaning there are multiple pronunciations for the same spelling ("If you turn your boat across the WIND, you will WIND up swimming ashore."); many other words are homophonic, meaning that, despite different spellings, they are pronounced the same ("It is a RITE of passage for children to learn to WRITE RIGHT"). Pollack Pickeraz (1963) argued that there are 45 phonemes in the English language, and that the 26 letters in English can represent the 45 phonemes in about 350 ways.

What all of this means is that there is no certain code for spelling in English - most of the time, if two words are spelled similarly, they are pronounced similarly (LONE, PHONE, BONE, TONE, CONE, ZONE, SHONE, STONE, SCONE), but there are almost always exceptions (ONE, DONE, NONE). In Spanish, if two words rhyme, they are spelled similarly, and if two words are spelled similarly, they sound alike, but in English, on average, that is only true slightly more than half the time, and in some extreme instances, the orthography is so deep, the exceptions are in the majority (TOUGH, PLOUGH, THROUGH, THOUGH, COUGH, THOUGHT).

This poses a problem for the teacher trying to help children to learn to read English text. One of the oldest questions facing teachers is to what extent, if any, children should be explicitly taught the rules of English pronunciation, given that there are exceptions to every rule. There might be less of a debate if letters always represented the same phonemes, but in English, there is very little consistency. The consistency is enhanced if the rules describe the whole word, rather than just the mapping between individual letters and phonemes (i.e. rather than saying A is always pronounced /a/, which is obviously untrue, some teachers have adopted more global rules that describe the context in which the letters are to be found, such as "an E at the end of the word is usually silent, and its presence makes the first vowel long."). These more global rules are, unfortunately, only marginally more universal, and they start to become so abstract and contrived, one wonders how useful they are for children learning to read. For example, "The vowels I and O MAY be long if followed by two consonants, e.g. FOLD or FIND." In addition to being difficult to parse, this rule is not very universal - it is just as likely, if not more likely, that any vowel - I or O or any other vowel - followed by two consonants will be short, as in PAST, RENT, TILT, ROCK, and RUST; ultimately, then, children who are taught this rule must learn that a vowel followed by two consonants is either long or short. This is called a tautology, and while it is true (all tautologies are true), it is not a particularly useful aid for the child learning to read.

Furthermore, given the complexities of these rules, one wonders if this is really how we read. Most people are unaware that "when two vowels go a-walkin', the first does the talkin,'" and yet their ignorance of this common decoding rule does not seem to affect their decoding skills in any way. In running text, we read over 240 words per minute - that's over 4 words per second - this efficient decoding system is clearly mediated by the letters of the words, but is there any mediation of the various phonics rules? For skilled readers, the answer is obviously, no; there is not enough time, and examining the rules is far too inefficient. Why, then, do we teach children to read the inefficient way.

It is clear that children need to be explicitly taught letter-sound relationships, and they need to learn to sound out words. All good readers process words at the letter level, so children need to be taught to pay attention to all of the letters in the word, and to sound out words they do not know. Can this be achieved by teaching children abstract rules like "when a suffix is attached to a word, and the final consonant is doubled, the vowel remains short?" It seems unlikely.

Another weakness of these rules is that skilled readers clearly don't follow these rules as stated. If they did, they would not be able to pronounce pseudowords like FINT, KINT, ZINT, DOLD, VOLD, and POLD. There are apparently two conflicting rules here -- sometimes the vowel is long, sometimes it is short. Which do you apply with new words like the ones I just listed? The first three pseudowords have a short vowel. The second three have a long vowel. Why aren't you confused about how to pronounce these words given that the rule seems ambiguous?

It seems clear that skilled readers do not explicitly consult rules to generate a pronunciation for a novel word. It seems instead that skilled readers depend on analogy - they implicitly compare the novel word against known words. No word in English, other than PINT, ends in INT and has a long vowel, so it is a safe bet that pseudowords like KINT also do not have long vowels. Many words do end in VCC and do have a long vowel, but in the case of INT, you are not even tempted to apply that rule. Likewise, many words end in VCC and have a short vowel, but in the case of OLD, you are not tempted to apply that rule either (POLD doesn't rhyme with PALLED). Now consider ONT - there are very few words in English that end in ONT. You have very little to generate analogies from, so it is not surprising that you are not so positive about how to pronounce pseudowords like BONT, SONT, or TONT. They might have short vowels, they might have long - in the absence of other words to compare them to, either interpretation is acceptable.

Returning to the question about what we teach children, children clearly need to be taught that there is some consistency between the letters and the sounds, but that consistency is somewhat limited. For example, the single letter A can represent four different sounds (HAT, HATE, ABOUT, HALT), and when combined with other vowels, it can represent two more sounds (HEAT and HAUTE). There are a host of sounds that the letter A can not represent (/t/ /s/ /f/, etcÉ), and of the sounds the letter A can represent, there are some it represents more than others (The French sound used in HAUTE is very rare. The sounds used in HAT and HATE are more common.). Children should just learn the regularities and consistencies, and deal with the exceptions as they arise. If mature readers read new words by comparing their internal structure to known words (reading by analogy), children need to be taught similarities between words, and they should be encouraged to build words and to explore word families, and an exploration of word families should explicitly deal with "black sheep" - words that seem to be part of the family, but which are pronounced differently. Words like DOVE will always present problems, and no rule will alleviate those problems. Teachers and children just need to deal with the difficult words as they arise on an individual basis.

Arguably the greatest weakness of phonics instruction is its dependence on explicit instruction of feeble and abstract rules. Pat Cunningham, in the introduction to her book, "Phonics They Use," draws a distinction between the attempts to explain our writing system (rules), and what good readers actually do when they come across an unfamiliar word. She argues that teachers can teach the rules, or they can teach strategies for solving problems. She notes that children often learn the rules and then fail to apply them when they are supposed to - teachers are often exasperated that a student who is able to recite the rules and apply the principles in exercises is not able to apply those principles when they are reading difficult text. Teachers need to understand that it is one thing to be able to explain a writing system, and it is something entirely different to be able to read.

-- by Sebastian Wren

Phonics Books

With PhonicsTutor software teaching phonics, reading and spelling, the phonics lesson plans in PhonicsTutor books are designed to work with the software to teach

PhonicsTutor® Workbook of Spelling & Grammar teaches and tests as students master the common sounds and spelling rules of our extended list of Orton-Gillingham phonograms. Davy DiacriticTM is an engaging character who informs and makes the learning of dictionary skills easy and fun. Grammar is included each step of the way. The 80 SilentSpellTM tests illustrate and assess what each student has learned.

PhonicsTutor® Classic Reader is not your ordinary reader. It motivates and teaches students to read with ease and enjoyment. It makes the crucial connection between grammar, meaning, and phonics that is missing in most other phonics programs.
PhonicsTutor® Classic Teacher's Manual is a must if you value your time. This book is a must for users of PT Classic. Its scope and sequence includes simulated screen shots of all vocabulary presentations. Lesson activities and suggestions for meeting the needs of different users are found throughout. Goals and focus are given for each unit.

PhonicsTutor has a reputation of teaching students of all ages to read when other methods have failed. Special education teachers and dyslexia experts highly recommend it for dyslexia and other reading disabilities.

PhonicsTutor® is by far the best and most complete phonics, reading, and spelling curriculum for the computer that I have ever seen. Phonics Tutor is superior in that it combines all three of these essential subjects into one comprehensive program.
Dan Kihlstadius, Reviewer,
Practical Homeschooling #22
See review Practical Homeschooling

"Ironically, the method that research upholds as the most empirically validated is also the most demanding: phonics-based learning. Tedious for kids, exceedingly difficult for both amateurs and professionals, the phonics method has been a pedagogical stepchild: respected, but definitely disliked. Because of this status, it's a pleasure to see that an old favorite of Education Update, 4:20 Communication's PhonicsTutor has finally released a new addition to its well-received phonics-based reading software, PhonicsTutor Frequent Words edition." Mitchell Levine, Reviewer

Phonics Software

The PhonicsTutor method of instruction teaches students the common sounds for an extended set of Orton-Gillingham phonograms with spelling rules. Beginning with single-letter phonograms and single-syllable words and progressing to multi-letter phonograms and multi-syllable words, PhonicsTutor allows students to gain phonemic awareness without the frustration of memorizing a large set of phonograms and associated spelling rules before reading words and sentences. By grouping words together that have a common spelling pattern and similar pronunciation, students can easily understand which phonogram says which phoneme. The phonics lesson plans in PhonicsTutor include presentation and investigation of the words, word analysis, word pronunciation, and a spelling test. Most lessons end with dictation of sentences. PhonicsTutor is easy enough to use by a 4-year old with supervision and is self-teaching for children ages 6 and older.



PhonicsTutor® Frequent Words CD-ROM
Those familiar with or using an Orton-Gillingham phonics programs will be delighted with PhonicsTutor Frequent Words. Spelling and the rules of spelling are taught from the very beginning. It is fast-paced and the right choice for most children over the age of 7.

PhonicsTutor® Classic CD-ROM
The extra drill on pronunciation, blends, and consonant digraphs makes PhonicsTutor Classic the right choice for ESL or younger students.

Sounding Out Phonics

Get the lowdown on why this teaching method is key to reading success.

If you're the parent of a beginning reader, chances are you're hearing a lot about phonics. Here's what you need to know about how your child will learn phonics and how you can help at home.

What exactly is phonics?
Phonics is knowing that sounds and letters have a relationship — it's that simple, and that complex. It is the link between what we say and what we can read and write. "Children need very explicit instructions on how the letters on a page correspond to the spoken word," explains Margie Gillis, Ed.D., project director of reading research studies at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut. A child who has mastered phonics can connect the sounds he knows with letters, then put them together to make words. (And then he can put words together to read sentences, and so on.)

Phonics offers your beginning reader the strategies she needs to sound out words. For example, she learns that the letter D has the sound of "d" as in "doll." Then she learns how to blend letter sounds together to make words like dog. It's not as easy as it sounds, because the 26 letters in our alphabet correspond to 44 sounds. But when your child has mastered it, this knowledge helps her read familiar words at an appropriate pace, and gives her the ability to decode and spell words she hasn't seen before.

Why is phonics important?
The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. But in order for your child to understand what he reads, he must be able to do it quickly and automatically, without stumbling over words. Phonics facilitates that process. With lots of practice sounding out words, in combination with other important reading skills such as phonemic awareness, letter recognition, vocabulary building, and concepts of print, he learns to read more fluently. Then he can turn his attention to grasping the passages.



How is phonics taught?
Systematically and sequentially. Teachers give children plenty of practice before moving on. Your child will read short, easy books, containing the particular letter sounds or words she's working on. Her teacher will give her lots of opportunities to read aloud, and will guide and correct her as she reads. There will also be lots of writing, to reinforce the sound-print connection. Here's what your child is likely to learn in each grade:

Kindergarten:
Letter recognition: learning the letters of the alphabet. Connecting some letters with their sounds (she'll know about 20 sound-symbol connections by the end of the year). Phonemic awareness: understanding that words are made of individual, separate sounds. She may be asked to clap out her name, make up nonsense words, or listen for the rhymes in a poem to build sound sensitivity. Reading and writing easy consonant-vowel-consonant words (in some schools). A few sight words.

First grade:
Mastery of short and long vowels. Letter combinations: The "b" sound plus the "r" sound makes the "br" blend, in which you can still hear both of the consonants you started with; "t" plus "h" makes a new "th" sound. Reading simple words, sentences and stories. Beyond phonics: word endings, like "ed" and "ing," and more sight words, such as is, was, have, and are.

Second grade:
Vowel combinations (what sound does "ea" make? How about "ai"?). Spelling patterns of increasing difficulty. Multisyllabic words and putting word parts together ("pan" plus "cake" equals pancake). Vocabulary and word recognition

How can I support phonics learning at home?
Reinforce schoolwork with easy activities.

Team up with the teacher. Ask how you can highlight phonics and reading. If you have concerns, share them. Struggling readers should be given extra-intensive instruction, either in the classroom, or in small groups with the school reading specialist. "Don't be satisfied if the teacher says 'Let's just give it some time,'" emphasizes Dr. Gillis. Children need help as early as possible in order to catch up.

Listen to your child read daily. "If he stumbles on a word, encourage him to sound it out," suggests Marci McGowan, a 1st grade teacher at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, New Jersey. But if he still can't get it, provide the word so he doesn't get discouraged. Take turns reading a paragraph at a time, to help make it more fun.

Boost comprehension. Ask questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" or "What did he mean by that?"

Revisit familiar books.
It's okay if your child wants to read favorites from earlier years. Reading easy books helps kids develop fluency, and makes them feel successful in those early stages, says McGowan. If a book has more than 5 unknown words on a page, it's too challenging, she adds.

Read aloud. Choose books on topics that excite your child, and read with gusto, using different voices for the characters. This is where you can expose your child to more challenging literature to enrich vocabulary. In the early grades, her listening level far exceeds her reading level.

Spread the joy. Show your child how much you value reading by having plenty of books and magazines around the house. And visit the library and bookstores often. You'll cultivate a lifelong love of reading in your child.

by Ellen H. Parlapiano

Child bedroom furniture

Give your child to feel his self like an adult by taking part in the selection of his bedroom furniture.

Each piece of child bedroom furniture is expertly made, attractive, and sturdy; you and your child will love how the new furniture in their room looks and feels.

When you are perusing through inventory of children’s bedroom furniture, pay close attention to the wide variety of beds featured. The styles of beds in youth bedroom furniture collection range from simple, classic wood bed designs that will look great in any room to fun, metal bunk beds, perfect for when your child has a guest. Also beds that are geared for little girls, like our canopy beds, and those that are tailored for little boys, like our Targhee Captains bed. Beds are made specifically for a smaller individual, yet comfortable and built to last. Your children will love their bedroom furniture for many years to come.

When you and your child are looking for children’s bedroom furniture, shop around. You will be looking for better price. Look for low price, and high quality.

Italian furniture

If you would like to know something about Italian furniture I can say that this is the finest brand I have ever seen, because of their individuality.

The Italian furniture industry is the largest in the world. This furniture is valued for its style, quality and functionality. In Italy, there exists a strong relationship between furniture designers and furniture manufacturers. This allows the designers to be creative while knowing that their products will be made to the highest quality.

The Italian culture places a high value on beauty. The centre of the world fashion industry is in Milan and this influence has extended to the world of furniture design. Italian furniture, designed for all rooms of the house, is not just beautiful, but always useful as well.

Lexington furniture

I want to say that this furniture helps you to realize your personal vision of how life at home should feel.

Lexington Home Brands has grown over the last 100-plus years into a brand and lifestyle leader. As a full-line furniture manufacturer, Lexington Home Brands produce bedroom, dining, casual dining, occasional, home entertainment, home office, youth, upholstered, leather, and wicker furniture.
Lexington bedroom furniture, and Lexington baby furniture come in styles for every aspect of life.

The company produces furniture in a wide range of styles, including soft modern, transitional, sophisticated and relaxed country, cottage, and casual, American and European traditional, Victorian, and eighteenth century.

Furniture refinishing

As I know, old furniture can be refinished and if your furniture are with a little elbow grease you can make it handsome again. You just need to understand the basics of refinishing techniques.

When refinishing furniture, you must do the most unpleasant part of the job first. Removing the old finish can be a cumbersome and messy task. For a while early in the process, until you start getting down to the wood underneath the mess, you may feel that you have completely ruined the piece. Have patience. Once you get to the point of final sanding the wood, you will have graduated from making a mess to creating a masterpiece. When you are finished, you will be proud of what you were able to create.

You can remove old paint and varnish in a couple of different ways, primarily by sanding and by the use of chemical strippers. Heat guns can also be used for stripping and are sometimes used as a supplement to the other methods in the removal of a particularly stubborn finish.

Sanding is a good method only if you have good sanding equipment and are experienced in the use of such equipment. If you are trying to remove an old finish by hand sanding or with a common orbital finishing sander, you will work yourself into a puddle and waste a lot of sandpaper. On the other hand, belt and disk sanders can remove finishes quickly, but since they are capable of removing so much material, you must be very careful not to disfigure the piece by sanding too deeply. It is also difficult to sand varnish from round or decoratively curved areas such as turned table legs.

Chemical strippers, commonly called "paint strippers," are an effective means of removing paint and varnish from wood furniture or projects. Using these chemicals is probably the fastest and easiest method for most people. Despite what you may read on the back of a can, if you want to do a really good job, some sanding will still be required after the old finish is removed by the stripper.

Making Sense of Reading

Principals and administrators across the country can relate to this scenario. They know that quick fixes are not likely to help when children are not learning to read. The root of the problem is often related to what teachers know and understand about children's learning to read. Many teachers do not have a conceptual understanding of reading. In addition, teachers often do not know what parts of their reading instruction work or do not work, and as a result, why their students' test performances are high or low.

For years, teaching reading has focused primarily on curriculum and instruction. Teachers were expected to follow the teacher's guide and deliver instruction. As long as they were equipped with the necessary curriculum, administrators and the public assumed every child would become a successful reader. This expectation has not been met, however; not every child has become a successful reader.
To address the problem of low reading achievement, principals and district administrators typically have responded by adopting yet another "reading program" in hopes that just the right one will help children learn to read. If the new reading program again results in low reading scores on the achievement tests, as often happens, the cycle begins again. What can principals and district administrators do differently to help increase scores on reading achievement tests?
The focus needs to shift from teaching reading to learning to read. This means that teachers begin to weigh the results of their teaching. One question that helps teachers make this pivotal shift is " What reading skills have my students learned?" Depending on the answer, a teacher can determine whether to move ahead or go back and teach again, perhaps, in a different way, based on individual student needs.
Because children's backgrounds, learning needs, and skills vary, effective reading instruction depends upon three main components. Teachers must assess children's reading skills in an on-going manner and use assessment information to customize instruction to individual student needs. In addition, teachers must participate in on-going professional development to gain knowledge of reading and reading instruction.
In a meeting sponsored by SEDL, school, district, and state leaders explored issues that principals and other administrators face in creating and supporting effective reading programs. These leaders acknowledged that no silver bullets exist, that developing teachers who diagnose reading needs and prescribe reading instruction according to student's individual needs takes time, and that the capacity to deliver significant results on standardized tests requires a district of skilled teachers. Working from this perspective, principals and district administrators can build an effective reading program for their campuses and, ultimately, for their districts.

Furniture repair

From my point of view, to make your furniture repaired you must do the following things.

Never repair your own furniture unless you are absolutely certain you are performing the right procedure. Many "homespun" repairs do more harm than good. One of the most common homespun repairs is on wobbling chairs. The amateur handyperson turns the chair upside down, squirts some glue into the hole, lets it dry and assumes the problem is solved. Sometimes, the person will hammer a nail into the area making matters worse. By this time the correct repairs will be even more expensive because the glue and the nail must be removed without further damaging the wood.

Insist that your furniture repairs are not only strong and look good, but that they are also repairable in the future. Choose a finish that not only looks and wears well but that is repairable and refinishable. Choose a repair that recognizes that next time it might break on the next layer of wood fibers.

Know how you want to use the piece before you restore it. There is a difference in restoring an item for everyday use and restoring primarily for decorative appearance. It is one thing to simply refinish an item, but is another to restore it or make it match another item.

Garden furniture

I must say that garden furniture certainly isn’t a necessity to make your plants grow, but it makes it much easier to sit and enjoy them

A well-placed bench can be a visual focal point as well as an invitation to rest. Chaise lounges and dining tables can turn a deck or patio within a garden into an outdoor room and add living space to your home.

Teak is considered to be the premier wood used for garden furniture because it is heavy, durable, rot-resistant, maintenance-free, and does not splinter. It does not have to be sealed, stained, or finished. It can be left outdoors untreated and withstand the elements for years. After a couple of seasons in the sun, teak weathers from a warm honey brown to an attractive silvery gray.

Tectona Grandis is an extremely dense hardwood of the family Verbenaceae. It is indigenous to India, Burma, Thailand, Indochina and Java. The harvest of teak does not destroy rain forests -- it cannot even grow in rain forests. It is a deciduous tree that grows well in the dry, hilly terrain typical of plantation forests in Southeast Asia.

Teak furniture

I should say that this furniture are a symbol of luxury and with its rich quality is the ideal choice for people who are looking for affordable furniture with remarkable value.

Furniture Teak is the direct importer of quality furniture made from Teak, Mahogany and other fine tropical woods. You pay only for the furniture and not the overhead.

They can make customized furniture for you made from your choice of wood, finish and style. Any style can be made from antique, colonial, chinese, chippendale or anything else. Most of their furniture is shipped with no finish so you can easily match the colors you have or put on a special finish. They ship directly to you anywhere in the world directly from Indonesia. They can save you thousands of dollars because there are no middlemen here, just direct from their factory to you.

Furniture outlet

I think that the furniture outlet shop is an ideal place to find slightly damaged new furniture, because these items are priced so low.

Especially, if the condition of an item from a manufacturer doesn't meet the rigid standarts it will cost not so expensive, or pehaps if furniture from a manufacturer became damaged in transit, it will be placed in Outlet Furniture Shop at deep discounts, many times at pennies on the dollar. Inventory is limited to stock on hand. All items are sold as-is and ready for you to take home immediately. The outlet accepts cash, check, and most major debit and credit cards. Financing is available.

The Office Furniture Outlet is the worldwide leader in office furniture liquidations. Their team of employees works hard to find the highest quality used office furniture to buy and sell. They are very experienced in removing used office furniture from its existing home in a careful manner that maintains its quality and value. Once they remove the furniture, they are able to offer the high quality furniture to potential buyers at significant discounts. They sell to individual consumers through our online store as well as our retail store located in Baltimore, MD. They also sell to larger buyers like corporations and furniture resellers through our online store as well as our retail store. Their real time inventory is unique in the used office furniture liquidation industry and provides an invaluable resource for both their consumers as well large scale buyers.

Their customers rave about the opportunity to purchase high quality used office furniture at deep discounts. Their customers constantly ask how they are able to acquire such great office furniture and sell at such low prices. They are able to sell for such low prices because of the high volume of furniture they purchase. They pass the cost savings directly to their clients who in return continue to be repeat buyers.

American furniture

I can say that with this American furniture company you can save a bunch of money, because it is not too expensive and very comfortable.

American Furniture made in the last half of the 17th century by American colonists. Furniture made by the earliest settlers, none of which is known to have survived, was probably crude and makeshift. The earliest known American-made furniture dates from the mid-17th century, when life in the colonies was becoming more settled.

Now American Furniture company is located in San Gabriel, California. American Furniture has evolved into a full capacity manufacturer of steel and corporate furnishings.

Products are solely distributed through authorized dealers.Known for our quality throughout the design and dealer community, American Furniture continues to manufacture each product with the highest levels of standards and pride. They also treat every project with equal consideration, always keeping your priorities in mind.

Bombay furniture

I think that Bombay furniture are applied to a rather extensive class of furniture pieces originally manufactured in the city of Bombay.

The wood used is Shisham or blackwood (Dalbergia), a hard-grained dark-colored timber which with proper treatment assumes a beautiful natural polish. Much of the so-called Bombay furniture is clumsy and inelegant in form, defects which it is suggested by experts, like Sir George Birdwood, it owes to the circumstance that the original models were Dutch. Some of the smaller articles, such as flower stands, small tables, and ornamental stands, are, however, of exceedingly graceful contour, and good examples are highly prized by collectors. The carving at its best is lace-like in character, and apart from its inherent beauty is attractive on account of the ingenuity shown by the worker in adapting his design in detail to the purpose of the article he is fashioning.

The workmen who manufacture the most artistic Bombay furniture are a special class with inherited traditions. Often a man knows only one design, which has been transmitted to him by his father, who in his turn had had it from his father before him. In recent years under European auspices efforts have been made with a certain measure of success to modernize the industry by introducing portions of the native work into furniture of Western design. In the main, however, the conventional patterns are still adhered to. Bombay boxes are inlaid in geometrical patterns on wood. The inlaying materials consist of the wire, sandal wood, sapan wood, ebony, ivory and staghorn, and the effect produced by the combination of minute pieces of these various substances is altogether peculiar and distinctive.

Harlem furniture

I must say that this furniture is excellent because of their quality.

This furniture are named Harlem Furniture because of its flagship location on Harlem Street, the company was founded by Sam Berman in 1912 in downtown Chicago. The family-run furniture retailer (Berman's grandson, Bruce, is president and CEO) sells furniture by the room at a discount and operates about 15 retail stores, primarily in Illinois.

In 2005 private equity firms Pouschine Cook Capital, Bear Growth Capital, and Mercantile Capital, acquired a controlling stake in Harlem Furniture. With the increased funding, the company expects to double in size within four years, expanding its store count in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Wholesale furniture

As I know it is very interesting method of puchasing a furniture, because you can create your own custum made furniture design which will be good-looking in any room you want.I think that the best wholesale furniture you can purchase are located in the Indonesia.

The craftsman here in Indonesia spend long hard hours slowly creating the most beautiful pieces of furniture "art" I have ever seen in my whole life. They can take nothing more than a photo or rough sketch and recreate masterpieces out of wood, really good isn't it? ;). If you would like they can assist you to create a new design described by you. They will personally work with you to produce a photo mock up of your descriptions. Once finalized they can take that to the master wood craftsmen here and they will recreate it into a piece of furniture art you can not find anywhere else in the world. Each piece of furniture they build whether it is our standard designs or one you create is unique.

Strengthen Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Most parents want their children to have a healthy sense of self-esteem and many believe that low self-esteem lies at the bottom of many of society’s problems.

Even though self-esteem has been studied for decades, its precise nature and development is still subject to debate. However, child development experts generally agree that parents and other adults who are important to children play a major role in laying a solid foundation for a child’s self esteem development.

When parents and teachers of young children talk about the need for good self-esteem, they usually mean that children should feel good about themselves. With young children, self-esteem refers to the extent to which they expect to be accepted and valued by the adults and peers who are important to them.

Self esteem is so important in young children because it is a self fulfilling prophecy. The more confident children feel about their social, physical and intellectual success then the more likely they will succeed. Conversely, the less confident children feel then the more likely they will fail.

Children with a healthy sense of self-esteem feel that the important adults in their lives accept and care about them. They feel that those adults would be upset if anything happened to them and would miss them if they were separated. Children with low self-esteem, on the other hand, feel that the important adults and peers in their lives do not accept or care about them very much.

During their early years, young children’s self-esteem is based largely on their perceptions of how the important adults in their lives judge them. The foundations of self-esteem are laid early in life when infants develop attachments with the adults who are responsible for them. When adults readily respond to their cries and smiles, babies learn to feel loved and valued. Children come to feel loved and accepted by being loved and accepted by people they look up to. As young children learn to trust their parents and others who care for them to satisfy their basic needs, they gradually feel wanted, valued, and loved.

Self-esteem is also related to children’s feelings of belonging to a group and being able to adequately function in their group. When toddlers become preschoolers, for example, they are expected to control their impulses and adopt the rules of the family and community in which they are growing. Successfully adjusting to these groups helps to strengthen feelings of belonging to them.

Young children are unlikely to have their self-esteem strengthened from excessive praise or flattery. On the contrary, it may raise some doubts in children; many children can see through flattery and may even dismiss an adult who heaps on praise as a poor source of support–one who is not very believable.

As they grow, children become increasingly sensitive to the evaluations of their peers. When children develop stronger ties with their peers in school or around the neighborhood, they may begin to evaluate themselves differently from the way they were taught at home. You can help your child by being clear about your own values and keeping the lines of communication open about experiences outside the home. You can also help by teaching your child to socialize well with other children and encouraging interaction with children with similar family values.

Children do not acquire self-esteem at once nor do they always feel good about themselves in every situation. A child may feel self-confident and accepted at home but not around the neighborhood or in a preschool class. Furthermore, as children interact with their peers or learn to function in school or some other place, they may feel accepted and liked one moment and feel different the next. You can help in these instances by reassuring your child that you support and accept him or her even when others do not.

Self-esteem is most likely to be fostered when children are esteemed by the adults who are important to them. To esteem children means to treat them respectfully, ask their views and opinions, take their views and opinions seriously, and give them meaningful and realistic feedback.

A child’s sense of self-worth is more likely to deepen when adults respond to the child’s interests and efforts with appreciation or interest rather than just praise. Respond positively by taking their interests seriously with appropriate encouragement, for example, reading a book about dinosaurs or studying worms in the garden.

Young children are more likely to benefit from tasks and activities that offer a real challenge than from those that are merely frivolous or fun. Young children can be given appropriate responsibilities and tasks that make them a part of the community or family.

You can help your child develop and maintain healthy self-esteem by helping him cope with defeat as well as success. In the moment of failure remind your child that you still love and support him. Later, when the initial emotional response has passed talk with your child about the situation. Sometimes, it is important to point out that most people are not good at everything they try. Or perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from a mistake or lack of preparation. Teaching children to work past the small disappointments and troubles of childhood can help them handle the greater challenges life will throw in their path.

As a parent you play a primary role in the development of your child’s sense of self worth and that sense of self will play a crucial role in your child’s future success. Showing your child that you value and care for her and helping her learn to value herself can go a long way to building that important sense of self esteem.

Phonemic Awareness

In recent years the field of reading education has changed dramatically and many reading instructors have divided between phonic instruction and whole language. Various reading programs that fall into one of the two camps have spent millions advertising the relative merits of both.

The simple truth of the matter is that the best reading instruction takes place using a combination of both strategies. And increasingly reading research has demonstrated that phonemic awareness, not simply phonics, is critically important to ensuring reading success–especially for students with learning disabilities.

However what makes this so confusing for many parents and caregivers is that the term “phonemic awareness” is tossed around so often and in so many different ways. Phonemic awareness concerns the structure of words rather than their meaning. To understand the construction of our written code, words, readers need to be able to reflect upon the spelling-to-sound correspondences. To understand that the written word, beginning readers must first have some understanding that words are composed of sounds (phonemic awareness) rather than their conceiving of each word as a single indivisible sound stream.

The development of this awareness cannot be accomplished in one simple step but rather over time. It is also important to note that these skills are actually pre-reading skills. Children do not necessarily recognize any of these elements on the page but rather by ear.

The stages of phonological development toward the end goal of deep phonemic awareness can include:

• Recognition that sentences are made up of words.
• Recognition that words can rhyme & the ability to make rhymes
• Recognition that words can be broken down into syllables & the ability to do so
• Recognition that words can be broken down into onsets and rimes & the ability to do so
• Recognition that words can begin with the same sound & the ability to make these matches
• Recognition that words can end with the same sound & the ability to make these matches
• Recognition that words can have the same medial sound(s) & the ability to make these matches
• Recognition that words can be broken down into individual phonemes & the ability to do so
• Recognition that sounds can be deleted from words to make new words & the ability to do so
• Ability to blend sounds to make words
• Ability to segment words into constituent sounds

Phonemic awareness is more complex however than simple auditory discrimination, which is the ability to understand that cat and mat are different words. To be able to describe how they are similar and how they are different demonstrates a level of phonemic awareness. Young children are not normally asked to consider words at a level other than their meaning, although experience with rhymes may be the first indication for children that they can play with the structure of words.

Learning to recognize and play with rhyme is often the beginning of phonemic awareness development for many children. To be aware that words can have a similar end-sound implies a critical step in learning to read. Sensitivity to rhyme makes both a direct and indirect contribution to reading.

Directly, it helps children appreciate that words that share common sounds usually also share common letter sequences. Later exposure to common letter sequences then makes a significant contribution to reading strategy development.

Indirectly, the recognition of rhyme promotes the refining of word analysis from larger intra-word segments (such as rhyme) to analysis at the level of the phoneme (the critical requirement for reading).

Studies show a very strong relationship between rhyming ability at age three and performance at reading and spelling three years later. A number of studies have reinforced the value of such early exposure to rhyming games.

Rhyming and phoneme awareness are related. Studies have shown that children who are capable of good discrimination of musical pitch also score high on tests of phonemic awareness. Since pitch change is an important source of information in the speech signal, it may be that sensitivity to small frequency changes, such as is involved in phoneme recognition, is an important aspect of successful initial reading. Such results raise the interesting possibility that musical training may represent one of those pre-reading, home-based experiences that contribute to the marked individual differences in phonemic awareness with which children start school.

So, what do you teach? Techniques that target phoneme awareness most frequently involve direct instruction in segmenting words into component sounds, identifying sounds in various positions in words (initial, medial, final), identifying words that begin or end with the same sound, and manipulating sounds in a word such as saying a word without its beginning or end sound.

Most of the phoneme awareness activities should not take more than 15 or 20 minutes to complete. Although a particular activity can be selected well in advance, the specific words targeted for phoneme awareness should be selected from material familiar to your child — such as a book you recently read together or a game or a family outing. Phoneme awareness activities are a natural extension of the shared reading activities.

A natural and spontaneous way of providing children with exposure to phonemes is to focus on literature that deals playfully with speech sounds through rhymes. Simple rhyme patterns are easily recalled after repeated exposure, and children will get the idea of creating new rhymes. In “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” (Seuss, 1974), initial sounds of everyday objects are substituted as a child talks about the strange creatures around the house, such as the “zamp in the lamp.” Children can make up their own strange creatures in the classroom such as the “zuk in my book.”

Alliteration is the repetition of an initial consonant sound across several words, such as presented in the alphabet book “Faint Frogs Feeling Feverish” and “Other Terrifically Tantalizing Tongue Twisters”.

Assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds within words, is often combined with rhyme, as in “It rains and hails and shakes the sails” from “Sheep on a Ship” or in humorous ways such as “The tooter tries to tutor two tooters to toot” in “Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses”. Some books include music to go with the rhymes, such as “Down by the Bay”, in which two children try to outdo one another in making up questions that rhyme, such as “Did you ever see a goose kissing a moose?”

Spend some time in the children’s section of your library or browse through your child’s book shelves at home to look for books that deal playfully with language. Read and reread the stories and comment on the language use then encourage predictions of sound, word, and sentence patterns (for example, “What sound do you hear at the beginning of all those words?”) and invent new versions of the language patterns utilized in the stories.

Research has demonstrated not only a predictive relationship between phoneme awareness and reading success, but also a causal relationship. Phoneme awareness that has a positive impact on reading can be developed in children through systematic instruction. Early training in phoneme awareness should be a priority for those interested in improving early reading instruction and in reducing reading failure.

Some other activites include:

Making Word Families Charts: Charts can contain words from one story or a brainstormed list from the children. The children can dictate the words to be placed on a word family chart. As they begin to develop letter/sound knowledge, they can copy or write the words themselves. You can use magnetic letters to “create” words for a word family chart. Provide a rime of plastic letters (e.g., at) and have the children take turns placing different letters in the onset position to create new words (e.g., hat, bat, sat, rat). These charts can be used as reference charts (or the children can make their own word families reference book) for spelling and creative writing activities.

Odd Word Out: Four words, three of which rhyme, are presented (e.g., zveed, bead, pill, seed ). The child determines which word is the odd one that doesn’t belong with the others. The game of concentration or memory is a good practice activity for rhyme recognition.

Alliteration: Sound personalities can be introduced naturally and in context by selecting a particular sound to talk about that is stressed in alphabet or other books that use alliteration. For example, presenting “smiling snakes sipping strawberry sodas” for the alphabet letter S. It is helpful to create or provide pictures that represent these sound personalities and to post them as each is introduced. A natural connection can sometimes be made between the sound and the letter, such as presenting a picture of “Sammy snake” drawn in the shape of the letter S or “Buzzy bee” flying in a pattern of the letter Z. Besides providing a label to facilitate talking about sounds, the pictures provide self-correcting cues for children engaged in initialsound isolation and sound-to-word matching activities.

Counting: To count syllables in words, activities can be used such as clapping hands, tapping the desk, or marching in place to the syllables in children’s names (Ma- ry), items in the immediate environment (win- dow), or words from a favorite story (wi-shy, wa-shy). Initially, two- syllable words can be targeted, building up to three.

Sound Synthesis: Sound synthesis can be done using the following sequence: blending an initial sound onto the remainder of a word, followed by blending syllables of a word together, and then blending isolated phonemes into a word. Model this by blending an initial sound onto a word by using the jingle “It starts with /n/ and it ends with ight, put it together, and it says night.” When they have the idea, the children supply the final word. An element of excitement can be created by using children’s names for this activity and asking each child to recognize and say his or her own name when it is presented- “It starts with /m/ and it ends with ary, put it together and it says ———.” Context can be provided by limiting the words to objects that can be seen in the room or to words from a particular story the children just read. As the children become proficient, they can take turns using the jingle to present their own words to be blended.
Sound-to-Word Matching: Requires that the child identify the beginning sound of a word. Awareness of the initial sound in a word can be done by showing the children a picture (dog) and asking the children to identify the correct word out of three: “Is this a /mmm/-og, a /d/d/d/-og, or a /sss/-og?” A variation is to ask if the word has a particular sound: “Is there a /d/ in dog?” This can then be switched to “Which sound does dog start with-/d/, /sh/, or /1/?” This sequence encourages the children to try out the three onsets with the rime to see which one is correct. It is easiest to use continuants that can be exaggerated and prolonged to heighten the sound input. Iteration should be used with stop consonants to add emphasis.

Restaurant furniture

I should say that if you are looking for a restaurant outdoor furniture, you need solid, reliable and practical furniture that also fits in with your design and helps project the right image to the right customer.

This outdoor furniture is used world-wide, in particular in restaurants, hotels and schools, as well as in the home. Weather-resistant materials, such as aluminum, steel, teak and polypropylene, and combine this with practical designs that are easy to stack or clean.

When selecting dining sets for a restaurant, you have several options to help you match your environment. Tables are available in stainless steel with different surfaces, such as smooth or a non-glare hologram effect, or teak. Round, square or rectangular tables range from 24" wide to 42". And there are several bar height tables too. Table bases are constructed of anodized tubular aluminum and are totally water resistant.

A wide range of seating is available to match the tables, from traditional, to original to striking. The AL 108 side chair is a fairly traditional tubular aluminum and PVC wicker side chair seen in many restaurant settings. For a brighter, more striking effect, the SA 142 steel chair is made of powder-coated steel and polypropylene in several colors, including orange, aqua and electric blue. Many chairs are stackable.

Bobs furniture

I think that this is very fashionable furniture which are available for all people.

Bobs Discount Furniture has provided fashionable, affordable home furnishings and bedding to its New England neighbors. The first Bobs, a modest showroom in Newington, Conn., laid the groundwork for the well-deserved reputation of genuine value and customer care that the company now enjoys. It was that reputation that drove the company's quick expansion statewide and into western Massachusetts. In 2000, Bobs began to look north, and entered the New Hampshire, Boston perimeter and southern Maine markets. The continued success and credibility of this homegrown company has now led to the opening of showrooms in Providence, Rhode Island; Nanuet, New York; and Totowa and Paramus New Jersey, for a total of 25 stores chain-wide.

Bobs caters to the family. While shopping, adults and children are invited to enjoy free refreshments in Bobs cafes or, depending on the store, take a break to watch a movie, play a video game or hit a round of miniature golf. At Bobs, the Customer truly is Number One.

To support continued success and unparalleled service to customers, Bobs is always seeking quality.

Bar furniture

I think that furniture for bar are designed to be stylish enough to compliment the decor of virtually any home, yet are still durable enough to provide years of lasting enjoyment.

A bar stool is almost essential to have when there is a breakfast bar in the home. These are usually high counter tops that can be used for an informal or quick meal as well as a variety of other purposes. Stools for bars are also higher than a normal chair and are perfect for sitting at such a unique area. There are several types of stools and chairs including those bar furniture pieces that are constructed from fine woods and those that are made from nicely finished metals.

While we carry bar furniture that is made from several different materials including wood and metal, we also carry pieces that come in several different styles and types including those which would fit in well at a pub. Tables and bar stools that have that pub look are extremely popular, especially amongst people who want to incorporate a fun and eclectic decorative scheme into their homes. These pieces are great for game and entertainment rooms, and even work well as an alternative dining set in the kitchen or dining room. You often have the opportunity to acquire a bar pub table that is separate from the pub table bar stools or you can also often be purchased as a set. Either way their durable and stylish construction makes these pieces a welcome addition to just about any environment.

Thomasville furniture

As I really can concern this question about Thomasville furniture, I would say that this is not very famous brand of furniture, but people still purchasing it in the areas around Thomasville city.

The vision and high standarts exemplified by Thomasville have made it an unquestioned leader in home furnishings. Its furniture is sold through a network of more than 150 independently owned Thomasville Home Furnishings Stores, as well as over 400 leading independent retail stores.

Over the years, the company has taken great pride in building beautiful, well-made furniture that is always in step with the fashion trends of the day. And it is this long record of accomplishment that has led Thomasville to where it is today—stronger, more successful and more vibrant than ever before. Thomasville will continue to shape the way people furnish their homes, bringing gracious, tasteful designs to consumers everywhere, regardless of whether their taste is traditional, transitional or contemporary.

Celebrating a century of defining comfort and beauty in American homes, Thomasville offers furniture for every living style in dining room, bedroom, home entertainment, home office, occasional, youth, and fabric and leather upholstery. Thomasville has also produced two of the most successful licensed furniture collections in the industry, Ernest Hemingway, The Collection of a Lifetime; and Humphrey Bogart. Continuing in the tradition of craftsmanship and style, the addition of Thomasville Cabinetry for the kitchen and bath now makes it possible to find Thomasville in every room of the home.

Dining room furniture

I think that dining informally with your family is just as important, and you must choose a range of furniture that is suitable for all occasions.

Furniture must be designed to be inviting and comfortable for your friends and family.
A dining area is ideally a haven away from the turmoil of the busy, even hectic lives many of us live today. It is a wonderful place to enjoy the relaxation and pleasure that happens when you gather round to dine with friends and family. This area does not have to be formal – or even separate - it can be a corner your living area, a breakfast nook, any space that can accommodate a table and chairs will serve this purpose. The most important thing about having a meal is to be enjoying the food and the company sharing it.

As retailing expert in this area, I know that you are creating a uniquely personal home, not just buying decor items for your house.

The ritual of sharing meals is as old as civilization itself and family, friends, colleagues and brothers in arms have all been comforted by the feelings of solidarity brought by eating together. In ancient times, victories in war, birthdays and days of spiritual significance were celebrated by feasting and the celebrations of thanksgiving and Christmas have ancient origins. Today we still share food as one of the highest sacraments, to cement a friendship, to renew family loyalties or to celebrate birthdays or achievements. Sharing fine food and drink should above all else be one of the most enduring and simple pleasures of life. Nothing compliments the experience of a carefully prepared meal better than fine tables and chairs in which to sit and eat from. I hope that our products will help you to enjoy your meal times with family and friends or simply in the quiet everyday moments with your loved one.

Broyhill furniture

I should say that this furniture is very original in design, so if you are looking for something unique this for you!

For many years Broyhill has been associated with fine quality furniture. And, throughout all that time, the guiding force that has defined the company and its products has been a commitment to quality and value. Today, the Broyhill brand is recognized by more than 90 percent of consumers, making it one of the country's best-known, full-line furniture brands.

Broyhill's extensive product line includes bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, living room furniture, wall systems/home entertainment furniture, home office furniture and numerous couches and sofas both in upholstery and leather ranging in style from Traditional, Country Cottage, European, American Casual, Contemporary and Eclectic.

Bassett furniture

I think that this is the one of the most expensive and comfortable furniture nowadays.

Bassett owner was making a good living traveling the countryside selling goods for general stores when he began carrying lumber samples from the mill. He quickly made his first sale of lumber to a coffin company in Winston - Salem, N.C. and returned home with the knowledge that the furniture industry, and its demand for raw lumber, was gaining a foothold in the region.

Soon he had orders for oak from several furniture companies in North Carolina. As he learned more about the industry, he found that the best furniture markets for lumber we re up north and soon was on his way to showcase his Appalachian oak.

Bassett furniture has beautiful furniture. Whether it’s contemporary furniture or traditional furniture - you will find a piece of furniture you will enjoy.

Living room furniture

From my point of view, the best living room furniture is the type that brings you better living through increased levels of value, style, comfort and convenience.

To find a rich selection of affordable options for your new living room furniture, trust style and comfort experts to introduce you to a better way of treating your body and your efforts in a lasting interior design. Your personal tastes can at last dictate your directions in interior design, because you will find more of the type of living room furniture you appreciate when you harness the flexibility and diversity of my online listings. Choose a complete and matching set of living room furniture that includes a comfortable leather chair, a leather couch, and some attractive hardwood end tables, or select unique pieces of living room furniture to complete your existing collection.

Whether you are seeking something uniquely stylish from a limited production or simply trying to find an affordable collection of living room furniture with a solid and lasting value, you will surely find your satisfaction, trust me:)