One of the basic building blocks of skilled reading is letter-sound translation, learning the rules that relate particular letter to particular sounds.

A student has to learn to translate an unfamiliar printed word to speech by decoding (sounding out). He has to learn to recognise and apply letter-sound rules to a string of letters forming a word. The more letter-sound patterns the student will learn the easier it will be to acquire the skill of rapid automatic recognition of words in a text. The words that have familiar segments are easier to remember and recall.

Reading is not always based on applying letter-sound rules to all words on a page. Many English words disobey the standard letter-sound rules, however some of these exception are the commonly recurring words, such as “have, do” etc. Skilled readers learn to automatically recognise words to which they have been frequently exposed.

Reading and spelling are symbiotic, they should be taught together. Spelling facilitates the learning of rules and patterns thus developing phonemic awareness.

Learning to spell and read is highly successful if it is interesting, motivating and meaningful. Printed words should be linked up with their meaningful images. As the printed word is matched with the picture it represents, the student will combine the two images, the word and the picture and store them in their memory to later automatically recall the word and its meaning.

Jays’ Education literacy workbooks teach letter-sound recognition, phonemic patterns, appreciation of common meaningful parts or roots of words with the help of letter-sound patterns.  The workbooks help to develop the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds that make up words. They help to make phonemic substitutions, such as:

   [book - look - shook - hook] [roo - kangaroo - cockatoo] etc.

In the workbooks every word is connected to a picture which strengthens the mental image of the word and assists the recall of the word. The letter-sound patterns lay out the basic rules for spelling. Focus is on what the student can do, using strategies which bring immediate success.

Effective phonics teaching enables students to readily recognise and produce familiar words effortlessly and to identify and produce words that are new to them. Developing automatic word recognition supports and enhances student’s comprehension skills.

Students do recognise familiar letter-sound correspondences, segment and blend simple regular words from a small group of easily taught letters so they gain confidence and satisfaction.

Frog that thinks it is a kangaroo. By Charles A. B.

Maruspial Frog – Gastrotheca marsupia         

Okay so today’s journey into the depths of Brazil’s wildlife.  The marsupial frog is a tree frog.  It is 2 ¾ inches long.  The females lay 200 eggs at mating.  As the female lays her eggs, the male fertilizes them.  He also helps the female place the eggs into her pouch.  She will carry the eggs for 3 to 4 months.  At the end of that period, she uses her back feet to evict her babies.  The babies emerge from the pouch as little frogs. This frog is active at night.  Wait, I’m not done yet.  There is another marsupial frog though I am not sure that it’s related to Gastrotheca marupia.  It’s known as the Pygmy Marsupial frog or Flectonotus pygmaeus.  It’s also from South America.  It lives in trees.  It feeds on spiders and insects.  They are nocturnal.  This little frog is eaten by snakes and birds.  Unlike Gastrotheca marsupia, its offspring emerge as tadpoles.  Wait, still not done yet!  There is another species of marsupial frog.  It’s the Mountain marsupial frog or Gatrsotheca monticola.  It’s 1 ½ to 2 ¼ inches long.  In this species the babies are joined to the mother via a link that is sort of like a mammal’s placenta.  In this species as in the Pygmy marsupial frog, the babies are released from the pouch as tadpoles.  They are also active at night.  (top)

LUK Self Checking Program (System)

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The advantages of using the LUK Self Checking System.

LUK  is a system. Students need to work with systems because learning depends on
understanding and following systems. LUK is benefitial for students who prefer to 
work on their own.

Many students are not at ease if someone is sitting next to them and watching every step they take. They constantly look for assurance if they feel they made a mistake.

Once they learn to work on their own and understand the LUK system, they don’t mind the work, they actually like it.

When working with LUK and a student sees that the number he is looking for is already covered, he realises he made a mistake. He then has to check the particular question, correct the mistake and place the tile on the correct square.

When all the tiles are placed in the box, the student closes the lid and turns the box over sideways, opens the lid and a pattern is displayed in the box. The student then matches the two patterns, the one on the sheet with the one in the box. If the answers are correct, the two patterns will match. The student colours the pattern on the sheet to match the pattern in the LUK box.

The new series of new Self Checking fully reproducible worksheet program available for LUK are accessible on LUKselfChecking_Programs.html.  (top)

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The LUK Self Checking Program is multipurpose.

• A student can work by himself, check his answers and self correct the mistakes.

• The student will experience satisfaction from work well done when viewing the completed LUK pattern.

• The student will be motivated to progress to the next page.

• Working on the tasks, page by page, the student will acquire all the necessary strategies and skills to spell and read.

• While learning to spell and read the student will further develop his visual, spatial and sequencing skills and gain confidence needed for fluent reading.

• While the students focus on reading and spelling, they are working on the improvement of their visual skills that is a benefit of the LUK system.
  
  

Visual skills are:

Visual analysis skills, ability to locate, select, extract, analyse, recall relevant information. One of the core skills for letter recognition. 

Visual figure-ground perception, ability to select and process the correct number and word (or picture) from the background of competing stimuli. 

Visual memory, ability to recognise or recall previously presented pictures and words and their letter-sound patterns.

Auditory visual integration, ability to remember the sequence of letters and integrate them with their sounds. The association of speech sounds with letters is required for learning and recalling words.

Visual verbal integration skills involves rapid retrieval of verbal labels for visually presented stimuli. That is required for efficient reading, it has a particular effect on the speed of word identification.

LUK has been successful with emotionally unstable students and with students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. These students do not relate well to people, they do not feel comfortable with anybody sitting with them and telling them what to do. These students like a simple solid system they can understand and follow.

The way children see their world influences how well they will learn.
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