What are Orton Gillingham workbooks?

Orton Gillingham workbooks use the Orton Gillingham approach to give students extra practice with phonemic awareness, phonics, and word pattern skills. They typically follow a structured, multi-sensory approach, while engaging the student and giving them ample practice and repetition with concepts taught.

What is an example of Orton Gillingham workbooks?

The Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks follow the Orton Gillingham technique for helping students develop stronger decoding and spelling skills. The workbook program starts with phonemic awareness, a key skill area for reading success. Phonemic awareness skills include rhyming, manipulating sounds, and identifying syllables. Using these Orton Gillingham workbooks, students later learn consonant and short vowel letters and their corresponding sounds with the Flags and Stars Consonants and Short Vowels Orton Gillingham workbook. In this workbook, students learn how to properly form each letter when writing, as well as how to blend sounds together to form basic consonant-vowel-consonant words. This Orton Gillingham workbook works in groups of five letters at a time: four consonants and one short vowel.

Higher level Orton Gillingham concepts

Once students have mastered reading and spelling words with consonants and short vowels, they can move onto words with blends using the Flags and Stars Blends Orton Gillingham workbook. With this workbook, students learn to read and spell these types of words using a multi-sensory approach.

With the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks, students then move on to learning how to read and spell words containing consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, silent e patterns, multi-syllabic word patterns, prefixes, and roots. Words with consonant digraphs include:

• black
• song
• ship
• patch

Words with vowel digraphs include:

•  boat
• teeth
• peach
• pail

Words with silent e patterns include:

• make
• bike
• time
• phone

Words with multi-syllabic word patterns include:

• cupcake
• rainbow
• rabbit
• triplet

Words with prefixes include:

•  unable
• impossible
• overcook
• underneath

Words with roots include:

• geography
• aquarium
• automatic
• reject

The Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks cover these concepts and follow a multi-sensory approach, which integrates the visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic modalities. With Orton Gillingham workbooks, students use tools such as colored sand, magnetic tiles, shaving cream, and whiteboards. They love this engaging, effective technique. A sample lesson from an Orton Gillingham workbook that focuses on consonants and short vowels might be as follows:

Sample Orton Gillingham Lesson

When teaching sound/letter relationships using an Orton Gillingham workbook, the Orton Gillingham tutor might hold up a flashcard with the letter “a” written on the front of it and a picture of an apple on the back. The tutor would say to the student, “This is the letter a, like apple, it makes the sound /a/.” The student would then say that language together with the tutor and then repeat it back independently. Then the Orton Gillingham tutor might take out a tray of sand and explain to the student that when we write the lower case letter a, we say aloud, “around, up, and down.” The tutor writes the letter first in the sand while saying this language aloud. Then the student writes the letter in the sand with the tutor and subsequently writes the letter independently in the sand. Next, the tutor might move onto sky writing and trace the letter in the sky, saying aloud “around, up, and down” while using gross motor muscles to write the letter a in the sky. Then the student writes the letter in the sky with the tutor, and finally independently in the sky.

Read more about the Orton Gillingham approach at The Orton Gillingham Approach – EBL Coaching

Additional Practice with Orton Gillingham Workbooks

Using Orton Gillingham workbooks, the tutor might work on blending exercises with the student, where the student blends sounds together to form words. For example, the tutor might use flash cards or magnetic tiles to show the letters “c”, “a”, and “t”, as long as the tutor has already taught those sound/symbol relationships using Orton
Gillingham workbooks and asks the student to blend those sounds together to form the word “cat.” They might do the same exercise for the letters “b”, “i”, “g” to form big, or “m”, “u”, “g” to form mug. These multi-sensory activities using Orton Gillingham workbooks can help students develop strong foundational reading skills.

Do you feel your child would benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring? We can help them! Contact us at www.eblcoaching.com to learn more about our one-on-one tutoring programs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Orton Gillingham workbooks?
Orton Gillingham materials area workbooks that offer reinforcement of Orton Gillingham concepts often covered during Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons. They use a multi-sensory approach to help students develop their phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, and reading fluency skills.

Are Orton Gillingham workbooks effective for students with dyslexia?
Yes! The Orton Gillingham approach was originally created to help students with dyslexia develop their core reading and spelling skills. However, all students who struggle with reading can benefit from Orton Gillingham workbooks and Orton Gillingham tutoring,

What skills do students learn in Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks?
With the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks, students learn the following Orton Gillingham concepts:

• Phonemic awareness
• Consonant and short vowel letter names and sounds
• Blends
• Consonant and vowel digraphs
• Silent e patterns
• Multi-syllabic word patterns
• Prefixes
• Roots

The structured, sequential, multi-sensory approach used in Orton Gillingham tutoring sessions can help students drastically improve their reading and spelling skills.

Learn more about the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham workbooks at Workbook series designed to build independent study skills (eblcoaching.com)

Read more about helping students with learning disabilities at www.ldonline.org.

The post Can Orton Gillingham Workbooks Help Struggling Readers? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Challenges

Reading & Spelling with Accuracy

Individuals with dyslexia tend to struggle with the mechanics of reading and writing, including accurately sounding out and spelling words. They might look at the initial letter in a word and “guess” at the rest of it, or may simply make up words as they go. They might also replace certain words with others that “make sense” within that spot in the sentence. For example, they might read “Leo efficiently completed his work” as “Leo effortlessly completed his work.” Furthermore, those with dyslexia often have wonderful, creative ideas but struggle to express those ideas on paper when writing. Read more about this at How to Improve Your Dyslexic Child’s Reading Skills – EBL Coaching.

Trouble Articulating

Some individuals with dyslexia have trouble with word retrieval, or finding the right word to use when speaking. This might affect their relationships with peers, since it can be challenging for them to keep up a conversation and have a back and forth dialogue. They also might forget specific words or details within a conversation they had with a friend, leading to miscommunication and misunderstanding, and ultimately negatively affecting friendships.

Low Self-esteem

Many people with dyslexia are exceptionally bright and gifted in a multitude of skills. However, they often find themselves struggling with reading and writing and see themselves as “stupid” or not as smart as their peers. This can lead to low self-esteem and overall negative feelings about themselves, which can sometimes lead to mental health challenges, like anxiety and depression.

Strengths

While dyslexia comes with many academic challenges, those with dyslexia also have numerous gifts. Let’s take a look at some of these strengths:

Great Creativity & Spatial Skills

Individuals with dyslexia are often very creative and have strong spatial skills. They tend to be fantastic artists, painters, and sculptors. They can also visit a place and have an exceptionally strong visual memory of what they saw as compared to their peers. This skill can help them excel in many careers, including architecture, graphic design, engineering, and even surgery.

Strong People Skills

Those with dyslexia often have great people skills. Since they face constant challenges academically, then tend to empathize with their peers in a way that far surpasses those without dyslexia. They know what it is like to struggle and can thus relate to others going through different types of struggles and form a strong bond with them accordingly.

Outside of the Box Thinkers

Many people with dyslexia are forced to think out of the box on a regular basis as they face daily challenges. Since they struggle with reading and writing and may have trouble with daily tasks like writing an email or reading the newspaper, they typically need to find innovative ways to help them overcome these challenges and excel. Their ideas are often unique, creative, and far more advanced than solutions their peers might come up with. These qualities can help them become excellent business leaders and entrepreneurs in life.

Excellent Reasoning Skills

Those with dyslexia tend to have strong reasoning skills. They are often able to understand concepts from different perspectives, analyze and see patterns, and process complex concepts in ways their non-dyslexic peers can’t. While the mechanics of reading and writing are a struggle for them, comprehending the “big picture,” making inferences, and synthesizing the main idea are often strengths for individuals with dyslexia. Many are great problem solvers.

While dyslexia certainly comes with many academic and emotional challenges, it also bears numerous strengths. Those with dyslexia are often creative, bright, have strong critical thinking skills, and show empathy towards others. They hold many gifts that can help them excel in relationships and in life. Learn more about dyslexia at Could My Child Have Dyslexia? – EBL Coaching.

Other Blogs about Dyslexia:

Dyslexia Tutoring NJ

The post How Dyslexia Tutoring Helps Students Thrive appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Perfect for kids who aren’t big into page-turning.

Some kids love the thrill of turning the pages of paper book. They enjoy visually gauging their reading progress and find reading on a comfortable chair or couch simply relaxing. Many children, however, gravitate to tech tools. They jump on any opportunity to swipe, press, or share, and are easily engaged by digital content. Tap into this “tech savvy-ness” with the reading apps below for kids ages 4-11 to help your child build critical reading skills while still having fun.

Age 4-8

Starfall Learn to Read

With this engaging app, kids can practice their decoding skills using 15 mini multi-sensory books, each of which focus on an individual sound, including short vowels, long vowels, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowels. When reading each book, your child can click on the word if she has trouble decoding it and the app will vocalize its correct pronunciation, and if she clicks on the image on each book page, the characters and objects will “come alive” with movements and sounds, providing humor and loads of fun.

Bob Books Reading Magic

This app helps emerging readers learn to blend sounds together to both read and spell words. It contains four levels, starting with basic consonant-vowel-consonant words and progressing into longer, more challenging words, and serves as a great supplement to Orton Gillingham reading lessons. Players must spell basic words first by matching letter tiles to ones already provided as visual hints. Once they have done so, the app sounds out the word and the images become colorful and animated. Later, “visual hints” are not provided and players must drag letters in order to spell words, providing higher level reading and spelling practice.

Homer-Kids Learn to Read

This app helps kids develop their early reading skills, along with other basic skills such as shapes, numbers, and color identification. It also integrates reading comprehension and critical thinking practice, skills that become increasingly important as students move through school. To play, students follow a “wickle avatar” around a map containing various activities, through four different levels. Kids enjoy learning about a variety of topics, including animals, transportation, music, and more, through both listening and reading. The app contains enjoyable worksheets to practice specific skills and 60 books to read.

Age 8-11

Duh Books

This app is a great one for curious kids who love learning about zany, interesting topics. It contains a variety of e-books‎ on various fascinating topics including animals, natural disasters, the universe, and many more. Players learn new information provided in simple terms, enjoy the engaging visuals, and can click on links if they are interested in learning more about a topic. It’s great for kids who love learning new facts and information about the world.

National Geographic Kids

This is a great app for kids who love seeing amazing, hard-to-capture photographs and are inspired by reading new information about fascinating topics. The app contains stories, “weird but true” facts, jokes, photo games, puzzles, and quizzes on topics such as history, science, technology, wildlife, and worldwide cultures. Kids love the engaging, eye opening content and have fun learning loads of new information.

‎As students move through school, the reading requirements will increase rapidly. Help your child develop key reading skills while enjoying the process, and she will be well on her well to excelling in school!

The post The Best Reading Apps For All Grade Levels appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Montessori Crosswords

This app helps students develop their decoding, spelling, and writing skills by teaching them to build words with different phonics patterns. Students start by building basic CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, then move into words with blends, digraphs, silent e, vowel teams, and other combinations. Students are initially given a picture (like “bag” or “kid”) and are asked to drag letters from the alphabet at the bottom of the screen to spell the word displayed. Later, students spell words following specific phonics patterns in the form of crosswords. Students can also choose themes for the activities, like animals, food, clothes, etc.

Short Vowel Word Study

This is a great app for reinforcing basic word decoding at a Kindergarten/1st grade level. The app contains three main sections: word families, short vowels, and longer words. The first game is “Sort It,” where the child must sort a word into its proper vowel category; i, u, or a. In the “Find It” game‎, the child must find the “oddball” word that doesn’t belong in the same vowel family, and drag it to the bottom of the screen. The “Spell It” game reinforces spelling by displaying an image (like hat) and the child must drag letters to spell the word. The “Write It” game teaches students to trace and then independently write words. Other related fun and engaging reading games are also integrated into this app.

SuperWhy!

This app is a great one for building reading, spelling, writing, and phonemic awareness skills. It includes four games, each led by a different character: Alpha Pig, Princess Pesto, Wonder Red, and Super Why. In the Alpha Pig game, students find letters on a path to form different words. ‎In the Princess Pesto game, students practice writing letters to form words that are modeled first by Princess Pesto’s magic wand. In Wonder Red’s game, students identify rhyming words, and in Super Why’s game, students build their reading comprehension skills by identifying words that complete sentences in a given story.

Interactive Storybooks

For a wide selection of interactive, digital story books,MeeGenius is a great app that provides access to more than 700 children’s e-books for children up to age 8, which are accessible on iOS, Android, Windows 8, Amazon, Nook, and online.

Through the Princess and the Pea interactive story app, students either practice reading the Princess and the Pea or listen as the story is read aloud to them, reinforcing auditory comprehension, auditory processing, and listening skills. They can also play interactive games related to the story that are contained within the app, such as matching pictures, completing puzzles, and filling in missing items to complete a picture, all of which reinforce early learning skills.

Nursery Rhymes with Story Time

For younger children (ages 5 and younger), this app is great for building phonemic awareness and early reading skills. The app presents classic rhymes, such as Humpty Dumpty, Three Blind Mice, Jack and Jill, and others, in an interactive, playful format. While listening to the rhymes, children can “play” with the images. For example, when listening to Jack and Jill, children can drag a bucket of water up a well and watch flying fish and bubbles burst out of the water. The interactive illustrations make listening to rhymes and building core phonemic awareness skills great fun for children.

Encourage your child to use these apps and watch the colorful illustrations, energetic animations, and bursting colors turn reading into sheer excitement and joy.

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder of EBL Coaching, a tutoring program that specializes in one-on-one home and on-site instruction for students in grades preK-12 in NYC and NJ. She is also the author of Strategies for Study Success, a study skills workbooks series emphasizing test taking, note taking, reading comprehension, writing, and summarizing strategies, and the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook series. These workbooks are currently used at schools nationwide.

The post Top Reading Apps That Make Learning Fun for Kids appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Princess and the Pea (and other interactive storybooks)

In this app, students either practice reading the Princess and the Pea or listen as the story is read aloud to them, reinforcing auditory comprehension, auditory processing, and listening skills. They can also play interactive games related to the story that are contained within the app, such as matching pictures, completing puzzles, and filling in missing items to complete a picture, all of which reinforce early learning skills.

This app is free and available on iTunes –> Click Here

Short Vowel Word Study

This is a great app for reinforcing basic word decoding at a Kindergarten/1st grade level. The app contains three main sections: word families, short vowels, and longer words. The first game is “Sort It,” where the child must sort a word into its proper vowel category; i, u, or a. In the “Find It” game‎, the child must find the “oddball” word that doesn’t belong in the same vowel family, and drag it to the bottom of the screen. The “Spell It” game reinforces spelling by displaying an image (like hat) and the child must drag letters to spell the word. The “Write It” game teaches students to trace and then independently write words. Other related fun and engaging reading games are also integrated into this app.

This app is $2.99 and available on iTunes –> Click Here

Montessori Crosswords

This app helps students develop their decoding, spelling, and writing skills by teaching them to build words with different phonics patterns. Students start by building basic CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, then move into words with blends, digraphs, silent e, vowel teams, and other combinations. Students are initially given a picture (like “bag” or “kid”) and are asked to drag letters from the alphabet at the bottom of the screen to spell the word displayed. Later, students spell words following specific phonics patterns in the form of crosswords. Students can also choose themes for the activities, like animals, food, clothes, etc.

This app is $2.99 and available on iTunes –> Click Here

Nursery Rhymes with Story Time

For younger children (ages 5 and younger), this app is great for building phonemic awareness and early reading skills. The app presents classic rhymes, such as Humpty Dumpty, Three Blind Mice, Jack and Jill, and others, in an interactive, playful format. While listening to the rhymes, children can “play” with the images. For example, when listening to Jack and Jill, children can drag a bucket of water up a well and watch flying fish and bubbles burst out of the water. The interactive illustrations make listening to rhymes and building core phonemic awareness skills great fun for children.

This app is free and available on iTunes –> Click Here

SuperWhy!

This app is a great one for building reading, spelling, writing, and phonemic awareness skills. It includes four games, each led by a different character: Alpha Pig, Princess Pesto, Wonder Red, and Super Why. In the Alpha Pig game, students find letters on a path to form different words. ‎In the Princess Pesto game, students practice writing letters to form words that are modeled first by Princess Pesto’s magic wand. In Wonder Red’s game, students identify rhyming words, and in Super Why’s game, students build their reading comprehension skills by identifying words that complete sentences in a given story.

This app is $2.99 and available on iTunes –> Click Here

The post The 5 Best Reading Apps for Kids appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Reading basic words. Forming letters and numbers. Solving math problems. These are all skills that are important parts of Kindergarten success. As students progress towards Kindergarten, they begin to develop the fundamentals of learning that will help them excel as they move through school. There are several strategies you can do at home to help your child establish these academic foundations and ease his or her transition into Kindergarten. The exercises outlined below are fun, engaging, and, of course, educational. So grab some note cards, markers, colored sand, and a cookie sheet – and let’s get to work!

Decoding
The ability to decode, or sound out, words is one of the most important skills for school success, and one that is often emphasized in Kindergarten classrooms. Yet before students can decode words, they need to develop an understanding of sound/symbol relationships – in other words, the names of the letters and their corresponding sounds. By learning these letters and sounds students can ultimately blend the sounds together to read words. So how can you reinforce this skill at home? Try following the tips below, and remember to keep the activities fun and engaging for your child!

Audio-Visual Cards
Start by teaching your child groups of five letters at a time: four consonants and one short vowel. Begin with some of the easier letters/sounds to master: for example, p, f, s, t, and the short vowel a. For every letter that you introduce, create a colorful note card with the letter on the front and a key picture that begins with that letter on the back. For example, for the letter p, you would write the letter p on the front of the card with a black marker, and you might use “pizza” as your key picture. Thus, you would draw (or cut out from a magazine) a colorful picture of a pizza on the back of the card. Feel free to add mushrooms, pepperoni – the works! (see the example below). Create similar note cards for all letters in this group. You might use “fish” for f, “sun” for s, “top” for t, and “apple” for a.

Card Drill
Now it’s time to put those cards into action! Hold the letter side of the first card up to your child (in this case, p), and using as close to the following language as possible, say, “This is the letter p, like pizza (flip card around), it makes the sound /p/ (flip card back around).” Then have your child repeat that sequence to you. Finally, the goal is for him or her to repeat that sequence back to you three times as you reverse the card for the picture name and turn it back around for the sound.
For example:
Parents says: This is the letter p, like pizza, it makes the sound /p/.
Parent and child say together: This is the letter p, like pizza, it makes the sound /p/.
Child says alone 3x: This is the letter p, like pizza, it makes the sound /p/.

Sky writing
Once you have completed the audio-visual card drill, you are ready to work on forming lower case letters with sky writing. You should model the formation of the letter first (we’re still on p), by holding your hand in the air, and, using your pointer and middle fingers, say out loud as you draw, “When we write the letter p, we go down, up, and around.” Make sure you draw a big letter in the air as your child watches. Next, your child should repeat the same motion in the air with you. He or she can even stand up while drawing to engage gross motor muscles. Finally, the goal is for him or her to draw the letter in the air three times, without your help or modeling.
For example:
Parent says, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter p, we go down, up, and around.
Parent and child say together, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter p, we go down, up, and around.
Child says alone 3x, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter p, we go down, up, and around.

Sand writing
Here’s where the fun part comes in – sand writing! Many kids love this part of the exercise. Pick up some colored sand from an art supplies store and pour it onto a cookie sheet or large plastic plate. You can even use kitchen salt or sand from the beach. Using your pointer and middle fingers again, model the formation of the letter – in this case p – in the sand, as your child watches. As you trace, you say out loud (for the letter p), “down, up, and around.” Then shake the sand and have your child trace the formation with you in the sand. Again, the goal is for him or her to trace the letter independently three times. You can try this exercise with flour while you are cooking, sand while at the beach, or dirt in the park. Have fun with it!

Paper writing
Using a sheet of Kindergarten lined paper, draw dotted lines for each letter and have your child trace each letter ten times. Then have him or her try to write it alone ten times, without tracing.

Putting it all together
Follow that same sequence of activities for every letter in the group you are working on. For example, do a card drill, sky writing, sand writing, and paper writing for the letters p, f, s, t, and a (or n, r, c, k, e, and so on). Then, once you have finished the exercises for that group of letters, put your cards back into a pile and it’s time for review! Hold each card up separately to your child and he or she should be able to tell you, without guidance, the name of the letter, picture, and sound (for example: p, pizza, /p/; f, fish, /f/, and so on). If you notice any difficulties, practice the steps above again.

Reading
You have now reached the most exciting part – reading! Once your child has a fluid knowledge of the letter names and sounds of at least one group (four consonants and one short vowel), you can work on teaching your child to blend those letters for form words – which, in essence, is reading. For example, place the a card in front of your child. Ask him or her to tell you the sound that a makes. Then put the t card next to the a card and ask your child what sound t makes. Since we know that a says /a/ and t says /t/, what happens when we blend those sounds together? We form the word “at!” Now try that exercise with different letters from that group. For example, hold out the a and p cards to form “ap” (the words can be real or nonsense). Eventually, add in a third letter – /p/ /a/ /t/ reads pat! You can also add in magnetic tiles, blocks with letters on them, and white boards to make this exercise even more fun.

Keep practicing these exercises and in no time your child can be reading! Remember to keep these exercises fun, engaging, and as multi-sensory as possible. The more you practice, the easier these exercises will be for your child, and the more excited he or she will be to start Kindergarten.

Dr. Emily Levy is the Founder and Director of EBL Coaching, which offers one-on-one tutoring and intensive summer programs. For more information, visit www.eblcoaching.com or call 212-249-0147.

The post How to Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Preparing your child for kindergarten: early literacy skills

Sounding out basic words and correctly writing letters are key skills for kindergarten success. With a solid foundation in each of these skills, students will learn tools they need for excelling in school. As a parent, there are several techniques you can do at home to help your child build these core skills. Grab some note cards, markers, colored sand, and a cookie sheet — and read below for some fun, engaging, and of course educational multi-sensory activities that you can do at home.

Kindergarten reading readiness

Learning to decode, or sound out words, is an important skill for school success, and one that is emphasized in many kindergarten classrooms. Before students can decode words, however, they need to learn the names of each letter of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. By doing so, they can then learn to blend these sounds together to read words, which is part of Orton Gillingham tutoring. Try following the tips below to teach your child these skills, and remember to always keep the activities fun, engaging, and multi-sensory! Read more at How to Boost Your Child’s Reading Readiness Skills – EBL Coaching.

Multi-Sensory activities to practice at home

You can start by teaching your child groups of five letters at a time: four consonants and one short vowel. Begin with some of the easier letters/sounds to grasp: for example, f, p, s, t, and the short vowel a. For every letter that you introduce, create a note card with the letter on the front and a key picture that begins with that letter on the back.
For example, for the letter f, you would write the letter f on the front of the card with a black marker, and you might use “fish” as your key picture. Thus, you would draw (or print) a colorful picture of a fish on the back of the card. Feel free to add lots of colors and have your child help in this process! Create similar note cards for all letters in this group. You might use “pizza” for p, “sun” for s, “top” for t, and “apple” for a.

Multi-sensory learning with card drills

Now it’s time to start the letter and sound learning process! Hold the letter side of the first card up to your child (in this case, f) and using as close to the following language as possible, say, “This is the letter f, like fish (flip card around), it makes the sound /f/ (flip card back around).” Then have your child repeat that sequence to you. Finally, the goal is for them to repeat that sequence back to you three times as you reverse the card for the picture name and turn it back around for the sound.
For example:
Parents says: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.
Parent and child say together: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.
Child says alone 3x: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.

Have fun learning with sky writing

Once you have completed the audio-visual card drill with your child, you are ready to start the letter formation process with sky writing. You should model the formation of the letter first by holding your hand in the air, and, using your pointer and middle fingers, say out loud as you draw, “When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.” Make sure you draw a big letter in the air as your child watches. Next, your child should repeat the same motion in the air with you. They can even stand up while drawing to engage gross motor muscles. Finally, the goal is for them to draw the letter in the air three times, without your help or modeling. These types of writing exercises are often also integrated into Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons.
For example:
Parent says, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.
Parent and child say together, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.
Child says alone 3x, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.

Learn letter formation with sand writing

Most children love this next step – sand writing! Pick up some colored sand from an art supplies store and pour it onto a cookie sheet or large plastic plate. You can even use kitchen salt or sand from the beach. Using your pointer and middle fingers again, model the formation of the letter – in this case f – in the sand, as your child watches. As you trace, you say out loud (for the letter f), “around, down, and across.” Then shake the sand and have your child trace the formation with you in the sand. Again, the goal is for them to trace the letter independently three times. You can try this exercise with flour while you are cooking, sand while at the beach, or dirt in the park. Have fun with it!

Practicer writing on paper

Using a sheet of kindergarten lined paper, draw dotted lines for each letter and have your child trace each letter ten times. Then have them try to write it alone ten times, without tracing.
Putting the multi-sensory activities together
Follow that same sequence of activities for every letter in the group you are working on. For example, do a card drill, sky writing, sand writing, and paper writing for the letters f, p, s, t, and a (or n, r, c, k, e, and so on). Then, once you have finished the exercises for that group of letters, put your cards back into a pile and it’s time for review! Hold each card up separately to your child and they should be able to tell you, without guidance, the name of the letter, picture, and sound (for example: f, fish, /f/; p, pizza, /p/, and so on). If you notice any difficulties, practice the steps above again.

Multi-sensory reading tutoring

You have now reached the most exciting part – reading! Once your child has a fluid knowledge of the letter names and sounds of at least one group (four consonants and one short vowel), you can perform your own reading tutoring sessions and work on teaching them to blend those letters for form words – which, in essence, is reading. For example, place the a card in front of your child. Ask them to tell you the sound that a makes. Then put the t card next to the a card and ask your child what sound t makes. Since we know that a says /a/ and t says /t/, what happens when we blend those sounds together? We form the word “at!” Now try that exercise with different letters from that group. For example, hold out the a and p cards to form “ap” (the words can be real or nonsense). Eventually, add in a third letter – /p/ /a/ /t/ reads pat! You can also add in magnetic tiles, blocks with letters on them, and white boards to make this exercise even more fun. Enjoy these multi-sensory tutoring sessions with your child!

Read more at How to Boost Your Child’s Reading Readiness Skills – EBL Coaching.

With ample practice and reinforcement of these exercises, your child will be reading sooner than you may have ever imagined! Remember to keep these exercises fun, creative, and as engaging as possible. The more you practice, the stronger these early literacy skills will become for your child, and the more excited they will be to start kindergarten!

If you feel your child would benefit from multi-sensory tutoring to help prepare them for kindergarten in a fun way, contact EBL Coaching and learn more about our one-on-one tutoring programs by visiting www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I teach my child the letter names and sounds?
You can help your child learn the letter names and sounds with a multi-sensory tutoring approach. Introduce the name of a letter on a flashcard with a key picture on the back. For example, you might write the letter s on the front of a card with a picture of a snake on the back. Say to your child, “This is the letter s, like “snake”, it makes the sound /s/.” Have them practice that sequence aloud with you and have them work on tracing the letter in colored sand or salt on a tray.

What is decoding and why is it important?
Decoding is the ability to blend sounds together to form words. Many children with dyslexia or reading challenges struggle with decoding and benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring to build this skill.

How do I make learning fun for my child?

When kids are young, learning should be fun! When working on basic skills with your child, try to incorporate multi-sensory tools, like sand for forming letters, magnetic tiles, and games.

Dr. Emily Levy, the founder and director of EBL Coaching, holds her Doctorate Degree in Education and has been helping children prepare for kindergarten with individualized tutoring for over twenty years.

Learn more about early childhood literacy research at Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research.
Other Related Blogs:
Building Pre-Reading Skills

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