• Academic:

    What are Heart Words:

    Heart words are when a word has an irregular sound.  Irregularly spelled words are called “Heart Words” because some part of the word will have to be “learned by heart.” Heart Words are also used so frequently that they need to be read and spelled automatically. Examples of Heart Words are: said, are, and where.

    Heart Word "said"Said is a heart word since ai makes the irregular sound /e/, the short e sound. Therefore, children have to learn that ai is an imposture for the short /e/ sound in the word said. They cannot figure out the word by trying to sound it out.

    Open versus Closed Syllable Words:
     

    Digraphs: a combination of two letters representing one sound, like /th/, /sh/, /ch/, /wh/, /ck/, /ph/

    • example for digraph /th/:  /th/ is a voiced and unvoiced sound. It vibrates and is voiced in words like the, this, them, mother. It is unvoiced in words like thank you, thumb, sloth.

    Here is a fun 2:00 video to use as a resource to see and hear the sounds of /th/. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPw_GeiDC_8

    Social/Emotional:

    • Social Thinking
      • Students need to be ready to learn and allow others to learn too.  The Social Thinking curriculum can teach children about having Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings, following the Group Plan, Thinking with Your Eyes, having your Body in the Group, and Whole Body Listening.  These lessons teach them how to be ready to learn.
      • Social Thinking Website

     

    More to come. I will continue to add information as time allows.