Pamela Brookes - How to Use Decodable Books to Teach Reading

DOG ON A LOG

Parent and Teacher Guides 2

I am not a Reading Specialist or certified educator. The content provided herein is for informational purposes and does not take the place of an evaluation and teaching plan provided by a credentialed educator. Every effort has been made to ensure that the content provided here is accurate and helpful for my readers. However, this is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject. No liability is assumed for losses or damages due to the information provided. You should consult a credentialed educator for specific guidance on educating your child, yourself, or others.

DOG ON A LOG Books

an imprint of

Jojoba Press

Tucson, Arizona

Copyright 2019 By Pamela Brookes

All Rights Reserved.

For information, contact the publisher at

read@dogonalogbooks.com

Public Domain images from www.clker.com

www.dogonalogbooks.com

HOW TO USE DECODABLE BOOKS TO TEACH READING

By Pamela Brookes

Edited by Nancy Mather, Ph.D.

Download DOG ON A LOG printable gameboards, games, flashcards, and other activities at

www.dogonalogbooks.com/printables.

This is an Instruction Manual

T his book is for parents and teachers. It's for parents who will teach their children to read. Perhaps they homeschool, perhaps their childs school is not providing the instruction their child needs, perhaps you are a parent who is wanting to supplement what your kids do at school. It is also written for teachers who were not taught evidence-based methods of teaching reading and they want an introduction to what they were not taught in college.

This book tells you step by step how I teach my daughter to read using the decodable books I write for her. Those books have bikes that turn into elk, real-life bikes for blind children to ride, and caves filled with all kinds of wonders.

You will not find any of those fun moments in this book. This is more like the instruction manual that tells you how to change the filter in your coffee pot or how to build a bunkbed out of three hundred pieces. The material here is dense. It condenses what I have learned in three years to a few score of pages. So, go slow. Read the section you need now. Go Step by Step as you would if you were building the previously mentioned bunkbed. If you were building a bed you would read "Step 1: Set Slat A on top of Piece 1." If you tried to worry about Step 327 before you finished Step 1, you might get overwhelmed. Granted, you need to have a rough idea of what you'll need to do and what materials you'll need before starting, but you wouldn't try to memorize all the bunkbed steps just as it may take you awhile to get up to speed with the teaching reading process.

I am guessing your goal is to teach your child to read a sentence like, The tough coughs as he ploughs the dough, though he should work through it. It will take your child time to learn to read that sentence. I have the same goal for my daughter. This book will show you how I am using explicit systematic phonics to teach my daughter to overcome the challenges of both the English language and her dyslexia so she, too, will be able to read that sentence.

This book was originally called How to Use DOG ON A LOG Books to Teach Reading . I was never satisfied with that title. Although this book is clearly written about DOG ON A LOG Books, the information can be used with any systematic series of decodable text. I decided to change the name to How to Use Decodable Books to Teach Reading so that people who want to use other decodable texts will know the information contained is useful for them. The daily routine I use with my daughter will apply to any set of decodable texts as will the phonics rules. The order of the phonics rules and the exact wording of the phonics rules will likely vary between different sets of books, but the rules and the type of explicit instruction needed will ultimately be the same.

Foreword

I m hearing from families who cant afford tutors (as well as librarians and teachers) that they want to know how to use DOG ON A LOG Books or other decodable texts to teach their child to read. I will do my best to answer that. However, please remember I am a mom, not a trained reading teacher or dyslexia specialist. I have learned a lot about teaching reading to anyone, including individuals with dyslexia, from my daughters dyslexia tutors and other dyslexia experts. I can tell you what works for us and what works for a lot of other learners. I cannot answer every question for every learner. If what I tell you isnt working for your child (or adult learner) you will need to find a dyslexia specialist that can help you. Make sure they are trained in using a Structured Literacy or Orton-Gillingham approach.

The first draft of the foreword had important information, but there were too many words. They made my eyes spin. To cut to the chase, I have moved most of the foreword material to the back of the book. Its there if you want to read it.

If you want more information on struggling readers, whether or not they have dyslexia, I answered the questions I wish Id known to ask during the early stages of our dyslexia journey in Teaching a Struggling Reader: One Moms Experience with Dyslexia . You can get it as a free e-book, read it at www.dogonalogbooks.com/free or buy it as a paperback.

This is an excellent source for information on teaching reading. It is rather academic and dense, but the information is excellent: Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read Kindergarten Through Grade 3.

Lets Begin