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Content Outline

Right Track Reading Lessons: A Highly Effective Step-by-Step Direct Systematic Phonics Program

 

 

The following outline details the content covered in Right Track Reading Lessons: A Highly Effective Step-by-Step Direct Systematic Phonics Program.  The Table of Contents can be previewed at Preview Title Page and Table of Contents.

 

Introduction:  (pages 7-15) This section written for the parent, grandparent, tutor or other teacher provides an overview of teaching children to read. It includes an explanation of how children learn to read proficiently, why reading is difficult for many children and then lists and explains 13 important elements for effective reading instruction.  Preview Preface and Introduction

 

Explanation and Specific Instructions for the Reading Lessons: (pages 16-28) This section written for the parent or other instructor lists the materials needed and gives the general instructions for all the lessons as well as directions for all the specific activities. Additional activities are also suggested.  A complete sound pronunciation table, instructions on correct letter formation, pre-reading phonemic awareness and alphabetic awareness activities are also given. A detailed outline of the lesson content is also included.

 

Reading Lessons: (page 46-231)

The reading program is well organized in 102 easy-to-use lessons. The the lessons begin with basic skills and systematically and directly teach and develop all necessary skills. This program provides the tools for you to teach your child to read. Additional details on the structure/design of the individual lessons are described at the end of this page.

 

• Lessons 1-24: (pages 46-102)  These initial lessons directly teach the basic sounds and the critical subskills necessary for proficient phonologic processing. This section emphasizes the essential skills of phonemic awareness, directional tracking and proper blending. This section builds the basic foundation so your child develops phonologic processing pathways, the key to proficient reading.  Your child learns to correctly read and spell simple phonetic words. (The words are decodable and include all the consonants, the short vowel sounds, and common digraphs including th, ch, sh, wh, ck). Some of the common irregular words (including said, was, to, do, of, what and who) are also directly taught to the child. The type of decodable sentences that your child will be able to accurately read by the end of lesson 24 include the sentences such as “The frog can swim fast and then jump up on the rock.”, “Pick up the red pen that fell off the desk.”, and “This is a fun math class.”  The direct systematic instruction insures your child is literally on the right track and developing the correct neural pathways for proficient reading. To view initial lessons and how rapidly foundational skills are established,  Preview Reading Lessons 1 & 2    and    Preview Reading Lesson 16 .  
• Lessons 25-34: (pages 102-122) These lessons directly and systematically teach some of the initial complexities including the /z/ sound for s (has, his, as and plural /z/ sound dogs, kids.), the single vowel long vowel sounds (he, me, she, go, no, old, most, wild, find, rang, bank), the modified vowel sounds such as the a+ll /all/ sound and w+a modified sounds (wash, wasp, swap), the important complexities of y /y/, /ee/ and /ie/, and several other sounds such as ing and ink. These lessons include further practice with blended consonants and additional practice with previously learned sounds. By the end of these lessons your child will be able to accurately read a sentence such as “My pup can fetch. If you toss up a stick, she will bring it back to you. She will also fetch a ball.” and “Did you find the red and black lady bug on this plant?”.  Spelling skills also develop and advance with the direct instruction.
• Lessons 35-61: (pages 123-165) This section directly and systematically teaches the child 26 different vowel combinations (ee, oa, ai, ay, a_e, oy, ea, ow, ou, and 17 other vowel combinations). These lessons teach the complexities of our language in a direct systematic manner. The child learns and practices each vowel combination. Reading and spelling skills advance rapidly as the child learns the vowel combinations. Although the vocabulary is still controlled to include decodable text that has been specifically taught, the child’s knowledge is quickly expanding. An example of the type of sentences that your child should be able to accurately read by the end of lesson 60 include “The book that I just read was great. You should read it also. It was about a boy who went on a trip to Alaska with his grandpa. You would like it!”  and “I made a note in my book reminding me to study my math. We will be taking a big test soon. I will be ready if I study.”  To view a lesson on teaching vowel combinations,  Preview Lesson 38.
• Lessons 62-76: (pages 166-191)These lessons directly and systematically teach the r-controlled vowel combinations (ar, or, er, ur, ir, ear, are, air… and the other r-controlled vowel combinations). These lessons continue to teach the child the complexities of the English language. After completing this section, your child will be able to read most words. The following is an example of the sentences/paragraph that your child will read at the end of these lessons: “I learned all about the eastern bluebird. They live in open areas, farmland and even in suburbs. The birds nest in tree holes. They also like bird houses. The male bluebird is bright blue. The females are much paler.”   To view a lesson on  teaching r-controlled vowel combinations, Preview Lesson 68
• Lessons 77-90: (pages 192-207) These lessons include direct instruction in a few additional complexities (mb, dge, wr, kn, ph, and infrequent silent letter combinations). This section also includes extra specific practice in the common endings -ing, -er, -est, plural endings, and the -ed past tense verb endings. By the time you have completed these lessons with your child, he/she should be able to read most words. An example of the sentences that your child reads in lesson 90 includes “I did a report on the state of Montana. I learned it became the  41st state in 1889. The capital of Montana is Helena. The state bird is the western meadowlark. The state tree is the ponderosa pine. The state flower is the bitterroot.” You will have directly taught your child how to read our printed language. You can now work on the more advanced skills of fluency, comprehension and vocabulary that follow accurate decoding.
• Lessons 91-102: (pages 208-231) These lessons teach your child how to handle the more complex multisyllable words. The majority of English words are multisyllable so it is critical to be able to read them easily. Many children struggle with the step from the ‘short’ ‘easy’ words to the ‘long’ ‘hard’ words. This section teaches the child how to handle these more difficult words by breaking the word down into syllables and provides guided practice breaking words down and recognizing common patterns. These lessons include specific instruction and practice in the most common prefixes and suffixes.  Twenty prefixes account for 97% of the prefixed words so teaching and practicing these common affixes helps both reading fluency and vocabulary. These lessons also include direct instruction in some of the more complex endings such as -tion that were not directly taught in previous lessons. This section greatly improves reading skill. Children completing these sections should be able to accurately read middle school level material. (This section of advanced lessons typically conducted children who are 2nd grade or older.)

 

Spelling Section: (page 232-239)  This final section of the book summarizes spelling. Spelling has been taught throughout the program as ‘word writing’ changing sounds to print. Upon completing the program your child should be a very good phonetic speller. This section goes beyond the phonetic understanding of our language to specific spelling information. This section provides a general overview of spelling and gives tips on how to teach your child to spell.  Helpful spelling guidelines and patterns are listed. These are not ‘rules’ to be memorized but rather guidelines and explanations that make spelling much easier. This is not memorizing rules or word lists but rather learning about spelling.   

 

Structure/Design of the Reading Lessons #1-#90 (page 46-207):

The reading lessons systematically and explicitly teach children how to read. The lessons generally include a series of activities including:

1. introduce and teach the new sound,
2. directly practice the sound either by drilling with the sound cards or by playing ‘sound’ games like memory, fishing for sounds, stack the sound etc.
3. practice writing and saying the sound together. This essential activity of writing sounds uses kinetic, visual, auditory processes to directly link the printed letter to the sound.  
4. Word Making Game: this activity develops phonemic awareness, builds a strong understanding of the phonetic nature of our language, and strengthens phonetic reading skills as well as blending and tracking. This word making activity incorporates kinetic, visual and auditory processes and reinforces basic subskills. These ‘sound tiles’ are particularly effective with remedial students. It is also lots of fun!  The kids love this ‘game’.
5. Sound changing game: somewhat similar to word making except you use the sound tiles to emphasize changes in sounds within words.  In addition to strengthening the same skills as the word making game, this activity/game uses the sound tiles to emphasize phonemic awareness and the attention to detail that is so important in reading. Children also love this game.
6. Reading Words: The child practices reading a list of decodable words. Practice emphasizes correct phonological processing, blending, and tracking. These word lists are invaluable in teaching children HOW to read as reading cannot be accomplished by incorrect techniques such as picture or context clues. Reading the decodable word lists provides opportunity for the child to practice correct phonologic processing. The practice allows the child to master, integrate and apply essential skills to establish phonologic processing, the essential foundation for proficient reading.
7. Writing/spelling words: In this activity the child writes or spells words from the decodable lists. Writing words by sound directly strengthens phonologic processing.
8. Reading Decodable Sentences:  These short sentences and later short paragraphs a little more fun than word lists. They are especially important for beginners to learn how to read sentences and then longer passages. These sentences also allow you to begin some initial work on comprehension skills and the more complex elements of sentence structure. These decodable senteneces are also fun for the child!
9. Lessons also introduce common irregular words.
10. Review lessons are periodically incorporated into the sequence to allow for review of previous learned sounds and additional practice in reading decodable word lists and sentences.

 

Read the Key Features and Benefits of Right Track Reading Lessons to see why this program is so effective in helping your child achieve reading success. Additional information is found on the the Preview Right Track Reading Lessons page.

 

To learn about the highly effective reading remediation program designed to help older students (3rd grade and up and adults)  who struggle with reading acquire necessary skills, overcome reading difficulty and achieve reading success see Preview Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons                               Purchasing Options