Literacy Workshops
Playful Sounds:
Fun & Effective Phonological Awareness Activities for Parents
Want to give your preschooler or early elementary child (ages 3-7) the strongest possible start on their reading journey? We understand you want to provide the best support, but knowing exactly what helps most with early literacy can sometimes feel confusing amidst all the information out there.
This interactive and supportive online workshop focuses on what research overwhelmingly shows is the single most crucial foundational skill for reading and spelling success: Phonological Awareness.
What You'll Discover (Expert Insights Made Simple):
Learn why the ability to simply hear, identify, and play with the individual sounds (phonemes) within spoken words is so critical before children even focus heavily on letters. We'll briefly touch on the Science of Reading principles that highlight this skill's importance and show you how it directly paves the way for easier decoding (reading) and spelling down the road. Our goal is to demystify this essential concept and show you how empowering it is to support this skill early on.
Beyond Theory – Fun, Purposeful Activities & Expert Guidance:
This workshop is focused on actionable strategies! We move beyond definitions into purposeful play using fun, multi-sensory activities you can easily use at home. Crucially, you'll also gain expert guidance on when and why specific activities are most beneficial, ensuring you introduce them at the right developmental stage for maximum positive impact. We believe building these skills should be an enjoyable experience! We'll explore engaging ways to help your child:
Accurately hear and identify individual sounds in words (the crucial building blocks of spoken language).
Discover why some sounds (like continuous sounds /m/ or /f/) are typically easier for young children to perceive and produce first, and learn how to introduce trickier sounds (like stop sounds /g/ or /b/) strategically.
Blend Sounds Smoothly: Practice putting sounds together quickly to read words (e.g., hearing
/f/ /l/ /i/ /p/and saying "flip" – “Say it fast!”).Stretch Out Sounds: Practice separating sounds in words slowly (e.g., saying "mmm-aaaa-nnn" slowly for "man" – “Say it slow!”).
Playfully Manipulate Sounds (The Core Skill!): Explore fun ways to change sounds (
cattocot), delete sounds (stopwithout /s/ istop), and add sounds (lap+ /s/ =slap).Engage with Rhyme: Discover enjoyable games to build sensitivity to rhyming patterns.
Boost Auditory Memory & Processing: Tackle fun challenges like saying short words backwards (e.g., "kits" becomes "stick"!).
Use Multi-Sensory Aids: Learn how simple visual or tactile tools (like blocks or hand gestures) can make abstract sounds more concrete and easier for children to grasp.
Gain Clarity on Sequence: Understand effective instructional order, including the optimal time to introduce letter names (Hint: research suggests it's often after sounds are mastered!).
Your Takeaway: A Toolkit for Confidence:
Leave this empowering one-time session with a virtual toolkit packed with evidence-based, easy-to-implement games and exercises. You'll feel confident and knowledgeable, equipped with practical strategies to playfully strengthen your child's phonological awareness – building a solid foundation for literacy, preventing potential future difficulties, and fostering a positive connection through learning together!
Who Should Attend? Parents, caregivers, and homeschool educators of children approximately ages 3-7, especially those wanting to ensure reading readiness, support early literacy development, or understand foundational pre-reading skills based on current research.
Format: A fun, practical, and informative one-hour online session!
Why is Reading Hard?
Understanding Sounds (Phonemes) to Help Your Child
Ever wonder why learning to read clicks easily for some children yet feels like deciphering a complex code for others? We understand that seeking clarity on how to best support your child's literacy journey is essential. This insightful and practical online workshop demystifies the absolute foundation of reading and spelling: phonemes, the individual sounds within our spoken language.
Unlocking the Code Together: Sounds Explained
Discover why a strong awareness of speech sounds is fundamental according to the Science of Reading for cracking the code of written English. We'll explore the crucial connection between the sounds we hear and the letters we see, and demonstrate how simply paying attention to how sounds are physically formed in the mouth (articulation) provides powerful multi-sensory anchors that significantly help children learn – especially those who find reading challenging.
Making Sense of Common Reading Hurdles:
This workshop provides clear, parent-friendly explanations for why certain aspects of reading can be tricky, including:
The challenge of smoothly blending sounds together to read words.
The different but vital roles of vowels and consonants.
Simple ways to look at word structure (like syllables and word families/rimes).
Demystifying subtle but important sound variations that impact reading and spelling (like the common 'schwa' sound – we'll explain why it matters!).
Practical, Hands-On Strategies You Can Use Immediately:
Our core principle is empowerment. This workshop moves beyond theory – for every concept, you will learn engaging, hands-on activities and strategies designed for immediate use at home. We focus on effective, evidence-based techniques presented in a way that feels manageable and fun for both you and your child.
Your Takeaway: Confidence, Clarity & Effective Tools
Leave this one-hour session with valuable "aha!" moments about the reading process, feeling more confident and equipped to support your child. You'll gain tangible insights and a practical toolkit of effective strategies, enabling you to make a real, positive difference in their literacy journey.
Who Should Attend? Parents, caregivers, and homeschool educators seeking a clearer understanding of why reading can be challenging, the foundational role of speech sounds (phonemes), and practical, science-informed ways to provide effective support at home.
Format: An informative and interactive one-hour online session packed with practical takeaways!
Beyond Memorization:
Help Your Child Master Spelling (Parent Workshop)
Does helping your child with spelling feel like a constant struggle against tricky rules and rote memorization? We understand the frustration many families experience and believe there's a more effective, brain-friendly way! This insightful online workshop explores the often-surprising logic behind English spelling and equips you, the parent, with powerful, evidence-based strategies to truly support your child's journey to becoming a confident speller.
Making Spelling Make Sense: Patterns, Parts & History
Discover that spelling isn't just random memorization! In this session, we'll make sense of English spelling by exploring:
Reliable Spelling Patterns: Recognizing common, predictable patterns (like vowel teams, syllable types, and consonant digraphs) that unlock the spelling of many words.
Meaningful Word Parts (Morphology): Understanding how prefixes, suffixes, and root words work together builds vocabulary and provides powerful clues for spelling thousands of related words.
Fascinating Word Histories (Etymology): Briefly uncovering a word's origin often explains its current, sometimes quirky, spelling!
The Science of How We Really Learn to Spell: Orthographic Mapping
Crucially, we'll introduce you to the science behind skilled spelling: Orthographic Mapping. This isn't about flashcards; it's the mental process the brain uses to permanently store words for effortless retrieval. We'll explain in clear, parent-friendly terms how our brains link a word's sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) together with its meaning. Our principled approach emphasizes activities that directly build this vital skill, moving far beyond temporary memorization for the Friday test.
Practical Strategies You Can Use Immediately:
This interactive workshop provides tangible techniques for home use. You'll learn how to guide your child in:
Analyzing words using their sounds, meaningful parts, and even their history.
Engaging in simple activities that strengthen crucial sound-letter connections.
Applying principles that promote effective orthographic mapping, helping words "stick" in their long-term memory.
Your Takeaway: Confidence, Clarity & Effective Support
Leave this empowering one-hour session with valuable "aha!" moments about spelling. You'll feel more confident and knowledgeable, possessing a toolkit of effective, research-informed strategies. This will help make spelling support at home less stressful and significantly more impactful, empowering your child to become a more confident and accurate speller.
Who Should Attend? Parents, caregivers, and homeschool educators seeking effective, brain-friendly strategies beyond rote memorization to support their child's spelling development (typically beneficial for Grades 2+ or once basic phonics skills are developing).
Format: An engaging and practical one-hour online session filled with insights and actionable strategies!