You’ve taught the rules and patterns, and the student seems to know them. But when it’s time to actually read or spell, they’re still working much harder than you think they should be. This is a tricky place to be with a student. So, do you slow down and really work those earlier skills, or…
If you’ve been teaching syllable types, you already know about open and closed syllables. Now we’re going to borrow those same ideas to talk about prefixes. A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of another word. It changes the meaning of the base word. Think about these: Once students begin recognizing prefixes,…
Vowel Team Generalizations are taught for students to know the sounds and placement of OI/OY, OU/OW, AU/AW in words.
Summer tends to shift things. One week you’re on a roll, and the next week someone’s at the beach, at camp, or just… done. The truth is, very few are excited about full lessons of summer reading and spelling in July. No matter how great a tutor I am or how many “games” I can…
In Orton-Gillingham, we teach students to decode and spell using rules. We break words apart. We analyze sounds. We follow structure. But then come the words that don’t cooperate. Words like said, was, one, and does. They don’t follow the rules we’ve taught. They are sight words, and will just have to be memorized. So…
Orton-Gillingham is often pictured as one teacher and one student sitting across from each other with sand trays and drill cards. That image isn’t wrong, but it’s incomplete. Most teachers are working with small groups, and sometimes full classes. So, the real question becomes: if OG is oriented to serve one-on-one, multisensory lessons, how does…
Most educators don’t wake up thinking, “How can I make this lesson boring today?”Quite the opposite. Teachers, tutors, and parents are constantly looking for ways to make lessons feel more engaging, doable, and even fun, especially for younger students and those who lose focus quickly. The challenge is that fun can sometimes feel at odds…
Most people know the old spelling rule rhyme, ‘I before E except after C,’ but in Orton-Gillingham, we go a step further to make this rule crystal clear for our students. What Is the IE/EI Rule? In OG, the full rule is: Use I before E except after C, when spelling long E. So what…
If you’ve been curious about how to bring Orton-Gillingham (OG) and the Three-Part Drill into any setting, you’re in the right place. OG works beautifully in classrooms, kitchen table learning, micro-schools, tutoring pods, and even virtual sessions.
What is the 3 Part Drill in Structured Literacy? A Simple Explanation and scripts for teaching students.
The Three-Part Drill is a key component of Orton-Gillingham lessons. It’s a multi-sensory practice that helps students become automatic with the sounds, symbols, and spellings of the English language.
In teaching syllable division, we know the VCCV pattern is a big one. VCCV is the first pattern we use, giving students that lightbulb moment. Suddenly, long words don’t look so intimidating. Hornet Words are one of the four VCCV patterns we teach in Orton-Gillingham: Rabbit, Reptile, Candy… and then Hornet. Hornet words are VCCV…
If your students understand VCCV syllable division with RABBIT words (two closed syllables: C/C), they’re ready for the next step in VCCV syllable division. The next step is learning VCCV Reptile words. Reptile words are VCCV words made up of one closed syllable followed by a Magic E syllable. In Orton-Gillingham, students divide between the…
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