Course Description
Smart Way Reading and Spelling
The proprietary Smart Way Reading and Spelling program is presented in a series of twenty-seven individual flip chart lessons. Each flip chart contains a complete lesson that includes both the student and coach materials within one bound booklet.
The student sees an image or text on one side of the flip chart, while the reading coach has his scripted instructions on the other side with a mirror image of what the student sees. The completely scripted nature of the program allows even the most novice coach to work with a student immediately. Extensive training is not necessary. Over time, as the coach becomes more confident, he can add more creativity and interaction in working with their students.
Rather than stressing individual phonetic rules for the sake of teaching rules, the Smart Way methodology introduces words and word patterns in families, helping students grasp the key phonetic rules through a cognitive learning process.
The Smart Way Reading and Spelling program was designed as both a complete learning system for youngsters and as an intevention method for older students and adults. Though results will vary, most students will complete each lesson in one to two hours.
Smart Way Prerequisite:
The prerequisite for starting the Smart Way Reading and Spelling program is that the student is able to recognize and print all 26 letters of the alphabet and knows the basic sounds of the consonants.
Smart Way Knowledge Milestones:
- Section 1a - Lessons 1- 6: By the end of this section, the student can read and write any three-letter word using short vowel sounds. There are approximately 1,500 of these in the English language.
- Lesson 1: Teaches basic definitions and reviews the most common sound of each consonant.
- Lesson 2: Teaches the short A sound, breaking words into syllables, capitalization for people and places, the concept of past tense and the definition of punctuation mark, phrase and sentence.
- Lesson 3: Teaches the short I sound and the second sound of the letter S i.e. his.
- Lesson 4: Teaches the short U, similarities and differences in pairs of words, definitions and how commas are used.
- Lesson 5: Teaches the short E, question marks, exclamation marks and how to use punctuation marks to change the meaning of a sentence.
- Lesson 6: Teaches the short O, the apostrophe showing ownership and how to know if C or K should be used in words such as cat and kit.
- Section 1b - Lessons 7-11: By the end of this section, the student has learned all beginning and ending blends, how to add ING and ED to words, and most consonant digraphs (letters representing units of sound) such as CH.
- Lesson 7: Teaches 25 beginning blends such as SL and GR.
- Lesson 8: Teaches ending blends such as ND and LT, and defines singular and plural words.
- Lesson 9: Teaches how to add ING to words, introduces the concept of root words and suffixes and teaches the rule of doubling consonants when adding ING to words such at sitting.
- Lesson 10: Teaches the consonant digraphs: CH, SH, TH and WH and reading with expression using punctuation marks.
- Lesson 11: Teaches the additional consonant digraphs: CK, TCH, DGE, the past tense suffix ED and making plurals with ES.
- Section 2a - Lessons 12 - 17: By the end of this section, the student knows all of the sounds made by each letter of the alphabet including the third sound of A and U (ball, put). The student has learned the most common consonant digraphs including PH, how to read words with R controlled vowels, such as AR, ER and OR.
- Lesson 12: Teaches long vowel sounds in words ending with silent E.
- Lesson 13: Teaches how to add ING and ED to words ending in silent E, teaches the IND, ILD and OLD word families and the definition of compound words and compound sentences.
- Lesson 14: Teaches the 4 sounds of Y and the soft sounds of C and G.
- Lesson 15: Teaches the third sound of A (ball) and U (full), the digraph PH, and basic contractions.
- Lesson 16: Teaches R controlled vowel sounds such as OR, AR, and ER.
- Lesson 17: Teaches the third sound of I as in radio, how to change Y to I when adding a suffix (baby, babies) and reviews lessons 1 through 16.
- Section 2b - Lessons 18 - 21: By the end of this section, the student has learned the sounds made by all of the vowel teams as well as special vowel sounds. The student knows the majority of the graphemes (letters which represent sounds) in the English language and can decode nearly any word.
- Lesson 18: Teaches the vowel teams AI, AY, OA, and EE, and about homonyms.
- Lesson 19: Teaches the vowel teams EA, IE, OE, UE, UI and EY and more homonyms.
- Lesson 20: Teaches special vowel sounds: OU, OW, AW and AU.
- Lesson 21: Teaches more special vowel sounds: OY, OI, OO EW and more homonyms.
- Section 3 - Lessons 22 - 27: By the end of this section, the student has been introduced to over 200 spelling patterns in the English language and has greatly improved decoding and spelling capabilities.
- Lesson 22: Teaches the schwa sound and the letter combinations LE, IGH, EIGH, GH, and WR.
- Lesson 23: Teaches the three sounds of CH and silent letter combinations such as GN, KN, ALK, MB, H (hour), T (castle), GU, GUE and QUE.
- Lesson 24: Teaches the complete lesson of contractions and more homonyms.
- Lesson 25: Teaches spelling patters with TI (action), CI (magician), SI (mansion), TU (picture), DU (graduate), ION (million). Teaches reverse vowel combinations such as UA (graduate) IA (giant) EO (rodeo) IU (aquarium) and IO (violet) and OUGH words.
- Lesson 26: Teaches the use of prefixes and the complete rules of syllabication.
- Lesson 27: Reviews material from lessons 18 - 26, teaches the suffix OUS, and provides a summary of the most common exceptions to phonetic rules and how to add a suffix to words ending in LE (bubble, bubbling).
Throughout the lessons, the words from the Dolch Word List are introduced. The Dolch words are the 220 most frequently found words in books that children read. These words are usually learned in first and second grade. Many of these words have one or more letters that do not follow the rules so they must be learned as sight words. The words are introduced in a systematic manner to make learning them as simple as possible.
The student receives instruction in comprehension strategies throughout the program by reading many different types of sentences and answering questions about their meaning.
Vocabulary and dictionary skills are a key ingredient to comprehension. For this reason, the Smart Way program contains a fully illustrated dictionary that includes every word contained in the first eleven lessons. With this very simple dictionary, even beginning readers are able to look up words independently, thus establishing the good habit of using the dictionary right at the beginning of his reading and learning career. From Lessons 12 on, the student works with a Student Dictionary.
Smart Way is not only an instructional program; it's an invaluable resource. The contents of each lesson are printed on the back cover -- providing a fast, easy-to-use reference of the spelling patterns and rules of the English language that can be referred to, time and time again.
In addition to the Smart Way Reading and Spelling program, Bright Sky Learning offers an array of controlled vocabulary and leveled readers. In this way as students are mastering the fundamentals of reading, they can practice their new found skills by reading interesting and entertaining literature.
MathLine and the Key Curriculum Mathematics Programs
Of the two math programs used, the most basic one, MathLine, provides the student with one-on-one correspondence between the abstract number symbol and the concrete and, as with Smart Way, is multi-sensory. There are over 50 elementary math concepts and standards addressed within this first program. It has been used very successfully with all age elementary school students as well as for remedial middle school.
For the student who has achieved the very basic fundamentals of math, the second program Bright Sky utilizes, Key Curriculum, has been classroom tested with hundreds of middle and high school students, and takes the student on a very clear step-by-step process aimed at achieving positive results.
The combination of these two highly effective programs includes all ten of the standards associated with mathematical proficiency by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics as well as the National Research Council report, "Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics."
MathLine®:
Levels A-F
Pre-School through Remedial Middle School
MathLine is one supplemental tool that can be used to teach over 50 elementary math concepts and the program incorporates all the various modes of learning, including audio, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic. Containing six different books it begins at a pre-kindergarten level and may be used through all elementary grades and for use in remedial middle school.
The Key Curriculum:
Key to Algebra®
The Key to Algebra series introduces algebra in simple language, and the examples are easy to follow. Word problems that are used relate algebra to familiar situations which assists students to better understand abstract concepts.
Key to Decimals®
The Key to Decimals starts out with the basic concepts and operations and then progresses to real-world uses in pricing, sports, metrics, calculators, and science.
Key to Fractions®
The Key to Fractions covers all topics from the very basic concepts to working with mixed numbers and is designed primarily for secondary students. The series is self-paced and self-guided with minimal reading involved so students can easily work either independently or in small groups.
Key to Geometry®
The Key to Geometry series offers a non-intimidating way to prepare students for formal geometry as they do step-by-step constructions, beginning by drawing lines, bisecting angles, and reproducing segments using only a pencil, compass, and straightedge, thus advancing to more sophisticated constructions. Upon completion, students have been introduced to 134 geometric terms.
Key to Measurement®
The Key to Measurement series is devoted to the English system of measurement. Students learn linear measurement, length, perimeter, and area measurements, volume and then a variety of topics concerning weighing objects, measuring capacity, and learning about temperature and time.
Key to Metric Measurement®
The Key to Metric Measurement series teaches students how to measure in metric units. Interesting measurement activities involve the use of real examples from many countries, such as maps of Mexico and Japan, and a train schedule from China.
Key to Percents®
The Key to Percents begins with mental computation and estimation skills and advances to teaching students to solve problems using equal fractions and decimal multiplication and to then solve word problems in a variety of applications.
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