There are some generalizations that can help narrow down the options, but the fact is that there are approximately 250 ways to spell the 45 speech sounds of the English language.

Choices include A, AI, A-consonant-E, EIGH, EI, EY, or AY. If a child wants to write the word great or neighbor, for example, he has to decide how the sound of long A should be written. Ideally, there would be just one way to write each sound, but the reality is that there are many ways to write each sound. In a word like thread, the student who tries out the first, most common sound of EA quickly realizes that /thrēd/ isn’t a real word, so she tries the second sound of EA, resulting in the real word /thrĕd/.īut in spelling, a child encodes the word. And the fact that students learn to recite the phonogram sounds in order of frequency is also helpful. Phonogram AY always says long A, so once a child learns that, reading words like stay and display is a straightforward task.Įven with a more complex phonogram-such as phonogram EA, which can say three sounds (/ē/, /ĕ/, or /ā/)-students can try out each of the three sounds to see which forms a real word. In reading, a child decodes the written word. Simply put, reading is easier than spelling.

Reason #1: Most Children Learn to Read More Quickly than They Learn to Spell That’s a great question! Read on to discover the two main reasons we teach these subjects separately. After all, wouldn’t it be more efficient to teach multiple subjects in the same program? You may be wondering why we don’t combine our programs into a single All About® program. All About Reading and All About Spelling fall into this category.

Single-subject programs, on the other hand, teach reading and spelling in separate lessons.

When the student learns to read the word bread, for example, he learns to spell the word in the same lesson.

All-in-one programs combine reading and spelling in a single lesson, and the lesson often includes handwriting, grammar, and composition as well.

You may have noticed that language arts programs can be divided into two types: all-in-one programs and single-subject programs.

Do i really have to teach reading