How Wee Read

From Rhyming to Reading in 60 Simple Lessons

Let's take the mystery out of learning to read. As a teacher and reading specialist, I know how to teach little ones to read—and you will too.

Teaching a child to read can be broken down into four steps:

Step One: Phonological Awareness (7 Lessons)

First, we teach phonological awareness. In Lessons 1 to 7, we teach your child phonological awareness skills, starting with rhyming. Simply open your coursebook, read the activity, and play!

A detailed description of each skill is included, along with an activity to practice that skill.

Once your child has mastered all seven phonological awareness skills, they are ready for the next step.

Step Two: Letters, Sounds, and Blending (12 Lessons)

Next, we teach letter sounds and blending. In Lessons 8 to 19, we teach the letters in a very special order. Your child will learn and play with each letter group before moving onto the next.

In Lesson 8, your child learns the names and sounds for the first group of letters: s, a, t, i, p, and n. In Lesson 9, your child practices blending those sounds together. Already, your child will be reading words like sat, nap, tin, and pan!

Once your child has learned all of the letter names and sounds, and has practiced blending those sounds together, they are ready for the next step.

Step Three: Special Rules (5 Lessons)

Now we introduce special rules and exceptions. English has a lot of rules—and a lot of exceptions to those rules! In Lessons 20 to 24, we will cover the most common ones.

Your child will learn about 'sneaky letters,' digraphs, blends, vowels, and the Magic Letter E.

After completing these five lessons, your child will be ready for the last step!

Step Four: Familiar Readers (36 Lessons)

And finally, we read! It's time to take all of the knowledge your child has learned so far, and apply it to Familiar Readers.

Your child will practice word families they learned in Step Two, and will learn some brand new sight words. In fact, by the time your child has completed all 36 Familiar Readers, they will know the first 100 sight words!

How Wee Write

How Wee Write is your learn-to-write workbook that perfectly complements How Wee Read!

For each lesson in How Wee Read, you will find a corresponding lesson in How Wee Write. From squiggles to sentences, you will teach your child how to write in 60 simple lessons.

Part One: Pre-Writing (7 Lessons)

These seven activities get little hands ready to begin forming letters and words. By working on a variety of form drawings, little ones begin to understand the flow of writing and the idea of mark-making.

Part Two: Letters, Sounds, and Blending (12 Lessons)

In this section, we begin letter formation! We follow the same very special order for teaching letters as we do in How Wee Read:

1. s, a, t, i, p, n
2. c, k, e, h, r
3. m, d, g, o
4. l, f, b, q, u
5. j, z, w
6. v, y, x

For the second lesson, we transition your child from writing individual letters to writing word family words. The first group of letters your child will learn is s, a, t, i, p, and n. So in the second lesson for that group of letters, they will be practicing word family words that can be made with those letters, such as sat, pat, tin, and pin. Encourage your child to write a few words at a time, building up his or her hand strength bit by bit.

Part Three: Special Rules (5 Lessons)

In this section, we introduce some rules, exceptions, and things that can be tricky when writing. We will focus on letters that appear similar and give an opportunity for children to learn letters with visuals, hoping to minimize reversals. We also introduce the long sound vowels can make. We do this by introducing the “Magic Letter E.”

Part Four: Familiar Readers (36 Lessons)

Finally, we progress to writing simple sentences. These sentences have been carefully selected to focus on the word families and sight words your child is learning in How Wee Read.

*Note: Printed & Shipped orders include a Free Digital Copy and Free Shipping to Canada and the US.