Learn to Read!

We are two teachers who care deeply that everyone has the chance to learn to read. Over the past 15 years we have been creating teaching videos, guidance and materials for colleagues to use in their classrooms. We are excited that people around the world: professionals, parents and others who wish to help someone learn to read, are now using this site!

Reading research has long shown us that we need to explicitly teach reading skills. The key to remembering the skills is to teach the sounds, letter combinations and skills in a sequential way and purposefully embed these skills into story, visuals, and actions.

We remember what we think about most.  We think about things that interest us. Engaging emotion and interest through story makes these skills something for students to think about well after the lesson is over.  Using motions to engage motor memory as well as visuals to help organize and categorize skills help students be active in engaging their memory. 

For each skill we provide direct instruction of skills through teaching videos, stories, and explanations. We provide practice with games, little books, word, phrase and sentence lists, fluency pyramids, activities and more! 

Quick Start

1. ← Use the table of contents on the left. Start at the top.

2. Work through Sight Words, the Big Sounds Pack, and Playing With Sounds (P.A.) along with the steps.

3. Start with Step 1 and move quickly through until work becomes more challenging.
OR
Go to Placement Checks for Playing With Sounds (P.A.), Sight Words, Big Sounds Pack, and Phonics Skills to see where to start.

Learners are ready for Step 1 when they:

1. Know most of their letter sounds. (If not go to The Alphabet: Learning 26 Letter Sounds page)
2. Can identify the first, last and middle sounds in words with 2 or 3 sounds.
   • The first sound in “bat” is /b/
   • The last sound in “bat” is /t/
   • The middle sound in :”bat” is /ă/  
3. Can blend and segment two or three sound words.
   • /m/… /ŏ/… /p/ says “mop”
   • The sounds in “mop” are /m/…/ŏ/…/p/
     (If not, go to Playing With Sounds [P.A.] and focus on these skills first.)