These tools may help you help your student in their reading goals.
Writable Cards
We've used these in our group classes and found them very helpful. They are writable playing cards. We mainly use them in our tutoring sessions to review letter shapes and sounds, plus additional phonemes. We do this at the start of every tutoring session.
We recommend bold (using a thick poster marker) lowercase letters on one side and the sounds (even pictures) on the other. Alternatively, they'd make great vocabulary cards!
Whisper Phones
Are your kids struggling to hear the sounds coming out of their own mouths? That makes learning to read even more challenging. A tool like a whisper phone can help.
- These are great for hearing the sounds they are actually saying.
- They help the student put the sounds together into words, if that's a rough spot for them.
- They also help when transitioning from reading aloud to reading silently, by helping them gradually reduce the volume coming out.
Finger Highlighter
Make it fun! One of the reminders given consistently to students is to follow along with your finger. This tool takes that reminder to the next level. Some kids love to use these.
View Finger Highlighter on Amazon
Blank Index Cards, Punched with Ring
These have been a great help to our students. We use them to teach and review vocabulary words (curated from students' word lists). Comprehension is one of the skills we intensively focus on for students who need the help.
We have students write (or we write) the word on one side and the definition with a picture on the other. Discussing the definition and drawing the picture really helps them remember! They keep them in their binder and review at home each day and during sessions.
View Blank Index Cards with Rings on Amazon
Guided Reading Color Strips
This is a type of tool that can help ADHD and/or dyslexic readers track what they are reading, instead of having their eyes jump back and forth across the page.
View Guided Reading Color Strips on Amazon