What to expect in a Reading Simplified tutoring session with Mrs. Huchingson

ASSESSMENT

After talking with the parent to find out what their reason for tutoring is and what they hope to gain from it, I will give the student a few informal assessments that will quickly tell me the student’s most pressing need. It will also tell me what pathway to start the student on. With Reading Simplified, there are different pathways for different reading levels ranging from prek-4th grade. I do not tell the students what grade level they are on. It is for my purposes only.  Each pathway has the goal of getting students reading fluently at that grade level or beyond. 

THE THREE-PART READING SIMPLIFIED LESSON

Once I determine which pathway to follow, we can start with the Reading Simplified 3-part lesson. I will determine which specific activities to do based on your child’s most pressing need.

THE FIRST PART- RE-READ FOR FLUENCY

 The first part of the 3-part lesson is called Re-read for fluency. In this part of the lesson, the student will reread the passage that was introduced in the session before. The main benefits of this repeated reading routine are it improves word identification, increases reading fluency, develops decoding skills, helps students gain confidence, and improves reading comprehension 

THE SECOND PART - WORD WORK

The second part of the Reading Simplified lesson is called Word Work. I will pick 2 activities ranging from Switch-it, Read-it, Write-it or Sort-it.

Switch-it is a quick game that kids love to “play”. They do not even realize that they are learning about the concept of the alphabetic principle, letter-sound knowledge, phonemic segmentation, phonemic manipulation, & early decoding & spelling skills. I personally feel like it is the heartbeat of our tutoring session. It is a very powerful time of accelerated and advance learning. Find out more about it here. 

Read-it is a whiteboard activity in which I teach students how to blend. Reading Simplified uses an approach they call Blend as You Read. Some people call it continuous blending. I call it POWERFUL!

It is a simple technique of teaching students to sound out the first two sounds of a word and continue to say the sound as they add the next sound. It is easier to understand if you see it done. How to Teach Blending Sounds to Read Words | Reading Simplified

Write- it boosts the skills of spelling, reading, and writing. It uses the strategy of Write and Say. It is another simple, but powerful strategy in which students say the sounds of the word as they write it. Find out more about Write-it here.

Sort-it is for students who are ready for advanced phonics, which is sooner than you think. Once they can blend 3 and 4 sound short vowel words, they are ready for advanced phonics, which includes long vowel combinations, diphthongs, and vowel digraphs. Reading Simplified teaches by sorting by sound, not spelling. For instance, in one lesson introduce the long vowel “o” and its major spellings (i.e., “o,” “o_e,” “ow,” “oa,” “oe”).  It is amazing how this approach works so well, that even kindergarteners understand it. Find out more about Sort-it here.

THE THIRD PART- GUIDED READING

The last part of the three-part lesson is called Guided Reading. I like to think of it as a new read.  The student will be reading a new text that matches the level that they are at on the pathway. This is the time that they learn or practice the blend-as-you-read strategy. I will also buddy read on the harder words and gradually decrease the amount of the support I provide during future tutoring sessions. This is also a time to develop comprehension skills by having them develop a brief summary. Find out more about Reading Simplified Guided Reading here.  

BONUS HANDWRITING ACTIVITY

There is also a bonus handwriting activity that I use as needed. I follow the Peterson Handwriting prompts that I learned about here.  I find that these prompts decrease the cognitive load during handwriting instruction and all students that I have taught have improved their fluency and accuracy in handwriting. 

BONUS PHONICS GAMES

Reading Simplified also has card games or board games that coincide with the different levels of the pathways. We will typically play a game if there is time at the end of the session and sometimes I will assign them as part of their homework. 

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO COMPLETE A PATHWAY?

It typically takes about 12 hours to complete a pathway and students usually increase at least a grade level. It is not uncommon for the Reading Simplified lessons to benefit students in additional areas that have to do with processing information.  It seems to be more effective if the sessions are done twice a week and if students complete homework. 

REVIEW FROM A PARENT

She has been absolutely wonderful to work with and my daughter absolutely loves her. She has helped catch our daughter up a whole grade level in multiple areas so quickly. Literally in the matter of 8 weeks over the summer. She built up our daughter’s confidence in reading, started playing games, and still continue to rely on Mrs. Huchingson. I am forever grateful for all the growth and confidence it’s given our daughter. I am so confident that she was the right choice, and we will continue to work with her and I would recommend her to anyone. She literally is the absolute best of the best! And has been just a blessing to not just my daughter but our family

Why did I choose Reading Simplified?

The short answer is that I was looking for training that gave me a plan to follow to teach reading and that followed structured linguistic literacy or the speech to print approach. I had listened to the award-winning podcast, Sold a Story, and I was inspired to find out more about researched and evidence-based reading instruction. In my search, I came across the non-traditional sound-based approach to teaching reading, structured linguistic literacy or SLL. The more I learned about it; I realized that it was how I had taught my own children to read. I knew from experience that it worked. I had pieced together a plan to teach my own children, based on how I knew that we learned to read. I had a little help with it because my first child had a learning disability and went to language therapy. Her therapist used a program called LIPPS, which I now understand was one of the first Structure Linguistic Literacy programs. Her therapist unofficially trained me to work with my daughter using the materials. I saw how it unlocked the doors that were holding my daughter back and she became a fluent and happy reader. 

I did not realize that this was a revolutionary, relatively new therapy. I just knew it worked and now I know that we were truly blessed to have access to this program. 

I applied some of the principles while I was teaching my other children, and they all learned to read quickly and had a deep understanding of how reading works. Their learning was integrated as we used real books to learn to read, but also explicit, and dynamic, based on what they needed at the time. 

So, when I read about Structured Linguistic Literacy, I knew it worked. I just needed a specific plan to follow. I wanted to be trained in how to be the most efficient in getting kids to be fluent readers. Sold a Story lit a fire under me. I knew there was a great need, and I was driven to find out how I could help the most students.

I chose Reading Simplified because it fit the bill. It would give me a plan and a pathway to follow to teach all beginning or struggling readers. I saw video after video of Reading Simplified in action and I was hooked. Reading Simplified offered a free activity called Switch- it, so I decided to try it in my kindergarten class. 

Well, the rest is history.

I was blown away by the progress my students made from one simple activity. I wanted more, so the next summer I signed up to complete the whole Reading Simplified course, which takes about 8 hours to complete. 

I have been following the plan ever since and continue to be amazed not only by my student’s progress, but also by how much more confident and less cluttered my teaching has become.  

About Me

I have lived in Lake County Florida, most of my life. I am happily married to my husband who is the pastor of Celebration Church of Lake County. I have 4 children whom I homeschooled all the way from kindergarten to graduation. I have a B. A. in Elementary Education from Southeastern University and have a teaching certificate from the state of Florida, which includes ESOL and reading endorsement and the civics seal of excellence. I currently teach kindergarten in a local elementary school and am a reading tutor.

I like to say my teaching career began at 7 years old, when I taught my younger brother to read. I always knew I would be a teacher, just like my mom, and spent my growing up years taking in all I could about teaching. 

Since graduating from college, I have taught pre-k, 2nd, 4th, in private schools and high school English for homeschooled students. I was also trained in National Institute for Learning Development and was a level 1 educational therapist for students with learning disabilities.   After homeschooling my own children, I began teaching kindergarten in a public school in 2015. 

While I have taught students to read for over 30 years, I have been trained in the Reading Simplified ® approach since May of 23. It revolutionized the way that I teach beginning reading. It adheres to the Structured Linguistic Literacy approach, which is founded in the work of Dianne McGuinness.  Marnie Ginsberg PhD. is the creator of Reading Simplified ® which evolved from the Targeted Reading Intervention, also developed by Dr. Ginsberg, which is recommended by the I. E. S. What Works Clearinghouse.