Grandma Zarro | Teaching 5-year-old kiddos how to read

What we offer:

1. Alphabet & Foundational Sounds

   • Alphabet knowledge

   • Letter-sound recognition

   • C vs. K rule, double consonants (bb, pp)

2. Short Vowels & Basic Word Patterns

   • VC and CVC words

   • Short vowel word families

   • Nonsense words (to test decoding)

3. Blends & Digraphs

   • Beginning and ending blends (bl, str, spr, fill, mass, etc.)

   • Consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, wr, kn)

   • ng, nk, all-ending words

   • Ghost sounds (ph, gh, gn)

4. Long Vowels & Silent E Patterns

   • Silent E (a_e, i_e, etc.)

   • Vowel teams: ai, ay; ee, ea; igh, ie; oa, ow, oe; ue, ew

   • Open syllables (me, we, do, to)

   • Words with: ild, old, ost, ind, olt

5. Advanced Vowel Patterns

   • Y as a vowel (long i)

   • Other vowel teams (ei, eigh)

   • R-controlled vowels (ar, or, ir, er, ur)

   • Long oo (food), ou (soup)

6. Syllables & Word Structure

   • Simple and intermediate syllabication

   • Syllable division (e.g., bas-ket)

   • Consonant-le words (e.g., turtle)

   • Two-syllable words with silent e

7. Suffixes: Spelling & Meaning

   • Regular suffixes: -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -ies

   • Derivational suffixes: -ful, -less, -ly, -ness, -y, -ure, -age, -ment, -tion, -sion, -able, -ible, -er, -est

8. Prefixes: Meaning & Usage

   • Common prefixes: re-, un-, mis-, pre-

   • More complex prefixes: ex-, de-, dis-, com-, in-, im-

9. Spelling Rules & Patterns

   • Soft c, soft g

   • Words ending in ce, ge, ve

   • Rule interactions with suffixes (e.g., hiking, raked)

10. Grammar & High-Frequency Structures

• Contractions (can’t, don’t, etc.)

• High-frequency words and irregulars