1. These notes are designed for new teachers and others that want to help their student do well.
The first step is to teach the student the alphabet. Not just how to say it in order.
The names of the letters.
How to write them.
And the sounds they make.
I'm starting at the beginning because A Beka has its own way of teaching things.
How Can I Help?

2. No One Should be Afraid to Help Their Student
I know that you are not an expert at this.
I keep track of each student and as head teacher I add myself to the helpers as needed.
Each student will have what we call a “needs assess- ment” before teaching starts that will be shared.
This helps us know where to start and what we need to spend more time on.
Every student gets individual help in problem areas or their special interests.
We start with learning holes or areas needed to progress to a higher level of instruction.
No One Should be Afraid to Help Their Student

3. The A Beka System Has Clue Words
First we teach the short vowels and their clue words:
“a” as in apple
“e” as in elephant
“i” as in indian
“o” as in ostrich
“u” as in umbrella
We teach the clue words to give students a sample of the sound.
The A Beka System Has Clue Words

4. We have small flash cards to learn all of the clue words with and a CD with the sounds on it.
If you have any questions while using these notes, please contact me at my or by phone:
(510)
This wiki is fine for general questions.
What if I Need Help?

5. Clue Words for Consonants
'b as in bell
'c as in cat
'd as in dog
'f as in fox
'g as in goat
'h as in horse
'j as in jam
'k as in kite
Clue Words for Consonants

6. Clue Words for Consonants
l as in lamp
m as in milk
n as in nest
p as in pig
qu as in queen
r as in ring
s as in sun
t as in table
v as in violin
Clue Words for Consonants

7. Clue Words for Consonants
w as in wagon
x as in ax, box, or fox
y as in yarn
z as in zebra
Later we will introduce combinations of 2 or more letters that have a special sound when combined. Each set of sounds also has a key word to use as a memory aide.
Clue Words for Consonants

8. There are 2 kinds of letters
Five letters of the alphabet are very special.
We call these five letters vowels.
Every word has to have at least one vowel sound.
All of the letters of the alphabet that are not vowels, are consonants. They are used with vowels to form words.
There are 2 kinds of letters

9. A blend is made up of one or more consonants and a vowel.
Some reading systems teach with word families.
Word families are all of the words with the same last letters. If needed we will do that but most students don't need that.
Beginning students are taught blends to combine a consonant and vowel smoothly.
We teach them with blend ladders.
There are cards to help with this skill.
A Beka has blends

10. Examples of Blends Blend ladders look like this:
'ma
'me
'mi
'mo
'mu
You can put them on 3”x5” cards and show them in any order for practice as needed.
Examples of Blends

11. By lesson 4 we are adding another letter at the end to make words.
'tu 'tub
'ra 'rat
'fe 'fell
When students are ready, we teach the one- vowel rule:
When there is one vowel in a word, it usually says its short sound. We mark short vowels with a shape that looks like a smile.
Words come next

12. How to Help a Student Sound Out a Word
Given the word “cat”,
How many vowels do you see?
Which vowel sound does it have?
Remember the 1-vowel rule.
Cover up the last letter and tell me the blend.
Add the last sound.
If the child gets stuck along the way, you know that more practice is needed for that step.
How to Help a Student Sound Out a Word

13. The vowels have another sound called the long sound.
The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name.
We mark the long vowels with a straight stick.
(The long u sound can say its name or the oo sound as in boo.
Lots of practice with both sounds may be needed for some.
The Other Vowel Sound

14. Long Vowel Clue Words 'a acorn 'e eagle 'I ice cream 'o open
'u uniform
Long Vowel Clue Words

15. When there are two vowels in a word, the first vowel says its long sound, and the second vowel is silent. We draw a slanted line like this “\” through a silent vowel.
If you go through the questions this time, its like this:
How many vowels do you see?
Which vowel sound does it have?
Remember the 2-vowel rule.
Add the last sound.
Two Vowel Rule

16. Some Letters are Special
We teach that 'l, 'f, and 's are doubled in many words.
Next we teach that when you hear the “k” sound at the end of a word, remember:
“ck” follows a short vowel and “ke” follows a long vowel.
And then we add that in English, “Q” always has the helper “u”.
We don't say more because some Arabic words don't have the “u” helper.
Some Letters are Special

17. We try to help students understand that a Test is a way for the teacher to see how they're doing and not to be feared.
Tests are mostly used to tell us if more practice is needed in some skills.
Sometimes we try another reading program for more practice without repeating the same material.
Each step in phonics builds on the previous one. Reading smoothly is our goal. Some students need more practice than others.
This Brings us to Test 1