In this 30-minute presentation, local parent Sally Cole will share how anyone can teach foundational reading skills to children using a complete approach to phonics. Unlike the mainstream understanding of phonics, which typically involves only simple vowel sounds and a single sound for each consonant, a complete approach to phonics covers all the letter sounds and a minimum of 44 multi-letter phonograms. You’ll learn why the two c’s in circle make different sounds. You’ll get advice on how to help emerging readers make sense of this and similar features of the English language, like the fact that ch makes three sounds, like in chicken, school and chef. Most importantly, you’ll get practical tips for incorporating phonics into day-to-day life in ways that makes learning fun and approachable to all emerging readers, from toddlers to 2nd graders.

@ Laura's Library on Friday, January 11 at 10:00 a.m.

Sally Cole is a local mother of two, currently on maternity leave from her marketing job at Google. As part of a personal project to contribute to early childhood literacy, Sally writes a blog dedicated to helping parents, caretakers and educators teach kids to read. Sally's expertise stems from hundreds of hours of research into phonics programs, especially those that teach the 70+ phonograms that occur the most frequently in the English language. Through her blog and engaging with other parents, Sally hopes to apply the skills she normally uses in marketing technology products to help more kids learn to read faster, with greater ease and with more enjoyability. You can read Sally's blog at readaboutreading.com.