STEPS Practice Goes Home with FREE PARENT SUPPORT

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 Encourage parents to sign up for  FREE support classes. Let them help you make great progress with each student in reading, writing and spelling!
Why do I have to create an account and become a member to view the STEPS classes? Good question!! STEPS Reading Center's training and support site accompanies the STEPS materials for teachers and parents. The class-based training includes lots of video content, printables and games but it also has activities and lessons that track progress. Nothing better than being able to track progress and use built in assessments to see the strengths and weaknesses of your child or student. Teachers and students can check their grades in quizzes and lessons that are set up to be repeatable until mastery has been achieved. No, "jack of all trades, master at none" in our world! Once you create an account, enroll in as many classes as you want! The STEPS online Graduate class is the only class requiring a fee.

Quickly and easily create a new account! This FREE account is for the sole purpose of course membership. There are no membership fees and you will not receive advertising email. You will gain 24/7 access to all the activities, quizzes, games and printable support offered by STEPS. Your information will remain private and is never sold to third party services.

Put a bow on it!

Give the gift of knowledge to a teacher or parent that wants all the answers. The STEPS Teacher Manual comes complete with the Teacher Log, Teacher Phonogram Cards, a WISE Guide Spelling book, and step by step directions in how to teach STEPS to any age student.
Available from the STEPS Catalog.

STEPS to Spelling

Before putting pencil to paper, STEPS spelling dictation teaches students to use concrete manipulatives. An index card is the manipulative for the syllable and each cube represents a sound. This student orally segments the word and then writes the word by selecting the correct phonogram for each sound.

This student builds the word “held” and then repeats sounds as she writes the word in her STEPS Log.


Keep an eye out on the STEPS Blog for more video examples of spelling word instruction using the WISE Guide for Spelling, STEPS Edition.

Teachers, before the last bell rings, be sure to let parents know there is FREE online support to practice phonograms. The "Just Games" and "Phonogram Lab" classes are perfect for keeping students a STEP ahead!
http://stepsreadingcenter.com/

Summer tutoring in the Summerville area

Summer tutoring in the Summerville area

STEPS Reading Center provides one-on-one tutoring for students of all ages. Our specially trained teachers work with your child to learn the letter sounds and how to write them either in manuscript or cursive. Students will learn all 70 phonogram sounds and then how to blend those sounds together to read. Your child will also be taught the process of spelling and the rules that determine the correct spelling of English.
Sessions meet 2 hours per week.
We are currently accepting summer students for the Summerville, SC area.
Sessions are available for Tues./Thurs 8-4.
Phone: 843-875-5169
Contact us now for scheduling.

Phonics practice takes a spin! Practice the Blue Set of phonograms in this game.

Leprechauns Love to Fish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Going GREEN in the STEPS world means learning the GREEN Set, phonograms 27-50. This set includes common vowel and consonant multi-letter combinations that are taught in pairs. Many of these pairs are taught with the spelling rule that determines its use in a word. Playing "Go Fish" gives your child lots of practice connecting the sound and its symbol. Be sure to keep the focus on the sound(s) and not the letter names. The little leprechaun fisherman says, "Do you have /oy/ that we may use at the end of English words?" and his fishing buddy says "No, go fish!"

Free printable GO FISH games are available for the Blue Set and Green Set of phonograms in the STEPS Reading Center classes, STEPS Teacher Resources and Just Games. Be sure to run the Green Go Fish game on green cardstock and the Blue Go Fish on blue cardstock. You can make a really large pond and include both sets!

Phonograms: First, Fast, and Furious

One third of the STEPS program is devoted to teaching the 70 phonograms. This presentation gives the reasons why they are so vital and how STEPS teaches them.

Read more about the STEPS Method.

A New Tool...Cursive Writing Resource

STEPS encourages phonogam practice to include SEEING, HEARING, WRITING and SAYING the phonograms. This sample from the Video Book of Phonograms has the handwritten cursive form and a model saying the sounds. Use the Table of Contents to mix up the phonograms or use the page by page navigation to work your way through. The new cursive resource is available in the STEPS Online Coach, the Phonogram Lab, and STEPS Teaching Resources class. Let's practice!

Handwriting Circle Slide Board

The Handwriting Circle Slide Board is used in STEPS 3 and 4 as a beginning writing tool. For very young children, this is often their first attempt at writing in a controlled setting with lines. We first introduce the language of instruction necessary for handwriting lessons including directional phrases, start at "1", slide along, pull through, etc. Students can touch the top line, midline, baseline and learn the difference between a one story and two story letter before beginning to write. Younger students follow oral directions by moving a bingo marker or small bean as they practice the six manuscript or cursive stroke formations. Older students can trace the board with the eraser end of pencil for a quick review of writing directionality. Once the six strokes are mastered teaching the letter formation goes much smoother!

Just one more week to join the spring STEPS class!

The 2012 STEPS class is open for just one more week! Sign on to take this class at your own pace and receive 3 hours of graduate credit through Charleston Southern University. Go to www.stepsreadingcenter.com for more information and the easy sign in!

An Account = FREE STEPS Classes

Pin It Why do I have to create an account and become a member to view the STEPS classes? Good question!! STEPS Reading Center's training and support site accompanies the STEPS materials for teachers and parents. The class-based training includes lots of video content, printables and games but it also has activities and lessons that track progress. Nothing better than being able to track progress and use built in assessments to see the strengths and weaknesses of your child or student. Teachers and students can check their grades in quizzes and lessons that are set up to be repeatable until mastery has been achieved. No, "jack of all trades, master at none" in our world! Once you create an account, enroll in as many classes as you want! The STEPS online Graduate class is the only class requiring a fee.

Quickly and easily create a new account! This FREE account is for the sole purpose of course membership. There are no membership fees and you will not receive advertising email. You will gain 24/7 access to all the activities, quizzes, games and printable support offered by STEPS. Your information will remain private and is never sold to third party services.

"Children that cannot read, cannot excel."

This is a copy of a letter written to a STEPS teacher.

Dear Mrs. C***,
Our family cannot begin to thank you for the turn around we have witnessed in Jordan's ability to read. It has improved his attitude and self-confidence in all areas of his school work. Last year about this time we had a second grade child that had a reading level that was barely first grade. He was unwilling to participate in any classroom activities that involved reading because he was embarrassed. He had great Math skills but once his class began reading their own instructions, even his math grades suffered. He hated to read at home because he stumbled over every word. It was an emotional ordeal for all of us. We purchased every program and every game that you can name to help him improve (including Hooked on Phonics), to no avail.

STEPS Spring 2012 Online Graduate Class

The STEPS Online Graduate class officially begins Monday! You can join us any time before February 27th. You do the class independently, at your own pace. You just have to finish before May 1st. Work as slowly or as quickly as you like. Parking is free and you can do your classwork in your slippers. You can have 3 hours of graduate credit under your belt BEFORE summer begins!

http://stepsreadingcenter.com/

We're up and running! Check out our all new website!

We are SO excited to finally be unveiling our new and much improved STEPS website. We've been able to add lots of FREE areas and slash prices on the STEPS Teacher Manual. Even if you are an old friend, you'll need a new account, but it's painless and free. We really want it to be perfect, so bounce us a line at any problems you see! Enjoy and help us spread the word on the NEW STEPS website! Click on the title link to visit our new site!

Sounding out words gets much easier after you practice blending!

These two homeschoolers are practicing blending nonsense words from the "Fluency" STEPS class.

"The STEPS program - I can't say enough about it. It gave my daughter a new life."

"The STEPS program - I can't say enough about it. It gave my daughter a new life. My six-year old was in first grade and could not even read the letter "I". Furthermore, she didn't have the confidence in her ability to learn to read. We had been doing Hooked on Phonics for months with very little progress. By January, half way through the first grade, I had a conference with her teacher. She had said that more than likely M*** was going to have to repeat first grade. We were even looking into getting her evaluated for a learning disability, but before we took that step, we wanted to try one more thing. We are so glad we did. We were introduced to E*** for tutoring M***. She started immediately. The change in M*** came almost instantly. She learned the correct sounds for every letter of the alphabet. She learned how to use the letters to make words. She started to read. She passed first grade. She went from not even being able to read on a kindergarten level in January to being able to read third grade chapter books in July. The best part was that she gained confidence in herself. Her whole world opened up. She was reading everything. Not only did the STEPS program help her to read, it helped her to spell. Homework was no longer a struggle for her. Whenever I hear about a parent whose child is struggling with reading, I can feel what they are going through, and the first thing I do is tell them about the STEPS program and how it changed our daughter's life."
Amy N.

"The STEPS program is a wonderful learning opportunity for children."

"The STEPS program is a wonderful learning opportunity for children. It not only teaches them sounds of letters, but also teaches them the rules of the English language. I volunteered in Mrs. C***'s class every week last year and was astonished at how quickly the students in her class learned the rules and started applying them to all aspects of learning, including spelling and writing. The children were excited and confident when they spelled words or read aloud in class. Their reading scores skyrocketed and, by the way that Mrs. C*** incorporated games into her curriculum using the sounds and the rules of the STEPS program, the students were not only learning, but were also having fun while they learned.
I have watched both of my children become stronger readers by not only knowing the sounds that letters make, but also understanding the rules of the English language. I know the STEPS Program helps students learn and also gets them excited about learning because I have seen it first hand by volunteering in Mrs. C***'s class and by watching my own children use it every day in their reading and writing."
Sherry W.

"We found the program to be fun to learn, while being educational."

"My child was in the second grade last school year. Mrs. C*** was her teacher. G*** was tested on her reading level at the beginning of the school year. We had transferred to *** from G****, SC. We were shocked to learn that our child was starting the second grade on a 1.5 reading level. Mrs. C*** introduced the phonics program to her class and to the parents. We found the program to be fun to learn, while being educational. G***'s reading level and spelling ability improved greatly. I am proud to say that by the end of second grade, G***'s reading level improved to 4.1. She still uses the phonics to help her spell and sound out third grade words. As a parent, I would encourage this program and strongly support the teachers who use it."
Kellee J.