Wild Reading®

Introduction of letter sounds through the story Tilda Trekker, Fairy Fred, and the Marvelous, Mighty, Majestic Mountain by Monica Bosworth

Tilda Trekker, Fairy Fred, and the Marvelous, Mighty, Majestic Mountain follows Matilda the mouse as she discovers the world beyond her home in a moldy mattress. She catches a glimpse of a majestic mountain and decides she must see the top! Each week you follow Matilda and later, her friend Fairy Fred on their adventures up the mountain.

Their journey takes them through all 26 letters of the alphabet, ending with X (at the apeX of the mountain), and their return from the summit during the final two chapters.

Letter pages and word families

Each week your child will create pages featuring the week’s letter, sight word, and, if applicable, the word family/ies (word families are introduced after the letter A). They will also practice letter formation using multisensory methods.

You will collect the weekly letter sound, sight word, and word family pages that your child makes to create three books. You will construct them together with your child at the end of the year. They are an excellent way to showcase and document their work at the end of the year. 

Word families as a developmental step before phonics

While children are developing phonological awareness skills, it is recommended that they are introduced to word families before progressing to a full phonics approach. Teaching word families, according to Dr. David Kilpatrick[1], helps children begin reading while also honing their phonological awareness skills. This happens because word families scaffold their developing skills by using rime unit* patterns. (There is more information on the scientific basis for phonological awareness and reading development in the curriculum!)

 This is why Wild Reading® includes practice of essential phonological awareness skills along with instruction in word families and targeted sight words to ensure that beginning readers develop these foundational skills that help children become efficient readers.

*A rime unit is the part of a syllable that contains the vowel and all the consonants following it. For example, in the word “cat,” the onset is c and the rime unit is -at.  

[1]Kilpatrick, D. (2016). Equipped for Reading Success: A Comprehensive, Step by Step Program for Developing Phonemic Awareness and Fluent Word Recognition. Casey and Kirsch Publishers.

Sight words

When we refer to sight words in Wild Reading®, we are referring to a list of words that we want to prioritize the children learn to read because they are so common. These words can be phonetically regular or irregular. Each week children are introduced to 1–2 words. They make a word page for each word using pictures and simple sentences that are incorporated into a book at the end of the year. These pages help them create meaning and context for words that when isolated in this manner, can be abstract ( ex. the, if, as)

As explained in more detail in the first chapters of Wild Reading, children do not memorize what words look like visually. Brain scans and research has shown that we look at and process all the letters in a word every time we read them. We do this effortlessly and without realizing it as skilled readers. We use the process of orthographic mapping to learn and recall words instantly and effortlessly. If sight words are decodable, attention should be on sounding the words out. When introducing sight words that have letters that make unexpected sounds, such as the words “is” or “the,” we should call attention to the letters that do and do not make the sounds we expect. For example, the short I sound in the word “is” makes the expected short I sound but the sound the letter S makes is unexpected, it makes a /z/ sound (unexpected at least to new readers- S often makes the /z/ sound). By drawing attention to the phonemes and letters in this way, we assist a child’s orthographic mapping of these words, which appropriately supports the brain to learn to read these words automatically.

Language and Reading comprehension skills

Being able to sound out words effectively is essential, but in order to have good reading comprehension, a child needs to know what the words mean. Building a strong vocabulary is essential so that when children can read these words, they will know what they mean. Matilda’s story is full of a variety of vocabulary words. Definitions for advanced words are included at the end of every chapter, so you can discuss them with your child after you read. 

Language and reading comprehension is also developed using the story by asking questions about that week’s chapter of the story, both at the beginning and end of every week. These questions are based on key concepts and skills that are later necessary for independent reading, such as making predictions, retelling, making connections, inferences, and summarizing. 

Quality read alouds and enrichment activities help build background knowledge and language skills while children are learning the basic skills of reading. These are essential for reading comprehension development.

Spelling

The spelling of short vowel words is incorporated into word family instruction, strategies for sounding or blending words, and in activities. Wild Reading® encourages children to use their knowledge of letter sounds or phonemes when spelling words they do not know. This further assists and supports children’s phonological awareness development. Spelling words in this way helps children listen and think about the different sounds and the letters that make them at the word level.

The importance of multisensory reading activities

Multisensory instruction requires children to use more than one sense at a time. Using different senses such as seeing, hearing, touching, and movement in an activity gives children multiple ways to make connections in their brains about what they are learning. Wild Reading® uses multisensory activities such as word building with the moveable alphabet, scavenger hunts, word sorts, skywriting, sand or salt tray writing and numerous other activities to engage the senses when learning new skills. 

In addition, this program incorporates plenty of outdoor learning. Some activities are directly related to observing and learning more about nature while integrating reading and writing skills and some are focused more on honing a particular skill (such as word sorts).

Enrichment activities

The enrichment activities provided in Wild Reading® loosely follow the letter theme introduced each week in the story chapter. They provide ways to integrate other subjects, skills, and some fun into the homeschool day, while reinforcing key literacy skills. Academic subjects covered by the activities include science, wilderness skills, math, art, music, language arts, and play-based activities. Feel free to dive into a particular activity or topic and extend it over multiple days or even weeks if your child is particularly engaged with it. Icons representing each academic area help you quickly identify which activities cover specific subject areas.