I had my student do a quick check-in on the /er/ patterns after not having met for a bit. She recognized the word Gunnar right away from our reading of Balto together.

The week before she had sorted words with the /er/ sound. My smarty pants student quickly figured out that burger should be in two columns.

This eager little student is a joy! One of her favorite things to ask me is how much time is left in our 60-minute sessions. She usually asks around the 45-50-minute mark and each time is surprised how quickly our time together has passed. “It goes so fast!”.

Yes, it does and it’s because EBLI, the linguistic phonics approach I am using with her emphasizes student engagement, less teacher talk (over-explaining) and short but impactful activities.