HACKING THE BRAIN’S BACKDOOR A neuroscience-based approach to reading instruction. Learn More
Multisensory Phonics Instruction
Rooted in the Science of Reading
Twice the Reading Gain in Half the Time….
Phonics with the Brain in Mind!
Secret Stories® are the “secret” reasons WHY letters get together and make the many different sounds that they do.
They offer logical explanations for letter sound behavior that learners’ brains crave!
Rooted in the science of reading and cognitive neuroscience research,
Secret Stories® targets backdoor learning channels to accelerate phonics skill mastery for reading and writing.
Secret Stories® works seamlessly with any reading curriculum or phonics program to fast-track
the critical “code-based” phonics skills needed to read and write—while fitting perfectly into existing instruction.
“I share it with EVERY teacher I meet because I know the difference it makes!”
– Heather, a First Grade Teacher in Lake Worth, Florida
Not skills kids have to learn, but “secrets” they want to know!
“I would tell any elementary grade teacher the following – These are the most useful and interactive posters I have in my classroom. If nothing else goes on your walls, hang these posters!!!”
– Jenifer, Second Grade Teacher in Wellington, Florida
“I have been a kindergarten teacher more years than I can count, and the strategies you shared in workshop were of more use to me, and more beneficial to my students, than anything I have ever brought back to my classroom! Thank you for revitalizing my year!”
– Carolyn, Kindergarten Teacher in Burbank, California
“Secret Stories are the life-blood of our classroom. They are always in view, always a part of our whole and small group conversations. We couldn’t read words without them.”
– Tara, First Grade Teacher in Parkersburg, West Virginia
“I first heard about the Secret Stories at a LETRS training for principals and immediately purchased them for my staff. The Secrets have now made their way into the main office, as I now have a ‘Wall of Secrets’ outside my door! Students just love to share them with myself and my assistant principal, and I am thrilled to see my teachers feeling so confident and rejuvenated about teaching reading!”
– Paul, Elementary Principal in Dallas, Texas
NEW PRODUCTS!
“Heavy Duty” Decorative Phonics Flashcards
These 6×6 inch “heavy duty” decorative phonics flash cards have the Secret Stories® graphics on one side and the abridged “secret” phonics stories on the other, making them the perfect supplement to any of the Secret Stories® Classroom or Parent/Homeschool Kits.
Secret Stories® “Decorative Squares” Phonics Kit (for Classroom & Parent/Homeschool Use)
This 12×12 inch phonics posters in whimsical shades of pink, blue, yellow, green and lavender are included in the new “Decorative Squares” Kit, along with the Secret Stories® Book and Musical Sound-Drill/Brainteaser Songs phonics download (Posters may also be purchased separately for those who already have the book and music download.)
What is phonics and phonemic awareness?
Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing that is based on the alphabetic principle—the understanding that letters represent sounds that form words. Phonics instruction requires developing learners’ phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sound patterns (phonemes) in order to teach the corresponding spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. Read More
Is phonics important in learning to read?
Phonics is important in learning to read and write because letter-sound knowledge is the foundation needed to build up reading and writing abilities. Written language is like a code that kids must crack and phonics is the key to cracking it. Read More
When do kids learn phonics?
Kids learn phonics at the beginning grade levels, with the traditional path for phonics instruction often spanning multiple grade level years, from prekindergarten to second or even third grade. Learning phonics in kindergarten means learning that the letter /y/ makes the sound “yuh,” but it’s typically not until second grade that they learn it can also make the sounds of /e/ and /i/. Read More
A Brain Based Approach to Teaching Reading
Secret Stories® is a brain based solution to the age-old problem of how to teach meaningless phonics skills in a meaningful way. By cloaking skills as “secrets” that learners want to know, they are easy to teach and can be shared as needed— whenever and wherever they are encountered, allowing for immediate transfer to reading and writing.
By targeting reading instruction to the earlier-developing social and emotional centers in the brain, Secret Stories® makes high-leverage phonics skills easily accessible to beginning and struggling readers, alike, making it one of the most highly effective reading instruction concepts available to educators. View the Research.
How Secret Stories® Phonics Works
Activating “Backdoor” Social Emotional Learning Channels
with Multisensory Reading Instruction
Visual Learning
SEE IT
SEE the picture to identify the sound patterns for reading and spelling patterns for writing/spelling.
Auditory Learning
SAY IT
SAY the story to recall the sounds that letters make when they get together.
Kinesthetic Learning
DO IT
DO the actions to engage muscle memory for easy phonological processing and nonconscious skill retrieval.
DO the Better Alphabet Song to fast track mastery of individual letters and sounds—taking just 2 weeks to 2 months.
Affective Learning
FEEL IT
FEEL the emotional connections by acting out letter sound behaviors through role play to activate the brain’s emotional systems for deeper learning and increased learner engagement.
“It is neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things you don’t care about.” — Dr. Helen Immordino-Yang
Not More, Just Better
Secret Stories® makes learning to read go warp-speed!
Secrets are the “keys” kids need to “unlock” words all day long, in all subject areas.
They are always there, always teaching….
living in between the reading and writing they’re already doing every day!
TEACH READING SMARTER, NOT HARDER…
You’re already singing the alphabet…. so why not sing the “Better” Alphabet?
You’re already talking about words on the calendar…. so why talk about the Secrets that are in them?
You’re already telling stories…. so why not tell “secret” stories?
You’re already modeling how to write words….. so why not model how to spell them with Secrets?
You’re already studying letter sounds in word work activities…. so why not study their “secret” sounds?
You’re already teaching how to “read” words in guided reading…. so why not teach the Secrets needed to decode them?
You’re already teaching vocabulary words in math…. so why teach the Secrets that are in them?
You’re already “memorizing” sight word lists…. so why not just teach the Secrets kids need to READ them! Learn More
Secret Stories® transforms daily phonics instruction into child’s play.
It’s not “one more thing” you have to teach; but the one thing you won’t ever want to teach without!
“Memory-Enhancers” in the Brain
Secret Stories® act as strong “memory-holding” templates in the brain,
providing a much-needed framework for memory construction.
Stories are easy to remember because stories are how we remember, making them easy to teach and to learn.
The fact that they are “secrets” makes them important to kids, marking them for memory and prioritized learning in the brain.
Learn More about the Secret Stories® Phonics Method.
Using Brain Science to Accelerate Reading and Writing Skill Mastery
Secret Stories® Breaks Down the Grade Level Walls that Delay Learner-Access to the Code!
“Three to four grade level years is too long to make learners wait for the whole code!” —Katie Garner
It’s amazing what kindergartners can do
when they have ALL of the reading code!
Writing Improves Reading
Using Writing as a “Window” into the Mind of a Reader
Secret Stories® gives kids more tools to bring to the reading and writing table so that they can take the maximum instructional value away each day!
The guiding premise behind Secret Stories® is that there is no reason to teach phonics aside from using it to read and to write, which is why kids need more of the code earlier on. Reading and writing in kindergarten with only a letter a week is impossible.
About the Author, Katie Garner, M.Ed.
Katie Garner, M.Ed., (author of best-selling book, Secret Stories® Cracking the Reading Code with the Brain in Mind) is an internationally known speaker, author, and literacy consultant with over twenty-five years of experience working in elementary grade classrooms across the US, and a passion for infusing neuroscience into literacy and learning. Her “backdoor-to-the-brain” approach to accelerated phonics skill mastery, via the affective (social-emotional) learning networks, shifts the paradigms associated with traditional, reading skill instruction, and has been shared in both lecture and panel discussion at Harvard and M.I.T. Attend a Phonics Workshop or Check Katie’s Speaking Schedule
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Teaching Phonics with the 🧠 Brain in Mind
Oh my gosh!!! This is such amazing news! I am so so so excited!
Congratulations!🎊
Congratulations❤️📚❤️
Congrats!!
Congratulations!!
Congrats!
Congrats!
Congrats!!
Congrats!
Congratulations 🎉🎊🎈
Woot woot congratulations
Congrats! 🎉
Congratulations!!
Congratulations, Brittany!
That's awesome! Congratulations!
Awesome!!! Congratulations 🎊
Congratulations!
Congratulations!🎉
Congratulations 🎉
Way to go! Congrats!!!
Congrats🎉🥳
Amazing! Put it all to good use!
Congratulations Brittany
Congratulations!!
Yay 😀🎉 So happy for you 😀🥳
January 19th, 10:28 pm
Jen Willis
Thank you!
Thank you 😊
Thank you! ❤
Thank u xxx
Thank u 🌹
We have Super Hero day coming up at school soon. I know what my class will be doing!! Thanks so much!
Thank you!!!
LOVE THIS!!!!!! Thank you!
Hillary Wraspir!!
Thank you !
Thank you so much!
Thank you!
Awesome!
Thank you!
Lori Buck Lehrmann
Casey Roberts
Thank you
January 19th, 8:42 pm
Number block videos are good, there are place value block Manipulatives that are really good. They are a type building blocks. I haven’t taken the plunge yet, but I have done some trainings and like mathandmovement.com/. My kids really love fluency and fitness. It has tons of concepts.
I use times tales in my special ed room. We also play this everyday. I see the kids singing quietly while they solve problems youtu.be/EgjCLhoI9Mk
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7oBwlTDsqePtVXDC52zGKElpfscAPtrq The Number Crew! Not really a system, but another way to engage with content.
Start one and make a fortune.
I used Times Tales with my own 3rd grader last year when she needed help with multiplication. It has stories to help them memorize facts.
I used Times Tales with my third grader last year. He understood multiplication but was not fast. It helped him so much and he enjoyed doing it. So I started looking for a similar system for addition and sub facts. I found this book. Honestly I only got it recently and have not had a chance to dig in to it so idk how good it is but you might look at it. I got it on Amazon.
For learning to write numbers - super catchy song with a short verse for each digit up to ten - Another teacher shared a hard copy of a “singing number booklet” that I have used every year since with my kindergarten kids in a k-2 class. Everyone knows the lyrics from previous years so it’s part of our class knowledge base fairly quickly. Super easy to learn. I’m at home now so can’t scan/share the pages at the moment but I’d be happy to share if anyone wants it. FYI the video uses the word “numeral” and we use the word “number.” Cuz that’s what’s on my paper. youtu.be/liKBXp5kdL8
There used to be something, back in the day (90’s?) that were stories for the doubles (8+8=16 there were two 8s driving a car through the 8 gate and they had to be 16 to drive).
Don't come for me, but...Numberblocks with teacher-created mini-lessons would be a dream for ECED. Our 3 y/o has better number sense than I ever did (she also has a teacher for a mom, but we let it happen organically at home). She counts to 100, sequences numbers 0-9, creates patterns, adds through 10 independently, and subtracts through 10 with assistance. I strongly encourage my students to watch it at home, and I've only had 1 or 2 very minor issues with the show (math vocabulary). We did purchase the actual unifix cubes set, which comes with activity cards that correspond with episodes. Not my favorite, but the kids like "making and breaking" numbers with them. We also love Khan Academy Kids for tablet time. It is the least annoying of the programs we've tried.
F
Yes. I do!!! Homeschool moms research everything out. So I have a couple of resources. One is the curriculm that I use, it’s called Right start Math. They teach number sense from the preschool level with an abacus, songs, and lots of games that are fun for kids to play. Taps into the repetition without worksheets and drills. It started my son subitizing ( recognition of groups of things up to 10) right away, and now he’s in 1st grade and we’ve been playing fun games like go fish or old maid but modified to memorize the different ways to make 10 (7+3, 6+4 etc). rightstartmath.com Next is a course I came upon that I bought but never did anything much with, probably because I already could implement Right start math. That course is called Build Math Minds. buildmathminds.com She has a podcast also podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-build-math-minds-podcast/id1456451910
I use them too!
Lol! I loved that!!💗 And I especially loved how you started with “an update that nobody asked for,” as I think I’ll start doing the same!😂🤣😂
I love this!!! My firsties are working on ai and ay also! The stories help so much! Share your chant! I love seeing what everyone is doing!
I would love to hear your chant! I am new to Secret Stories!
I love your hair (I know you didn’t ask. Just thought I’d say.) 😉😍
My kinders know almost all of the secrets, and I asked one of the first grade teachers, who thinks the curriculum moves too fast with sounds, to tell me how next year goes. We use CKLA and in first grade they learn long vowels, vowel digraphs, and digraphs. I said my students may do better having been exposed to all those sounds already. In our PLC, we had a brief conversation on ay and how they learn that complicated spelling last and I said "my kids love ay and they could all tell you the sound. We find it daily in the morning message."
I’m looking for several examples of mommy e vs babysitter vowel words??
January 18th, 5:46 pm
The word babysitter has y babysitting a to make him say his name!
Most of your words that end in silent e are mommy e: cake, hope, take. Babysitter: radar, favor, human, bonus. It is especially helpful when teaching doubling the consonant in words to keep the vowel short. hop vs hope - if we don’t double the p in hopping, the babysitter will tell that vowel to say it’s name and then it is hoping. 😀
I’ll be honest babysitter e confuses me 😅 I might need to look at more examples
It's mostly when it's a 2 syllable word and the first syllable is an open - polite, human, silent, bacon, zero, hero. I also use it for some of my students when its drop the -e and add ing. biking, riding, etc. I find it's easier to apply in reading than in writing - at least where my students are at this time.
Thanks everyone!
Mamma e: bake, poke, sole Babysitter: remove, motor, hero The big differences between babysitter vowel and Mamma are: babysitter isn't necessarily at the end of the word, and babysitter isn't silent. It won't even always make its normal sound. But when you see a vowel, then a consonant, and then another vowel, the first vowel will say it's name, because Babysitter is standing in for Mamma and telling that first vowel to say its name.
Fun fact, we practice this one a lot. I actually used Katie Garner 's copyrighted stickers and made a babysitter vowel sticker for my class because my little Word Detectives need this reminder often. "Basically Mrs.M, no vowel will flex their Superhero muscles sound without a good reason". Exactly 😂 there's always a reason. Stickers from: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Stories-Phonics-Stickers-Interactive-Grid-for-ReadingS...
