Secret Stories® is a brain-based solution to the age-old problem of how to teach meaningless phonics skills in a meaningful way. Its explicit, systematic and multisensory approach to phonics skill instruction provides a critical base of support to existing reading curriculum and instruction, making it one of the most highly effective, reading instruction concepts available to educators.
What is Secret Stories®?
Secret Stories® is a brain based, multisensory approach to phonics instruction that fits snugly between the teaching of reading and writing providing the logical explanations for letter-sound behavior that learners’ brains crave. These logical explanations are shared in the form of “secret” stories, which are the secret reasons WHY letters make all of the crazy sounds that they do when they get together in words. The fact that they are “secret” makes them important to learners, marking the information for memory and prioritized learning in the brain.
Secret Stories® aligns with the way our brain naturally learns by appealing to as many senses as possible through stories, movement, visuals, sounds, experiences, and feelings. By introducing information to the brain from as many angles as possible, more neural connections are created and strengthened. As a result, learning is more holistic and multidimensional. The more systems and modalities utilized for learning, the stronger the learners’ ability to receive and retrieve the information. Secret Stories® multisensory learning experiences are “baked in” to reading and writing experiences across the instructional day for natural skill transfer to reading and writing.
A cornerstone of Secret Stories® instructional design is simultaneous skill access with “dual-track” instruction, ensuring an explicit and systematic approach to skill introduction that is also learner driven. Secret Stories® ensures that learners get what they need when they need it, to read and write what they want, while systematically prioritizing ongoing skill introduction based on teaching the most needed (i.e. “high-leverage”/most needed) skills first. Providing “dual-track” access to the skills kids need to read and write ensures that beginning (and struggling) readers are able to bring more tools to the reading and writing table each day, so as to take the maximum value away.
Is Secret Stories® research-based?
Yes! Secret Stories® is based on decades of educational research, as well as today’s brain science, allowing for streamlined, efficient and accelerated learning. (Click here for the Research and to download the Secret Stories® White Paper.)
Secret Stories® is not a program, but an explicit, systematic, and multisensory approach to phonics instruction that provides a critical base of support to any existing reading curriculum or phonics program.
—It is explicit in that sound-spelling relationships are directly taught, reviewed and applied to reading and writing that occurs throughout the entire instructional day.
—It is systematic in its dual-track approach to how and when skills are taught, based on the brain’s system for learning.
—It is multisensory in that it employs a variety of instructional strategies that engage multiple modalities, including the visual, auditory and kinesthetic pathways for learning. Secret Stories® also makes use of alternative “backdoor” neural pathways by targeting phonics instruction to the earlier developing, social and emotional “feeling” networks, or affective learning domain, attaching meaning to letter sound behaviors that would otherwise have none.
What does Secret Stories® do that my reading series, phonics program or literacy curriculum does not?
Traditional methods of phonics instruction do not make good use of the brain science and are ineffective at successfully engaging the whole brain for enhanced memory and learning. Secret Stories® aligns phonics instruction with how our brains actually learn best, engaging more neural pathways for stronger learner-connections and easier skill retrieval. Weaving abstract letter sounds into stories make them interesting, activating the brain’s positive emotional state, and hooking the information into a strong memory-holding template.
Secret Stories® works with early grade learners’ natural brain development by shifting instruction to the earlier developing, social and emotional “feeling” and psychomotor (motor muscle memory) networks, which are more primed for learning than the slower-developing, higher level cognitive processing centers. This is in stark contrast with traditional phonics instruction, which targets the underdeveloped and less reliable, executive processing centers through rote memorization of letter sounds and phonics skills.
While the cognitive “thinking” domain requires conscious effort and attention be applied for learning, the affective “feeling” and “physical” motor domains do not. Learning occurs naturally and nonconsciously through these neural networks, engaging the whole brain for enhanced student learning. “Emotions simply exist; we don’t have to learn them” (Asher, 2012).
The typical time frame allotted for phonics skill introduction in most core reading series and phonics programs spans three to four grade level years, which is far too long to make early grade learners wait for access to the whole code (Allington, 2012). It is also common practice for beginning grade learners to spend an entire kindergarten year on mastering the individual letters and sounds, despite the research that shows the ability to identify all of the letters and sounds by Halloween in kindergarten is a primary predictor of later student reading success. Reading and writing in kindergarten while only learning a letter a week is impossible.
Secret Stories® makes use of early learners’ inherently stronger and more reliable, motor memory neural pathways to accelerate mastery of the individual letter sounds (taking just two weeks to two months, via muscle memory) while at the same time, gaining simultaneous access to phonics patterns, or “Secrets.”
Shortening this learning curve is important because once kids know the sounds that letters are supposed to make, they begin to notice when letters that aren’t “doing what they should,” and want to know their Secrets! Giving beginning grade learners simultaneous access to both individual letters sounds and Secrets allows them to bring more tools to the reading and writing table each day, without the designated “waiting time” typically required for skill introduction.
Secret Stories® targets body intelligence for accelerated skill mastery by incorporating physical actions into stories for easy sound skill retrieval. Children are active learners, and research shows that learning is enhanced by movement, particularly when movement is embedded into instruction.
Movement primes the molecular processes that help form memory. Embedding targeted movements into instruction enhances recall and aids in the transfer of skills to long-term memory. This is because what fires together is wired together in the brain. Therefore, performing a task or recalling information that causes different neurons to fire in concert strengthens the connections between them In this way, learning becomes nonconscious and effortless.
The easiest way to trigger engagement in the affective “feeling” domain is through stories. Stories establish supportive conditions in the brain for learning and remembering, acting as “memory enhancers.” The structure of a story provides a sort of mental map upon which new information is more easily presented. Moreover, concepts in a story-based format receive a higher level of priority in the brain, often using an emotional hook to engage curiosity.
Stories can put the whole brain to work and are the most effective way to activate multiple areas of the brain, simultaneously. Research shows that the more widespread the connections, the deeper the learning. Stories activate the emotional centers of the brain that aid memory, and unlike with direct instruction, skill content delivered through storytelling promotes the formation of multi-layered memories that result in deeper learning experiences and easier skill retrieval. Additionally, the brain becomes more active when telling or listening to a story, prompting higher levels of learner-engagement.
Secret Stories® provides early and struggling learners with a much-needed framework for memory construction. Each Secret becomes a strong memory-holding template in the brain, allowing for easy retention and retrieval of phonics patterns and sounds.
How is Secret Stories® different from other story-based phonics programs?
First, Secret Stories® is not a program, but cross grade level, teaching “tools” that make phonics make sense to kids. The Secrets exist only for the purpose of reading and writing.
And unlike story-based phonics methods that utilize talking animals or magical kingdoms to teach letter sounds, Secret Stories® connects letter behavior with kids’ own behavior, tapping into already familiar, learner-frameworks of social and emotional understanding. Within this readily familiar thinking-construct, inexperienced readers can predict the most likely sound behaviors of letters just as easily as they could the behaviors of their own friends and classmates.
These social and emotional hooks ground learning in personal meaning and purpose, and spark learners’ curiosity about letter sound behavior. For early grade teachers, as well as those working with struggling readers at the upper grade levels, it can be difficult to foster learner-curiosity about letter sounds and phonics patterns. This is why the affective “feeling” domain is the ideal doorway through which to channel these critical skills.
Secret Stories® put the whole brain to work, activating multiple areas of the brain, simultaneously for deeper learning, stronger connections, and easier skill retrieval. Based on a foundation of emotional connections and social experiences, each story becomes a strong memory-holding template, providing a much-needed framework for memory construction. By targeting instruction to the earlier developing, affective (feeling) domain, abstract letter sound skills become inextricably linked to the social and emotional frameworks of understanding that are already deeply entrenched within the learner, making them meaningful and relevant.
Working seamlessly with existing reading curriculum and instruction, Secret Stories® increases early learner-momentum in both reading and writing by breaking down the grade level walls of that delay learner access to phonics skills. Fostering “dual-track” instruction that is both systematic and learner driven, Secret Stories® supports easy skill transfer to reading and writing with a “buffet“ style approach to skill introduction that aligns with learners’ “need-to-know” and actively engages them in the learning process.
How does Secret Stories® engage both beginning and struggling learners at the upper grade levels?
“It is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things you don’t care about, which means that best and most durable learning occurs when content sparks interest and is relevant to a child’s life” (Immordino-Yang, 2016).
Secret Stories® makes use of the brain’s emotional systems to forge meaningful connections to abstract phonics skills and increase learner-engagement. Cloaking phonics skills as “secret” stories to explain their behavior when they get together aligns with the way in which kids think and learn on a daily basis. In this way, Secret Stories® makes learning phonics skills easy and fun for beginning readers, as well as for struggling readers in the upper grades.
Secret Stories® aligns letter behavior with kid behavior, making it easy for kids of any all ages to “put themselves in the letters’ shoes” to predict their most and next most likely sounds in text—using the same decision-making framework that drives their own behavior on a daily basis. Genuine understanding depends on making emotional connections between concepts. Emotion guides our learning. If something is emotionally stimulating, it is marked for memory and prioritized for learning in the brain. Secret Stories® teaches phonics within a context that is meaningful to kids—forging connections to otherwise meaningless skills in order to make them relevant to learners, and thereby mark them for memory in the brain.
Sense and meaning are among the major criteria that the brain uses in deciding what to encode into long-term memory. If something does not make sense, the brain will drop it. The brain seeks meaning and relevance, learning best on a need-to-know basis. However, traditional phonics instruction only offers arbitrary rules for letter sound behaviors with no meaning, only rote memorization and skill-based practice.
Secret Stories® accelerates learner access to the code by shifting instructional emphasis from skill-practice to skill-understanding. Secret Stories® disguises phonics skills as “secrets” to make them important to kids— something that they are curious about and want to know. This makes them meaningful and relevant, and therefore, easy to teach and learn.
How much time does it take to teach Secret Stories® each day?
None. Secrets are not taught; they are given. They live in between the reading and writing that occurs throughout the entire instructional day. They are always there, always teaching, always within reach, and always ready for use when needed. Secrets can be shared whenever and wherever they are needed throughout the instructional day. The more Secrets kids know, the more they can read and write independently, using the phonics posters to recall the sound patterns for reading and the spelling patterns for writing.
By maximizing early learner access to the code, beginning learners are empowered to read books that are of genuine interest to them, and to write the stories that they want to tell. Their ability to engage with text in ways that are meaningful to them serves to motivate ongoing reading and writing experiences, which in turn, increase their overall level of skill ability. Whereas traditional reading and phonics programs require time set aside in which to teach grade specific, phonics rules through repetitious, skill-based practice, Secret Stories® multisensory learning experiences are “baked in” to reading and writing across the instructional day for easy transfer to skills.
Whenever and wherever kids are engaging with text, they are discovering “new” Secrets and revisiting “old” ones! The more Secrets they know, the more words they can read and write… and the more they read and write, the more Secrets they want to know. “Need to know” is the driving force behind Secret Stories® accelerated instruction, and it is also a basic tenet of brain based learning upon which Secret Stories® is built. With the Secrets, you’re not teaching more. You’re just teaching better.
How does Secret Stories® phonics instruction support critical thinking for deeper learning?
“When kids are curious, they are open, safe and in an intellectually playful place in which they can explore. In this optimal learning state, learners begin to drive their own learning and instruction, which is the evolutionary ideal.” —Dr. Mary Immordino-Yang
Traditional phonics instruction undermine a learner’s development of a proclivity toward a curious mind state, primarily because of the most commonly heard replies to learners’ questions are, “It just is… It just does…. You just have to remember….”
As a result, beginning grade level learners spend countless hours memorizing hundreds of sight words with little instructional time left to acquire the building blocks needed to read and write. Within this common instructional scenario, the instructional emphasis is placed on teaching the reading and not the reader. When teachers overly focus on the acquisition of the building blocks, students miss the application opportunity.
“If you overly focus on the acquisition of the building blocks (i.e. phonics skills), kids don’t have a sense of how to apply those things in the world (i.e. reading and writing). If you overly focus on the world, they may notice problems, but have no skills with which to solve the problems. They need a balance of both.”— Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Secret Stories® balances the teaching of phonics skills with reading and writing by giving beginning learners access to as much of the code as possible, as soon as possible, so as to be able to make sense of daily experiences and interactions with text. Its instructional design fosters a curious state— one in which learners explore and notice, and then follow what they have noticed and try to play it out to read and spell words. When a learner asks “why,” it means that they know enough to know that something isn’t right, and that they are motivated to get to the bottom of it. A learner that is engaged in this deep learning process is both active and reflective. “This deep learning state provides a context for understanding in which passion and insatiable curiosity flourish, weaving a virtual tapestry of connections that grounds ones learning in the roots of personal meaning and purpose” —Stephanie Marshall-Pace
What about teaching sight words?
Sight words are words that are recognized “by sight,” rather than sounded-out. All words eventually become sight words for experienced readers. For beginning readers, however, a great deal of time and energy is often spent learning sight words, known as “high frequency” words. For beginning grade learners, who own so little of the alphabetic code, it’s virtually impossible to make sense of the many different sounds that letters make when they come together in words. To compensate, teachers will often rely on the rote memorization of sight words to help students “read.”
Overreliance on sight words is frequent and most often due to early learners’ gross lack of skills in comparison to the required text level assessments. To compensate, beginning readers must memorize hundreds of sight words before the end of second grade, often forcing teachers to prioritize teaching the “reading” over teaching the reader.
Secret Stories® empowers kids to decode approximately 95% of the most commonly memorized sight words (i.e. high-frequency words) by applying what they know about letter behavior to predict their most likely sounds.
Stanford University’s study on sight words and the brain notes that as long as participants used the letter-sound patterns, they were able to read words they had never seen before; and more importantly, that there is no need to memorize what can be read (McCandliss & Noble, 2016).
This study shows why underscoring the traditionally slow pace of existing reading curriculum and phonics instruction with Secret Stories® is so important, particularly at the earliest grade levels, as it provides a way for learners to actually understand the sounds that letters make so that they can read words instead of memorize them.
How is Secret Stories® different at the early grade levels vs. the upper grades levels?
Primary Grades (pre-K to 2nd grade)
Secret Stories® provides for the simultaneous acquisition of individual letter sounds and phonics patterns, so as to empower learners with a comprehensive skill base for reading and writing from the earliest possible grade levels so as to form and read words early on.
Intermediate Grades (3rd-5th grade & above)
Secret Stories® provides teachers with a quick and easy means for “plugging holes” in learner-skill ability without impeding the momentum of on-grade level instruction. For learners who are on grade level or above, knowledge of the Secrets enhances spelling ability and strengthens accuracy in decoding complex vocabulary in higher level, advanced texts.
How does Secret Stories® use music to increase skill- automaticity in reading and writing?
Research shows that in order for a learner to truly own a skill, he must be able to manipulate it quickly and effortlessly in order to know that he knows it.
The fast-paced musical exercises on the Secret Stories® Musical Brain Teasers™ phonics download (with the exception of the “Better Alphabet Song”) are intended to serve this purpose. They are mini-musical brainteasers that bolster learner skill-automaticity with newly acquired letter sound and phonics skills—from individual letters and sounds to complex phonics patterns.
The musical exercises prompt rapid progression from “sound to symbol” and “symbol to sound,” mimicking the decoding (reading) and encoding (writing) processes. They are aren’t pretty songs, but engaging, fast-paced, challenging and FUN musical “puzzles!”
Unlike traditional, skill-based songs, they cannot be sung on “auto-pilot” without any conscious thought, as they are constantly changing, and thus continually challenging learners to think-fast and speed-up their “sound-symbol” processing time.
Secret Stories® makes use music to not only acquire skills, but to manipulate them, so as to continue raising the bar on learner skill ability and smooth the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”
I saw a comment that another teacher had made online about the Secret Stories being the “lifeblood of her classroom,” and wow, that just really nailed it, and I couldn’t agree more with everything that she said! The secrets really do permeate every aspect of our day, not just when reading and writing, but ALL DAY LONG, and even outside the classroom! I have heard other teachers say that they are the most-used tool in their classroom, but I would go a step further and say that the Secret Stories have made me the teacher that I’ve always wanted to be. They don’t just make it easy to teach reading, they make it FUN! And not just for the kids, but for me too! I can totally relate to the teachers in those videos, as that’s how I feel every day in my classroom when I’m telling the secrets to my kids!
Michelle, First Grade Teacher in North Carolina
Wow! What a difference this made in only 2 short weeks! My students can’t start their day without a learning a new “secret” and singing the letter run songs. Thanks so much!Phyllis, Kindergarten Teacher in New York
I thought of you while doing observations in my primary classrooms as I attended a workshop with you a few years ago, and have since implemented your strategies in two schools. I intend to make them part of the ‘woodwork’ here, as well. We are hoping to be Title I next year, which would allow for some additional Professional Development and hopefully for you to come out and work with my staff. I want my teachers to experience the incredible learning you have in store for them! As the kids would say- ‘You Rock!!’
Danielle, Assistant Principal in Florida
Since your workshop, I’ve seen these strategies in action in many schools, and the SAI/Reading Teachers have all been praising the results with their students throughout this year. I’ve recommended you to several principals, and just wanted to let you know what a hit the Secret Stories were becoming here! Thanks so much!
Sandra, S.A.I Director/ Supplemental Educational Services in Florida
Last year, at this time of year we had 11 kindergarten students reading at or above grade level. This year, we have 34! The Secret Stories are better than anything out there for quickly transforming kids into REAL readers and writers!!!Debbie, Primary Director in Indiana
Secret Stories is a game-changer for so many kids here in Dubai! Being that all our kids are ELL / English Language Learners— many learning multiple languages, including standard English—at the same time, the Secrets ARE THE WAY TO GO!
I did a little “action research” project this school year using the “Better Alphabet Song,” and by the week of November 3rd, 98% of my kindergartners knew ALL of the letters and sounds! The one student that didn’t get 100% knew 23 out of 26 letter sounds, having begun school knowing only 1 letter! I am just so proud of all the hard work my kiddos have done, all the while having FUN singing, dancing and just being kids!!
Kendra, Kindergarten Teacher in Dubai
I have been an elementary grade teacher more years than I can count, and the strategies you shared at 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, Second Grade Teacher in California
After just two days I realized I could no longer teach reading or writing without them! It is absolutely amazing how easily they remember!Virginia, Kindergarten Teacher in Illinois
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!”Adriana, First Grade Teacher in Minnesota
I purchased your program and can say that I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE HAPPY WITH A PURCHASE FOR MY CLASSROOM!!!!!! I got moved up from kindergarten to 1st grade this year and thought there was NO WAY that I would be able to move my kiddos to a level J at the end of the year. Well, it’s only December and of my 15 students, 8 are already there, with the others right on track to be there for sure!
I know that I could never have made this much progress without the Secret Stories. I have almost taught them all by just following the natural progression of curiosity in my students, and it’s been amazing to see how much they could take in. While my students use the Secrets on different levels, they ALL know the stories, and as they are ready, start applying the sounds to read words.
I was recently approached by the Reading Recovery coaches at our school who pull some of my students for intervention. They wanted to know what I was doing in my room. Of the five 1st grade classrooms they service, my students stood out as “amazing decoders” in their ability to use decoding strategies to read unknown words. As a result, they are ready to be released from Reading Recovery, having successfully “recovered” to grade level!
Without having had the Secrets in the background to help them read, I know that this would not have happened. They are now going to start using the Secrets with their other intervention students as well. What a powerful reinforcement that my colleagues are coming to me for answers!! Especially our Reading Recovery “gurus” in the district!
Sorry for the long email, but I am just so excited to have found this resource for my students. They are amazing kids and are so excited to spot the Secrets wherever we find them!
Lisa, First Grade Teacher in South Carolina
The reading specialist at my school lent me her copy of the Secret Stories to use over the summer with an LD student that I’m tutoring. Your program is amazing, he loves the stories, and I can finally see him actually “getting” the whole decoding thing. Therefore, I’m personally purchasing the program! Congratulations for creating a decoding program that finally works!
Carla, Reading Specialist/Tutor in Wyoming
I had the pleasure of coming to your session at the Maryland Conference last year and your program is AMAZING! I was extremely excited to start implementing the “secrets” from the beginning of the year and they are working huge miracles in my Kindergarten classroom! My kids are writing more than they ever have before, and they had their vowel sounds down within a month of introducing your “secret” stories! Thank you for understanding children and developing this awesome program!
—Crystal, Kindergarten Teacher in Maryland
I saw Katie at the annual Illinois conference many years ago. That is when I bought my book and original set of posters. That was truly one of the BEST classroom purchases I have made in 12 years of teaching!
—Amanda, Second Grade Teacher in Illinois
It’s day 41 of the school year, and let me tell you a secret… Learning a new way to teach—or learn— is fun! Last week I had the privilege of attending a Vulnerable Readers Summit: When Struggling Readers Thrive. As an educator, it was valuable, engaging and yes, even fun. While I haven’t yet mentally unpacked all my professional learning, there was some great material I could take back and start using in my grade one classroom immediately.
Keynote speaker Katie Garner M.Ed, creator of The Secret Stories, shared a way, based on brain research, to explain all of the phonics patterns and exceptions that exist in written English. Her Secret Stories help students make sense of those times when they discover letters behaving unexpectedly and ask “Why?” Having these stories to teach is much more engaging that an abstract rule and having to answer, “we just have to memorize that word!”
Although we are just beginning with the Secrets, my students can already tell you why only vowels can say their own names—they are Superheroes! Why Letter Y has three sounds? He’s “sneaky” and he stole the superhero capes of E and I, but will only wear them in the middle or end of words where he won’t get caught! I’ve already heard students telling the stories to each other, singing “The Better Alphabet” that we learned, and using alphabet bingo cards to test each other on the sounds.Lisa, Kindergarten Teacher in Edmonton, Canada
My principal keeps trying to entice me to present at county trainings and conferences with regard to the use of your Secret Stories and my materials focusing on patterns in “sight” words, but I haven’t taken her up on the offer yet. I do, however, share my love of the secrets with any teacher who will listen, and even some non-teachers (my boyfriend knows quite the number of secrets just because I wanted to share what I do all day with him). I use Secret Stories with all of my K-4 students and they all love them! I believe they are the key to teaching reading and students actually “getting it” and enjoying the process. Thank you so much for creating this miracle resource!Josalin, K-4 Intervention Teacher in Illinois
Ten years ago last October, I suffered a major stroke which left me with aphasia. Through therapy and much hard work, I now feel confident conversing with parents. A friend of mine is a 6-year survivor of a completely different kind of stroke. She is experiencing aphasia, but I’ve also noticed some gaps in her reading-ability. Working with her using your “Secret Stories” has started to make a major difference in her reading-ability, and I am requesting a parent set of your program to allow me to work with her. I will continue to update you on her progress as well as that of my students. Thank you, Katie, for making this program so readily available and so easy for teachers like me to grasp. It adds an entirely new dimension to my program and to my friend’s life as a stroke survivor.
Pat, Learning Disabilities Teacher in Nebraska
LOVE your book! Such an amazing resource that has made a BIG difference for us not only in reading but also in spelling. THANK YOU!! We use the Secrets all day EVERY DAY!!
Miranda, Second Grade Teacher in Vermont
Even in kinder, they them so fast and start using them that there’s really no reason NOT to teach them, especially since they’re seeing the secrets every single day in text! Having a way to explain everything in a way that makes sense (and that kids love!) just changes everything about teaching in kindergarten. Finding out about the Secret Stories was the best thing that ever happened to me as a teacher, and I’m on my 14th year in the classroom!
Kellie, Kindergarten Teacher in North Carolina
I had to share my shocking but very happy and exciting story. I was finishing up my DRA’s today and one of my munchkins jumped from a level 1 at the beginning of the year, ( example…”I see a red boat. I see a red car.”) to a level 30!!!!! Now, I knew from guided reading groups he was on his way to a higher reading group. He was on the radar to be reassessed ASAP!!! But I guessed him at about a 8-10 at best!!! This all happened in a matter of weeks!!! So I ask my little friend, “Buddy, what happened? How did you jump from a level 1 which is a kindergarten level, to a level 30 which is an end of 2nd grade level?!?!” He looks at me and simply says, “Well, you taught me all the Secrets. Now reading is just easy!” Well, there you have it folks. When you learn the Secrets… Reading is easy!
Renee, First Grade Teacher in California
I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I have 12 RTI tier 2 & 3 kindergartners in my class. We have struggled ALL year trying to learn the letters and sounds with our county’s curriculum. During the winter break I finally said “Enough!” and went searching for some other way for my “other” learners to be able to understand the letter sounds. I decided to purchase the vowel pack and downloaded the sampler. I printed them and introduced them. I added the Better Alphabet song to my morning calendar routine. I can not begin to tell you how amazed I am in the number of letters and sounds my kids have picked up in the past 4 weeks! They have learned more letters and sounds this past month than they had learned all year! Even my teacher-friend next door to me is starting to use it in her class because she’s seen such a difference in the kids she is tutoring from my class!
Kim, Kindergarten Teacher in Alabama
I have to tell you about what happened in my classroom today. I had a new student enroll in my class on Wednesday so she had not had any previous exposure to the Secrets. I have told her just a few and she is hooked! So today I did my first M&M quiz, and as I said the first work “chat” she immediately began scanning the Secret posters. I had not yet told her the /ch/ secret, but, because then visuals on the posters are so strong, she found it completely on her own and was able to get the letters. I actually saw the “ah ha” moment on her face! I also saw it with the second word “ship” when the exact same thing happened. It was so amazing to see. I was watching her make the sound all the while she was scanning those posters. And when she found it her eyes got big, she smiled from ear to ear and then she wrote down the sounds! I felt bad because she hadn’t heard all the Secrets like the others had and thought that it really wasn’t fair to her, and then BAM…she did it with your posters. They work… like nothing I’ve ever seen before! She is very thankful for you because she got some extra M&M’s… and I am very grateful for these super effective stories and posters that allow kids to move further and faster than I have ever experienced in my 32 years of teaching. I have probably used hundreds of other methods to teach letters and sounds…nothing works like Secret Stories!
Christi, First Grade Teacher in West Virginia
These stories are enabling my lowest readers in third grade to crack the codes, learning to read and write each word better every day, Thank you! As I mentioned in a previous email to you a while back, as a 10 year stroke survivor myself, I frequently get together with a friend of mine who had her stroke 6 years ago. My friend had a different type of stroke in which she had completely ‘lost’ the ability to read. I worked with her using the Secret Stories and saw much progress–she is able to read parts of words, and your stories help her pick-up on skills she had lost due to the stroke. I will pass this program on to other stroke survivors with your permission. What a difference this has made in so many lives!
Terri, Third Grade Teacher in Florida
To all the elementary teachers out there— Thanks to my experience in Oklahoma, I now use Secret Stories in my classroom and they are BY FAR the most effective and meaningful way to teach phonics. We do not have the the curriculum at my current school so I bought it— one of the best purchases I have ever made as a teacher! This Edutopia article emphasizes the importance of children learning through narratives or stories. Who knew that this could go beyond just reading books aloud? This applies to phonics with the Secret Stories and phonics is now by far my favorite (and my kids’ favorite) time of our day!
Melissa, Kindergarten Teacher in South Carolina
Secret stories are THE BOMB! Invested in the program this summer after hearing about it on the fairy dust teaching summer institute. It’s absolutely amazing what my kiddos have picked up from the Secret Stories and what they remember. Several parents ask about it at conferences a few weeks ago.
Barbara, First Grade Teacher in California
Our new curriculum LACKS phonetic/phoneme word work and our new teachers are not trained. Secret Stories is a game changer. I had my boss purchase 4 sets of SS for new teachers. They only wanted the stories after they saw the impact they were having. There is a huge difference between the students moving on to first grade that experience secret stories. I have had 2 first grade teachers purchase the stories. I have them search for their secret stories and mark them with their favorite color pen once we have finished reading the books. They take the books home and share the markings/secret stories with their parents as they read their books. Sometimes we play a kind of game…they search with blue and then I try to find any that “escaped” them with my red pen. They don’t like any to escape:) I sent you a photo of the “cell phone pocket chart” that I have students sort secret stories on index cards. This is a chart I made when I realized that they love to touch, feel and manipulate the words. They LOVE sorting them by their ‘like’ Secrets. I needed them up and in a different location than sitting in their chairs while I was working 1:1. I have them take words from the current book we’re reading and sort them in with partners while I’m assessing other students. BUT…I love listening to them reason why a word goes in a particular pocket. For example, when looking at the word ‘swimming’ this was their conversation. “I think we should place ‘swimming’ in “ing ang and ong’s” pocket because the “blends” pocket already has so many words.” If any new students join our group and do not know secret stories, it doesn’t take long for my “expert babes” to become the teachers while using the sorting activity. The experts start saying to the new students, “So, do you see any secret stories in this word? Where should we place the card? Watching them sort Secret Stories and concentrate as they mark up their secret stories in their books is so adorable. (K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders) They are very serious, I ask them to work and sit like scholars and talk aloud about the stories they are finding. After a fair amount of modeling they pick it up. They sit up straight with confidence and look like little teachers discussing their way through every part of every word. Such intentional reading! So engaged! It’s a teacher’s dream!
Shelly, Kindergarten Teacher in Washington
You did it!! You harnessed muscle memory for phonics skill acquisition! Children who learn this way have a strong foundation and learning will be automatic, and this is critical to the reading and writing process!!! Thank YOU! Genius!!!
Sarah, K-3 Reading Coach in Arkansas
The Secret Stories are the life-blood of our classroom. They are always in view, and always in our whole group and small group conversations. We can’t read words without them. They are our best friends. They are the tools the students are taking with them to second grade!
Tara, First Grade Teacher in West Virginia
Today, my kinders had their 2nd intensive writing session of the school year and I just have to say WOW!! It’s only September and I am amazed at how quickly they are picking up the Secret Stories and applying them!
Chastity, Kindergarten Teacher in West Virginia
We just got your book, posters, and cd today, but I’ve been using your (“Better Alphabet”) song since school started in late August. I retested the children on letters and sounds last week…drum roll….my students know EVERY letter—EVERY sound! I honestly did not know for sure if it would really work. It is amazing! I am happy they switched our phonic program. Saxon phonics focused on one letter a week and was not very kid friendly. We love your Secret Stories!!! PS The blue checks are after 2 weeks of your song….the red checks are after 2 months!
Mandy, First Grade Teacher in Georgia
The reading specialist at my school lent me her copy of the Secret Stories to use over the summer with an LD student that I’m tutoring. Your program is amazing, he loves the stories, and I can finally see him actually “getting” the whole decoding thing. Therefore, I’m personally purchasing the program! Congratulations for creating a decoding program that finally works!
Pat, SLD Teacher in Nebraska
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!!!
Aimee, Second Grade Teacher in Florida
One of our Kindergarten teachers got this for her classroom and her class went so far, so fast with the Secrets that she nearly passed up the next grade level! What a buzz they have been causing around here!
Sandra, Kindergarten /1st Grade Inclusion Teacher in Pennsylvania
Travis Burke vetted over 20 resources submitted by other SNE members and submitted 12 of his own. His favorite was the “The Better Alphabet Song”—created by Katie Garner (author of Secret Stories Brain Based Reading) as it runs students through all possible sounds for each letter. The Secret Stories resource provides educators with an amazing body of brain research and a high quality model for young learner!John, Writer at Early Education Online
I am totally in L-O-V-E with the Secret Stories! My K-5 intervention reading groups are absolutely reaping amazing rewards of this resource! I really wish that I had had years ago!
Jennifer, K-5 Reading Intervention Teacher in Florida
I attended a district-wide PD workshop with you last week and absolutely loved every minute! I came back to my 2nd grade room and introduced some reading secrets immediately. My kids are now in LOVE with them and are SO into it, just as you said they’d be! I love that their newfound “need-to-know” is now driving my reading instruction! Thank you so much for such a rewarding & enjoyable day!
Grace, Second Grade Teacher in South Carolina
Our school has ordered the Secret Stories for all of our grade levels- they are wonderful! I have really pumped your strategies with my teachers and they absolutely love them! (as do my OWN children!!) It is great! I tell everyone I know about your book. My oldest son has had a hard time with reading and The Secret Stories have made a world of difference with him. My youngest son has learned to read because of the stories. Thank you so much for what you have done!
Carolyn, Literacy Facilitator in Virginia
Thank you!! I was at the SoMirac conference in Hunt Valley, MD. You were an absolute inspiration for me!! I am/try to be a”singer” of songs to reinforce and cement concept attainment as well.. (even though I can NOT carry a tune in a bucket or anything else!) I find your creative style is almost strikingly similar to mine.. I am not comparing what you do with what I do ..,,but our approach to learning seems so similar. I was awestruck by your presentation and my reading teacher could NOT WAIT for me to see you present… As a matter of fact, I am presenting some little tidbits of your material at a faculty PD next week. I want to engage and motivate my staff to check out your blogs and also try to implement some of your awesome ideas!! Thank you so much for sharing your creative spirit and inspiring me to try new and innovative ideas!! :)
Meredith, First Grade Teacher in MarylandAfter your presentation for our district, my school was buzzing the following day…”Was there enough money to purchase your book and materials for all the grade levels?” Nobody wanted to be left out! Our principal was so thrilled that so many teachers were interested, she assured us that every K-5 teacher would be able to have for their classrooms and that she would even “find the money” to have you come out to work with our staff personally! Every one of our teachers has requested a copy and now we are all anxiously awaiting their arrival. Your presentation was like a breath of fresh air! We can’t wait to begin ‘cracking the reading code’ with our students!
Marie, Reading Coach in Florida
I can’t say enough about the Secret Stories! My students always feel so smart when they learn complicated phonics patterns (as “secrets”) that often their older siblings don’t even know! There’s nothing else like it— the kids just see it and get it! The phonics stories take no effort for the kids to remember, and they also provide lots of cues for me, so that when a student is having trouble reading or writing a word, I can give a quick hint to the story (“secret”) and the student instantly knows the story for the phonics pattern or sound they need. I can’t say enough about the difference they’ve made!Isabel, Kindergarten Teacher in Utah
Students were almost frenzied in their demands to hear more and more of these secret explanations for words and sounds that had never made sense to them before! (and these are the kids who act like they could care less 99% of the time!) Just watching their faces as everything started to come together for them….What a FIND the Secret Stories are! These tools should be a part of curriculum everywhere- What a gift to our children’s future!
Edie, Fourth-Fifth Grade SLD in Massachusetts
I learned more in Katie’s half day workshop than I did in quarter long graduate course on teaching reading!
The Secret Stories are just so easy to teach….the stories, music, visuals, and movement engage students with the complex rules of phonics! Thank you for truly making me a better and much more effective teacher!Lerline, Kindergarten Teacher in North Dakota
As a newer teacher, I am so grateful to have had the chance to see Katie a couple of months ago at our state reading conference! I learned more in just that one hour session than in all of my teaching classes combined! I love how the Secrets provide such strong framework for instruction while still allowing the flexibility to adjust to individual student needs and my own creative teaching style. I feel like a new door has been opened for me and my students! THANK YOU!!!Leslie, First Grade Teacher in New Mexico
The secrets give meaning to the sounds that letters are likely to make, which makes them predictable and reliable for students. They love to think about the ‘most likely’ and ‘next most likely’ sounds that different letter patterns will make, based on their their “secret” behaviors. I love to just sit back and watch their thinking process as they try to figure out new words in text with the secrets!Billie, Kindergarten Teacher in Oklahoma
I am a 2nd grade teacher in Palm Beach County, Florida and have used the Secret Stories strategies to teach reading to my students for the past year now and it has made such an unbelievable difference. My entire class is at least one level above grade-level in reading now and I attribute that progress directly to Secret Stories!
Sharon, Second Grade Teachers Florida
Reason number 453 on why I love first grade. As you know we are huge “Secret Stories” fans. This kids are AMAZING at decoding words. Well, we came across an interesting word today while reading a guided reading book all about Japan. Immediately, these kids start using their reading strategies trying to figure out this new word. Then my hearts stops when they say let’s flip the vowel and try short u and not super hero u. Their faces when they tried sounding out the word was simply priceless. So, it gave us a great opportunity to discuss different languages. I just love these babies!!!Renee, Kindergarten Teacher in California
My name is Daniel and I teach kindergarten in Washington State. Last year my school district adopted a new reading curriculum and when my team examined the leveled readers before the start of the school year, we were initially in shock. We had no idea how our students were expected to read the new complex text introduced so early in the curriculum. After our initial reaction started to subside we got very motivated to create and find innovating and engaging methods for teaching more advanced phonics skills. Around November I stumbled across a pin with the Secret Story posters for the R-controlled vowels, etc… I had seen it before and I thought it was a neat idea, but I had never clicked on the link. When I clicked on it and found your website and realized the scope of how many Secret Stories there were, I got really excited and shared it with my teaching partners who shared in my enthusiasm. They were the perfect solution to our problem! We made up a few Secret Stories on our own before convincing our school to purchase them for our grade level, but by January we had them and made the full commitment to implement them.
By the end of the year, we had by far the most students reading the Beyond Leveled Readers in the district, and many students needed even more challenging text. By the summer I started presenting about the Secret Stories to other teachers in my district and adjacent ones, and ever since I have been trying to share this amazing resource with as many teachers as I can. After last year’s success, we wanted to step it up a notch this year, so we decided to create a video where we acted out every Secret Story. It took us 2 months to complete, but we are proud of the result. We’ve had our students watch it many times and they are making even more connections to the stories. Sometimes it is a gesture that one of us did that resonates with them, or remembering who acted out the story that helps the students remember the sound. It has proven to have been a very useful project and new resource. We had a lot of fun doing it, and we would be honored if you had some time in your schedule to watch it. Thank you so much for this amazing resource and inspiring us to want to be the best reading teachers for our students as possible!
Daniel, Kindergarten Teacher in Washington
I just wanted to tell you that several of my students had a five minute conversation yesterday during their independent writing time about a whether a word would have Mommy E or 2 vowels walking. I was working with a guided reading group so I didn’t get the entire conversation, or even the word in question. I just heard them stating their opinions about their ideas AND giving reasons as to why they thought that. I was just amazed! Later that day I had a group of 4 who insisted they go to the other classes and tell them about Mommy E because, they said, “How can they read and write good if they don’t know the Secrets?!!” Now everyone in my class wants to go to the other side of the building and tell Secrets! PS. We’ve been asked to go to another school in our county and talk to that staff about what we’re doing, so word is spreading!Christi, First Grade Teacher in West Virginia
I want more Secret Stories! I had also heard through the grapevine in my district that you were going to be the keynote at our state reading conference this year, so now I’m saving up to go, as I would love to meet you!!!Kara, Kindergarten Teacher in Ohio
I am constantly amazed at how quickly kids learn the Secret Stories. I’ve been using them for several year with my kinders. I don’t wait to introduce them and I don’t have a special “order”, I just tell the stories as we come across words in our poems, stories, or writing. Today was our 16th day of kindergarten, as we started our poem (one I never would have introduced this early a few years ago), I told the class that I saw a lot of Secrets and decided to list the Secrets we already knew. This is a picture of the list that my kindergarteners knew and as the day went on they reminded me of even more!Kjersti, Kindergarten Teacher in Washington
Our fourth grade team just ‘shared’ the ‘ous’ secret- the kids immediately ‘got’ it, and BOOM– They were using it! Kids just ‘soak them up!’ Now it seems like there are ‘secrets’ looming around every corner, in every lesson, and our kids want to know them all!!
Janis-Tameika, Fourth Grade Teacher in Washington D.C
The Secret Stories are wonderful!!!! I love how they are being used at the different grade levels. My superintendent came through and was extremely. He’s thinking about taking them district-wide!
Beth, Elementary School Principal in Michigan
My entire class is at least one level above grade-level in reading, with most 2 or 3 levels above, and it’s only January!!! And their developmental spelling is improving every day!
April, First Grade Teacher in Irvine, Kentucky
I have not seen so much excitement from our teachers in the four years that I have been the assistant principal here. They all LOVE the ‘secrets!’
P.J., Assistant Elementary School Principal in Georgia
My intermediate teachers were amazed at the common sense of the secrets to ‘explain away’ all of the inconsistencies in our language by simply telling learners the secret behind the pattern. It’s just so simple!
Barbara, Reading First Literacy Coach in Pennsylvania
The secrets have made their way into the Main Office with a ‘Wall of Secrets’ outside my door! Students just love to share them with myself and my assistant principal. I am so thrilled to see staff so ‘rejuvenated’ about teaching reading!”Charlotte, Elementary School Principal in Texas
Everyone at my new school just raved about the Secret Stories….AND THEY WERE RIGHT!!!! It is sooooo easy, even for me, with an ‘intermediate’ background! I love how it fits with whatever I am teaching, in any subject! I truly believe this is not only helping my students tremendously in reading, but in their written expression, as well! Such effective, and yet easy-to-use tools!Elise, Fourth Grade Teacher inFlorida
I share it with EVERY teacher I meet because I know the difference it makes!Heather, Second Grade Teacher in Florida
I’ve been telling secrets faster I can keep track! The kids are nuts about them!Ana, Fourth Grade Teacher in Massachusetts
I am a 2nd grade teacher in Palm Beach County, Florida and have used the Secret Stories strategies to teach reading to my students for the past year now and it has made such an unbelievable difference. My entire class is at least one level above grade-level in reading now and I attribute that progress directly to Secret Stories.Sharon, Second Grade Teacher in Florida
We had a third to about a half of our students reading at or below grade level at the beginning of the year. Within three months, 90-to-95-percent are at or above grade level….the Secret Stories is the only tool that has proved a success…When kids cannot decode words it makes learning pretty much impossible because they’re concentrating on decoding instead of comprehension. Once they can decode, we can teach to learn, instead of teach to read.Alana, Elementary Principal in Nevada
I immediately put to use the “Mommy e,’ the “Superhero and Babysitter” vowels, and the “Sneaky y!” And don’t even get me started on how much my kids love the musical brainteasers!! They are so quick now with moving from the sounds to the symbols and back again… and LOVE doing it!
Nancy, ELL Tutor in Texas
I know of a teacher who taught 9th grade students reading using “Secret Stories” as a tool. She taught students who slipped through the cracks, and were reading at early elementary levels. She was able to make significant progress with her students, it was really amazing! I will be teaching 2nd reading recovery classes next year and can’t wait to use if with my kids!
Emily, Reading Recovery Coach in Ohio
Thank you!! I was at the SoMirac Conference in Maryland. You were an absolute inspiration to me! I am/try to be a “singer” of songs to reinforce and cement concept attainment as well…even though I can NOT carry a tune in a bucket or anything else! I find your creative style is almost strikingly similar to mine. I am not comparing what you do with what I do, but our approach to learning seems so similar. I was awestruck by your presentation and my reading teacher could NOT WAIT for me to see you present. As a matter of fact, I am presenting some little tidbits of your material at a faculty PD next week. I want to engage and motivate my staff to check out your blogs and also try to implement some of your awesome ideas! Thank you so much for sharing your creative spirit and inspiring me to try new and innovative ideas!!
Meredith, First Grade Teacher in Maryland
Secret Stories have completely changed how I teach my K-4th students and how I look at reading!
Josalin, K-4 Intervention Teacher in West Virginia
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