“Souns encompasses how kids naturally learn.”

“Well, after the training I was so impressed that my twins could identify the sounds,  I immediately started working with my five year old. She and I have been working on learning to read on and off for a few months but she is easily frustrated and when writing always wants my help to spell the word correctly. Well, she just happened to have homework last week where she needed to write a sentence in a book her class was making. After practicing using sounds (we made “real” words and nonsense words), she sat down to complete her homework and wrote the sentence completely on her own. She was so empowered and proud that she must have read the sentence 50 times to me. The sentence was about her and her brother playing so when he work up from his nap, she must have read the sentence to him 10 times. It was amazingly wonderful to see her so happy and proud of her work.”

“I love Souns because it is a hands-on approach to learning and it makes sense to learn the sounds before you actually learn the letters.  This program reaches kids at their developmental level because kids learn through play and through hands on experiences which makes this so much fun for the children.”

Parents from a preschool cooperative

Apopka, FLA

SounsAfrica building tomorrows…what ha

SounsAfrica building tomorrows…what has happened in a year for preschoolers in SA? Thank you to The Rotary Foundation @Rotary http://ow.ly/6YHdn

Building tomorrows for children through

Building tomorrows for children through Even Start, Early Start, Head Start http://ow.ly/6YFOC

SounsAfrica…October 2011…look at wha

SounsAfrica…October 2011…look at what @Rotary is accomplishing for the children who live in the township of Mamelodi. We are making a difference. http://ow.ly/6YF0h

Souns a year later in South Africa…see

Souns a year later in South Africa…see what is happening….. http://ow.ly/68dCF

A mother in Georgia shares:

After needing a lot of practice, my two year old son mastered his first three souns. I decided to introduce him to “t” today. I gave him his “t”. He immediately caught on and confidently said “t” over and over. I then added a “sss” next to the “t”. After reminding him of the two sounds, I asked him which one was the “t”. He pointed and repeated “t”. Then with the most incredulous look he could muster, he said in almost a panic, ” where my ahhh (o)??”My two year old spilled some baking soda on the counter today. I couldn’t pass up such a perfect opportunity to draw letters in the spilled baking soda. We drew o’s over and over together in the powder. He was so excited to be drawing something that he knows has real meaning. His face shone with delight. His ahh (o) was right next to his work.  Although he doesn’t have the fine motor skills to draw the other letters without extensive help, he delighted in drawing his beloved  ahh (o) over and over. Throughout these exercises I could really see the importance and thoroughness of the whole brain, Montessori approach.

Later in the day, I was working with my five year old with the sandpaper letters. He remains somewhat resistant to working with anything related to reading. I decided to have a quick lesson with my two year old, knowing my five year old would be watching and listening intently. I happened to be working with t, o, and s, all of which my two year old is familiar with from his souns. Although we haven’t done much work with the more abstract form of the letters (with my two year old), he excitedly pointed to each letter while making the sound. He then saw his favorite letter and said with great excitement, “there my ahh!” As I suspected, my five year old was watching and quickly said, t-ahh-ss, toss!

Souns in Pan-African Conference / Cape Town / October