Ray Of Hope Academy-Florida

Your child wrote “wrk” instead of “work” 👀

Don’t panic…

That actually means they’re hearing sounds

This is called invented spelling—
and it’s completely normal in early readers.

You’ll see this most in Pre-K through Kindergarten,
sometimes early 1st grade.

It shows your child is trying.
They’re breaking words apart.
They’re thinking.

But here’s the shift…

As they get older,
we don’t want them guessing anymore.

We want accurate spelling
based on phonics patterns and rules.

So if you’re still seeing this in later grades…

🔍 it’s time to look a little closer.

We’re not just reading words…
we’re manipulating sounds 🧠✨

Today we worked on phoneme substitution with beginning S-blends

She started with: slat
Then changed ONE sound…

/l/ ➡️ /t/

Now we have: stat

That’s phonemic awareness in action 👏🏽

This is how readers learn to:
✔️ hear sounds
✔️ isolate sounds
✔️ change sounds to make new words

Before spelling even comes into play.

We’re not just reading words…
we’re manipulating sounds 🧠✨

Today we worked on phoneme substitution with beginning S-blends

She started with: slat
Then changed ONE sound…

/l/ ➡️ /t/

Now we have: stat

That’s phonemic awareness in action 👏🏽

This is how readers learn to:
✔️ hear sounds
✔️ isolate sounds
✔️ change sounds to make new words

Before spelling even comes into play.

At Ray of Hope Academy Florida, we follow the Broward County Public Schools calendar. Because of this, our Spring Break is this week, and tutoring sessions are closed during this time.

📅 Sessions will resume next Monday.

I know many of our SunRay families attend Miami-Dade County schools, and your Spring Break begins next week. If your family will be traveling or unable to attend your scheduled virtual session next week, please let me know ahead of time.

To help our readers maintain their progress, I will be updating each student’s notebook with:

📚 Daily reading tasks
✏️ Short practice activities

These activities help keep reading routines consistent so that progress is not lost while students are away.

Thank you for continuing to support your SunRay’s reading journey!

Little-Known Black History Fact ✨

In 2012, I became the first Black teacher to be named Teacher of the Year at West Memorial Junior High. On the last day of Black History Month, I honor that moment not just for me, but for every child I’ve taught, every family I’ve supported, and every SunRay who has grown under Ray of Hope Academy–Florida. ☀️

My journey has taken me from Miami-Dade, to Katy, TX, to teaching 6th and 8th Grade ELA in Broward County Public Schools, and building a literacy program that helps students read with confidence, think critically, and believe in their brilliance.

This is Black History.
I AM Black History.
And I’m still writing the next chapter. 💛📚

Many parents are surprised to learn that work avoidance starts early…

Yes, even in kindergarten through 3rd grade.
And it isn’t always dramatic.

Sometimes it shows up in quiet, subtle ways that look like confusion… but are actually a method to delay or escape the task.

Here are some common phrases I hear from early elementary learners during reading or tutoring sessions:

👉 “I don’t know.”
👉 “I don’t understand.”
👉 “I don’t remember.”

These statements sound like genuine confusion, but when they happen repeatedly with skills the child has already shown mastery in, it’s usually a sign of work avoidance, not lack of ability.

Young learners figure out very quickly that if an adult repeats directions, models the skill again, or lowers the demand, they get to do less work in a short session.

And because kids are smart, they learn how to use these strategies to delay reading tasks they find challenging, boring, or mentally taxing.

Here’s the important part:
Work avoidance isn’t “bad behavior.”
It’s communication.

It tells us:
✔ The task might feel overwhelming
✔ The student may lack stamina or confidence
✔ The child may be seeking control
✔ The brain is trying to escape something that feels hard

In structured literacy tutoring, I look for patterns like this so I can respond with clarity, consistency, and targeted support, not endless reteaching that reinforces the avoidance cycle.

If your K–3rd grader is showing repeated “I don’t know” moments with skills they’ve already learned, it might be time to explore why.
A child can be capable and still avoid.

Understanding the difference changes everything.

Most parents don’t realize how quickly reading gaps grow.

But let me show you what actually happens, and how we fix it.

1️⃣When a child starts tutoring with me, we begin with a full phonics and reading assessment so I can see exactly where the breakdown is.

2️⃣We look closely at accuracy, fluency, and comprehension, because each skill gives us important clues about what your child needs next.

3️⃣From there, I build a personalized learning plan grounded in real data, not guessing, not worksheets pulled off the internet.

📈This is why SunRays grow.

💪🏽This is why their confidence returns.

👍🏽Structured literacy works.

I began working with Brelyn in Pre-K.

We focused on the foundation:
• Letter sounds
• Phonemic awareness
• Blending and segmenting
• Accurate decoding

She is now in 4th grade.

This chart shows her RIT score. A RIT score is a growth score that measures a child’s reading level and tracks progress over time. It’s not based on age or grade alone, it shows actual skill development.

The blue bars show Brelyn’s score.
The red and gold bars show district and national averages.

Brelyn is scoring at or above those averages, and projected to continue growing.

In parent language:
She has the skills to handle complex grade-level text confidently.

Fourth grade is where students shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Struggles often show up here when the early foundation wasn’t solid.

Brelyn’s was.

Her mom texted me,
“Your seeds are still producing a harvest.”

That’s what this is.

When structured literacy is done right early, the results show up years later.

The seeds were planted in Pre-K.
The harvest is showing in 4th grade.