Secret Phonics Stories Examples

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meredith, First Grade Teacher in Maryland

After 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

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