Chapter 1
Once upon a time, a little girl named Goldilocks wandered through the forest looking for schools. She’d heard there was nasty story written about her, and she wanted to read it. What kind of horrible rumors were being told about her?
Just one problem. She couldn’t read. She needed to learn, and fast!
Soon she found a sweet little pink building with tall, colorful wildflowers lining a welcoming path. Through the windows, she could see about a dozen children and two grown-ups. Bravely, she knocked on the door. A cheerful woman opened it.
“Hello, little girl!,” she said, warmly. “Can I help you?”
“I hope so,” said Goldilocks. “I need to learn to read.”
“Well you’ve come to the right place! Come right in!”
Inside were happy children, and a lovely little nook in the corner that was piled with books. Goldilocks was given one of them. She couldn’t read the words, but she noticed that it seemed like every page had almost the same words. She still didn’t know what the words were. But the pictures were beautiful, and as she was taught, she learned that she could use those pictures to help her figure out some of the words.
Each day, she learned the alphabet, the names of the letters, and the sounds the letters made. She learned that the /a/ sound was at the beginning of many different words, words like apple, alligator, and astronaut. She used those beginning letter sounds to help her figure out what some of the words were.
The way many words were repeated on each page also helped her.
Soon she could read that first book. There was a red apple, a green apple, a yellow apple, even a purple apple!
After school one day, she went to the library and found that foul book that was written about her. She borrowed it and took it home, a little nervous, but feeling satisfied that she would now know what lies were told about her.
At home, she took a deep breath, opened the book, and… NOTHING!
Every sentence was completely different! There were few pictures, and those that were there gave only small clues as to what the words might be. In them, she was eating, sitting, and sleeping – things she did every day.
She had loved the teachers and her classmates, but she was disappointed. Clearly, some of them were learning to read. Why not her? Then she remembered that, while some of them could read any book in the nook, many could not. Was there something missing from these lessons?
She knew the teachers cared very much about them and about teaching them to read. And she knew some kids were learning to read. But she still had an inkling that something was missing. The way the letters worked together still didn’t make sense to her.
Time to go back into the woods. She’d heard there were a couple more reading schools out there.
Chapter 2
This time, she took a different path, and eventually, she found another school. It was in a much larger building that was surrounded by a perfectly manicured garden. She was welcomed with open arms. The bigger size meant there was room to put lots of posters on the walls. The posters showed all kinds of rules about reading! How on earth did ANY of the kids learn how to read in that first school when there were so many rules and not a one was taught! No wonder she’d had trouble there. She breathed a sigh of relief.
She was taught the letters again and their sounds once again. They realized she hadn’t learned all the sounds, so they spent quite some time ensuring that she knew every sound. Eventually, they taught her how the sounds in three-letter words like “sat” and “red” were blended together to make the words. Finally!
She went home and read her book again. But so many of the words had more than three letters. And her library loan would be due soon. She could renew it, but it sure was taking a long time to learn to read ALL the words.
She learned more words and more rules, but she was starting to find the rules a bit confusing.
She knew there was one other school and wondered if that was the school that was just right for her.
Chapter 3
So the next day, she searched for that third school. She soon found a building that was simple but pretty. Would this school lead her to the same disappointment? Would she ever learn to read that book? She knocked on the door, more nervously than she had with the other two schools. A kind woman opened the door and greeted her.
“How can I help you?” asked the woman.
“My name is Goldilocks, and I believe I’m the victim of vicious libel,” she said. “I’ve heard there’s a book about me, and that it’s spread lies about me. The problem is that I cannot read. I’ve gone to two other schools in this forest, and neither could teach me to read fast enough for me to be able to read that book about me.”
“How long did you go to those schools?” asked the woman.
“I spent a week at each one.”
“Oh dear,” said the woman. “We do have a reputation for teaching kids to read in less time, but we probably cannot teach you to read that book as quickly as you want to. Learning to read takes time. Did you tell the other teachers why you wanted to learn to read?”
“No,” said Goldilocks. “I’m just so frustrated that I can’t hold it in anymore!”
“I can imagine!” said the teacher. “My name is Miz Karen, and I can help you. One thing I can do is read the story to you, and I’m sure any of the other kind teachers in this forest would have done that for you.
“We can also teach you to read,” she continued. “But you must promise to stay for more than a week, or you won’t learn anything.”
“How long do I have to stay?”
“We can’t force you to stay,” replied Miz Karen. “But if you want to learn to read, you need to promise to your own self that you’ll stay until you can read that story about yourself all by yourself.”
“Sounds fair,” said Goldilocks.
“The come right in! Let’s start! With a vocabulary like yours, I think you’ll learn to read pretty quickly – but it will take more than a week,” said Miz Karen with a wink.
Goldilocks sat at a table with several other children. They played some games. The games weren’t too easy, but they weren’t too difficult either. She found herself sounding out words, and when she had difficulty, Miz Karen or another teacher helped her understand what she needed to do differently.
A week had passed, and Goldilocks knew one thing: She had a better understanding of how to read than she had acquired in those previous two weeks. Now, to be fair, she’d learned a lot during those two weeks. But this time, she was able to read those words in short, simple sentences after only a week. It was all starting to make more sense to her. And she was able to do the mental work of reading without spending weeks learning letter sounds or rules.
During that time, she brought the library book to Miz Karen, who read it to her. “So I take it you didn’t break into their house or eat their porridge or break the baby’s chair or sleep in their beds?” asked the teacher after she finished the story.
“No, I did all that. I guess the story wasn’t filled with vicious lies about me after all.”
“Oh! Ummmm, I have one more question, Goldie. I didn’t want to scare you away, but I do need to know who your parents are. And why do they let you wander in the woods alone?”
“Mama and Papa Bear?” replied Goldilocks. “I’m so lucky they took me in. But they don’t know a lot about human culture. They’re very sweet and forgiving though.”
Miz Karen’s mouth flew open and she raised her eyebrows. But she had no reply. After all, it seems the bears were treating her well despite the breaking and entering – and breaking. She was just a little girl, after all, albeit an especially feisty and determined one.
Epilogue
Goldilocks kept her promise to herself. She did indeed learn to read quickly, and in just a few months, she could read the story about herself and her family with no help. She loved the way she could get right into reading quickly! No, she couldn’t read any fairy tales after a week, not even the one about herself. But she could read some short sentences. And after another week, she could read some even longer sentences. After a month, she could read short books with just a little help.
She also didn’t know what a speech-to-print reading method was. But that was okay. All she needed to know was how to read. And she was becoming quite the reader with the help of Miz Karen and her speech-to-print reading method.
THE END
P.S. If it wasn’t obvious, I, Miz Jan, use the same method (Reading Simplified™) as the fictional Miz Karen. And my students and their parents have been very happy with the results!