Seeing Stars: Symbol Imagery for Phonemic Awareness, Sight Words and Spelling

by Nanci Bell

Seeing Stars outlines the reading program that has helped thousands of students learn to read fluently and spell accurately by developing an essential underlying the ability to perceive and create mental imagery for the individual sounds and letters within words. This visual processing of sounds and symbols is known as symbol imagery, and in this manual, author Nanci Bell demonstrates how the development of symbol imagery can help students stabilize phonemic awareness, quickly recognize sight words, spell with correct orthographic patterns, and read fluently in context. Sample lessons and useful techniques are provided to help you guide students through the program. Seeing Stars is one of the program manuals used in the professional development training and instructional services provided by Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes.

Genres: Education

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some interesting research about symbol imagery as an overlooked sensory skill needed to learn to read and spell. It explains steps to teach using the Seeing Stars program from Lindamood Bell, however it is not a daily lesson schedule/script. So, the teacher has to pace and implement overlapping steps essentially by feel/personal judgment. They do offer training seminars, and I think it will be learnable once we start, and I think the theory is really an interesting missing piece for us.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this manual because of the author's realistic view of instruction and humor that she put into it. The program itself has been interesting; I have needed some additional coaching, but I love that this book has the sets of rules that are best to teach explicitly. It's a great overview of the whole learning process and I've incorporated some of its techniques into my other reading instruction even when I'm not using the whole program with students.

[Steff Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

| Reader Fox Blog |


It's a very odd feeling to review a book that relates so very much to your work. At the same time, though, I have very strong feelings about this work as a whole. I've worked for the company behind this instruction for nearly five years now. It's the first job I ever loved and work that I remain forever proud of. In short, my job entails teaching children how to read. We primarily specialize in teaching those who have struggled to learn in the past. And the most rewarding thing about my job has been the knowledge that I have changed a number of lives for the better. In this world, not being able to read is experimental to one's ability to function as an adult. Not only that, but we have another program that focuses on comprehension.

Seeing Stars is one of the main foundational programs that I regularly work with. I have seen this program, first hand, help more students than I could personally count. I've been a part of utilizing it to improve and build reading abilities for many children and adults alike. The fact of the matter is that this manual is a beginning step to learning how to apply these ideas to building foundational skills for reading, much of which comes down to sensory cognitive functions and building imagery.

I don't personally think, however, that the manual itself is a complete substitute for learning how to teach this program. With that said, however, it is definitely worthwhile insofar as it provides incredibly valuable information regarding how to teach reading skills and foundations. I believe wholeheartedly in the fidelity of this program and therefore the benefits this book provides for those who read it.

I fundamentally believe that the world needs education in order to be a better place. Ensuring that everyone I have the ability to reach is able to read and comprehend to their potential is something I find immeasurably important. More than anything I aspire to make a genuine difference in this world through helping others develop themselves. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to work with children and to entirely change their lives around by helping them to build this ability to read and understand.

The Seeing Stars manual doesn't teach you every little thing you need to know to develop these abilities as well as getting the instruction from a Lindamood-Bell learning center. But it does give anyone who reads it a starting point, one that can make an amazing and genuine difference in the lives of anyone who uses it.

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[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on an exciting method to teach reading. It's a supremely well written book with superb examples throughout so that you can really see how the whole method is done (no pun intended).

In brief this is a method to help students learn to read by creating pictures in their minds of letters and then associating the sounds with them. It starts with individual letters or sounds (sh and similar combos are their own 'letters') and moves on to simple and complex syllables. It also has a sight word component. Underlying the whole process is the theory that the students need to learn to hold an image of a what they are reading in their heads so that they can compare and self monitor as they read. This skill is specifically taught on easier levels and then students earn to apply it to their more complicated reading material.

My co-worker has used this and we have really seen it work. I just started using it with some students and I am pretty excited about it.