Copyright © 2017 Author Kimberly Krieger

 
All rights reserved.
ISBN-10: 1976362504
ISBN-13: 978-1976362507
Introduction……………………………………..…….....….iv
 
Why do Nonsense Words Improve Reading?…..…......1
 
Directions………………………………..……………….…..2
 
Mat that Cat.…….…….…………..………………..…..…..3
 
Reading List: Nonsense and Real Word List…………21
 
Reading Activities……………………………..…..…....…27
 
Writing Activities…………………………….…...….…….28
 
Enrichment Nonsense Word List…………....…….…..29
 
About the Author………………………...…….…...…….32
 
By the Author………………………………….…..….…...33
 
 
 
 

iii
 The books compiled in this series emerged from my years of work with
readers of all ages who needed help understanding, remembering and
applying the reading skills they were being taught in traditional ways.
While my students learned through traditional approaches, these
approaches were not enough to help them master the skills they needed
to become successful readers. Reading was a frustrating experience
because recalling and applying skills they had studied, but not yet
mastered, was hard work.
 
My students needed to practice and concentrate on each letter pattern
they struggled with before moving on to the next letter pattern. Once they
mastered a specific letter pattern, they were given a new pattern to work
on. This approach helped my students build the skills they needed to
become more confident readers. The books in this series are a
compilation of pre-reading activities and stories that helped my students
master each letter pattern.

The stories rhyme, use repetitive words and were designed to be fun
and accessible while concentrating on mastering a specific letter pattern.
Each story was written using as many words as possible with the letter
pattern of focus. This limited the choice of words used to write each
story, but it also limited the skills students need in order to successfully
read the story. The stories and the pre-reading activities are designed to
help students quickly internalize the pattern they struggle with, master it,
and move on to the next pattern.
 
The pre-reading activities focus on the use of nonsense words.
Nonsense words are words with no meaning that are fun to sound out,
have predictable patterns, and give insight into the ability of the reader to
sound out new letter patterns. There is a nonsense and real word list
included in this book that is intended to be practiced prior to reading the
story. The list can be read either all at once or worked on one page at a
time until the words are read with ease.
 
Minimizing the skills a reader needs to apply in order to read a book
helps reduce frustration. This allows the reader to build specific skills
without needing to rely on sight word knowledge and multiple vowel
patterns at the same time. Included is a list of other reading and writing
activities and a list of enrichment nonsense words.
iv
Nonsense words require readers to:

• read what they see instead of guessing

• sound out words instead of relying on

memory

• learn the common chunks of words

• build early muscle memory

• use their knowledge of letter sounds

Nonsense words prepare readers to:

• read new unfamiliar words in text

• sound out words that are not in their

vocabulary

• use their reading skills instead of guessing

what word they are reading

• read multisyllabic words in the future

1
 
• Have students start with reading the nonsense
words. The nonsense words in this book should be
said with the short “a” sound as in can and band.
The enrichment list consists of nonsense words that
are two syllables that should also be said with the
short “a” sound as in gamlat and pantab.

• Have students read the first page of the nonsense

word list. They can repeat the first page until they
read the page with ease.
 
• Students can continue to read the nonsense word
list or they can read the first page of the story.
 
• Students can then read the nonsense word list or
part of the list and go back to read the second page
of the story.
 
• Students can go back and forth between the
nonsense word list and the story until they are able
to read both the list and the story with ease and
confidence.
 
• It is important to pay close attention to the reader
and change activities if the reader becomes tired or
frustrated. The reader should spend time reading
the real and nonsense word list before reading the
story.

2
21
at ap
sat bap
hat zap
zat nap
mat tap
nat dap
bat cap
cat lap
22
ad an
tad fan
bad lan
had ban
lad zan
zad ran
sad man
mad nan
23
ab am
zab zam
lab lam
vab vam
cab pam
dab sam
tab jam
mab gam
24
flat that
flaz thaz
flav thav
flan than
flam tham
flas thas
flap thap
flag thag
25
and span
zand spam
band spab
sand spad
land spag
hand spav
band spap
mand spal
26
• Have the reader read through the list of nonsense and real
words.
 
• Set a timer while the reader reads the list of nonsense and
real words as quickly as possible to see how long it takes.
Record the time and challenge the reader to read faster each
time the list is read.
 
• Set a stopwatch and ask the reader to try to read through
the list of nonsense and real words before the buzzer goes off.
Record the time and challenge the reader to read more quickly
each time.

• Have the reader read through the story after practicing the
list of nonsense and real words.
 
• Set a timer while the reader reads as quickly as possible
through the story. Record the time and challenge the reader
to read faster each time the story is read.
 
●
Set a stopwatch and ask the reader to read through the story
as quickly as possible before the buzzer goes off. Record the
time and challenge the reader to read more quickly each time.
 
• Have the reader read a particular sentence as quickly as
possible.
 
• Ask the reader to predict what will happen next in the story.
 
• Ask the reader to find the words that rhyme and make up
pairs of new words that rhyme.
 
• Have the reader create their own nonsense words and read
them. 

27
• Read a real or nonsense word aloud and ask the reader to
write it down. Then have the reader check the work.
 
• Read a few words or a sentence aloud and ask the reader to
write the words or the sentence down. Then have the reader
check the work.
 
• Have the reader make up nonsense words, write them down
and read them aloud.
 
• Set a timer, read aloud a real or nonsense word OR a list of
real or nonsense words and have the reader write down the
word or list of words as quickly as possible. Record the time
and challenge the reader to write faster each time the word or
the list is read.
 
• Read a word, a few words, or a sentence from the story aloud
and have the reader write down the word, words or sentence
in order to practice memorizing the spelling of words.
 
• Have the reader write out a word in the air with a pencil and
then write the word down.
 
• Have the reader use the words practiced to create and write
down sentences or a short story.
 

28
29
namtap batrat
panlaz catnap
ransam catrat
tanzad matpan
dazlaz zanlan
wagdag wabtam
palgal cansam
daptad patnap
30
tagtad batrat
labtag caphat
kamgat wagcat
padcab vatbap
bagzam dabtab
jamtap tanpam
rabbat hascat
tabbat cathas
31
     Kimberly Krieger is a special education teacher and an
educational therapist. She specializes in math and reading
for students with special needs. She writes children’s
stories for struggling readers in order to improve their
reading while having fun. She teaches and works privately
with children and parents to improve reading, math and
behavior.
 
Kimberly has worked as a special education teacher for
the last 15 year both in California and in Israel. She has
had a private practice as an educational therapist for the
last 8 years.
 
Kimberly is an author of 14 children’s books for
improving reading skills for struggling readers. She loves
finding ways of reaching her students and helping them
learn, remember and understand things they previously
struggled with.
 
Teaching is her passion, and working with students on
their academic and behavioral challenges is what she
enjoys doing every day. The unforgettable bond she’s built
in working with her students has been the inspirational
love for this book.

32
 Sam that Fat Cat
Mat that Cat
Ken the Pest
Milk for Jim and Tim
Tom Stops Spot
Chuck the Gull has Lunch
Jade and Sage
Lee and Bree
Mike and Ike
Moe and Joe
Stu and Sue
Bob that Big Dog
How did Howard Dow find His Cow?
The Crow in the Snow

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