Here are some thoughts related to Earth Day: Clean energy sources and uses prevent Earth's atmosphere from becoming polluted and overheated. This is important for the health of our planet, as well as our own health and breath. We need to keep our ears open, refusing to become deaf to the pleas of the ecologists. Individuals should hold the life of bears, and the life of other animals and plants close to each breast. Evidence shows that whenever we cease breaking ecological rules, our planet heals. Earth's land and water gleaming in the sun, and all her inhabitants feasting on abundant bread, is the ideal.

A struggling reader will have difficulty reading the above sentences because of some or all of the scientific terms and concepts, such as energy, atmosphere, polluted, ecologists, ecological, inhabitants, and abundant. However, some or all of the "ea" words, with their variety of spellings and pronunciations, will also confuse learners who have difficulty with decoding.

Using the Sounds of Words applied phonics strategy to discover the "sound spelling" for the words Earth, heart, heated, health, breath, ears, deaf, pleas, bears, breast, each, cease, breaking, heals, gleaming, feasting, bread, and ideal, will yield many different pronunciations for "ea" and the letters that follow. Then, once the reader is able to pronounce the words, vocabulary study and comprehension are able to develop.