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K-4 reading w/100EL question


Philothea
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Last year we began K-4 with my son. I began using 100EL. As it was my first year, we started off at a very slow pace and eventually worked up to a fuller schedule towards the end of 2007.

 

Well, where we are now is that my son is reviewing 100EL because we had a big haitus in December due to a move. To get him back into a groove, we had to go back and review. I *think* he is starting to read better, but I can't really tell.

 

What I was wondering is if some of you would not mind telling me some of the observations you have made about your 4.5 year olds and how they progress in learning to read. I would just like to make sure we are on the right track.

 

The way he reads now is that he either knows or has memorized a lot of common use words, but I would say that he stops to sound out an average of ten words in each of the stories at the end of 100EL. (We got all the way up to Lesson 70, but are back at about lesson 50 reviewing)

 

Sometimes he makes the sound like he is going to sound out the word and then just realizes what it is and puts it together.

 

I hope I am not sounding like an idiot. I would just like to better understand how children progress when learning to read. :)

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both my kids learned to read with 100EL. My son was 4.5 when we started. once we finished the book he was in this mindset he could only read bob books, lol. It took all summer to convince him he could read 'real' books from the library. he finally broke through and is reading wonderful now.

 

my daughter started this fall right as she turned 4. We are at lesson 68 now. Some days are hard as she 'forgets' sounds/letters/sight words. we just go slowly until she is more comfortable. some weeks we do 2 lessons, some 4.

 

the thing I have found with 100EL and both kids is there seems to be several "walls" the kids hit in the book. mid 30's was tough. Mid to late 50's are also a struggling point with all the bigger words.

 

Keep at it. Go slow and repeat a lesson if the day went horrible bad. but don't push it. my dd often says she is tired of reading when the lesson had over 20 words to say before the story started. And then the story is super long that day and reading it twice exhausts her, lol. so going slow in those lessons is good for us all.

 

Keep at it. I had concerns the first time with my ds, but he's way ahead now, so I know the program works and is a solid base in reading.

 

I will say, that we are going through OPGTTR loosely this year with my son b/c of all the 'exception' words in English. He was always asking WHY words were the way they were. OPGTTR answers all those questions. we often do more than one lesson a day and we usually only focus on the rule and words. He can do most of them with no trouble. IF he has trouble then we do the sentences for him to read, but otherwise it's a short review of advanced phonics and I highly recommend using this after 100EL in that way. skip the letter sound section and start in the next section.

 

HTH

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all the way up to Lesson 70, but are back at about lesson 50 reviewing)

 

Sometimes he makes the sound like he is going to sound out the word and then just realizes what it is and puts it together.

 

I hope I am sounding like an idiot. I would just like to better understand how children progress when learning to read. :)

 

My three experiences:

Despite intensive phonics my oldest would sound out the first letter of unknown words and then guess the rest, often times incorrectly. It didn't bother him at all that the sentence made no sense that way.

 

My second son has a very good memory for words; once he sounds out a word he doesn't need to do it again. However, he has separate language issues and doesn't understand what he's reading.

 

My daughter sounds like she might be most like your son. She stops at each word she doesn't recognize and works on sounding it out until it occurs to her what the word is and then she blurts it out and moves on. She seems to pay attention to the meaning of sentences and will go back and reread a phrase if it didn't make sense to her.

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Thanks, Tess.

 

You read my mind, in fact, we are going to move on to OPG once we finish 100EL. My son does read the Bob books, I'll be on the lookout now for a "Bob Books only" attitude!

 

Gee I am so glad I joined this forum, all of the people that I know are getting tired of hearing me talk about HSing and my curriculum plans. :D

 

The nice thing about the Bob books and the "Now I'm reading" phonics books is that there are no licenced characters. Other phonics books we have looked at in stores have characters from TV shows and it drives me up the wall.

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Yes! What is it with guessing!? I think sometimes he guesses when he thinks he can get away with it so he can be done sooner or he doesn't feel like doing the work.

 

Fortunately, I would say his guessing has gone waaaay down because I have not let him get away with it. He knows I'm not going to be happy with him if he guesses.

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My 2nd dc just finished 100 EZL- he is 6.75 years (my oldest learned to read with 100 EZL as well). I say if you're in L. 70 with a 4.5 year old, you're doing very well :)

 

Here is my experience: as with a lot of other things, each child learns differently :). My first dc, f.ex., zoomed through the book and had/has no trouble whatsoever with phonics.

2nd child: different story. He is still sounding out words and the connection between what he sees on the page and what is supposed to come out of his mouth is painfully slow (or maybe I'm just being impatient, 'cause he *doesn't get it* as fast as older brother).

In any case, what I've found is that LOTS of review is necessary so that *easy* words become second-nature and a foundation on which a child can build confidence-level-wise. Going back over old lessons is a good thing to do, because you want your child to become so comfortable sounding out *easy* words, that he/she is willing and not afraid to tackle longer and more difficult words. At our house, we do a ton of review, but also throw in a lot of other learning-to-read books, such as BOB books or readers that I pick up from the library (Nora Gaydos readers are also a good choice, f.ex.).

 

Your dc is still very young- don't push the reading thing, it'll happen. It really will, promise :D

 

HTH!

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Thank-you so much again. It is very encouraging to hear from others that have used this program. I actually am very pleased with the results. I can't wait to hear from more people, I really appreciate all of the insight from all of you.

 

I also use the Nora Gaydos books, I find that they are nice because they include words in all capital letters. Many signs and lettering out in the world are in all capital letters so it is very practical in helping to read all caps.

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I used 100EZ with two of my kids so far. starting at about 4.5 yo. The first child went right through the program. The second one had to take a brak at about lesson 70 or so, but after a few weeks picked it back up where we left off (we tried McGuffey in the meantime).

 

With this second child I remember a lot of sounding out the words even if she had just read the same word previously.

 

It sounds like your child is progressing normally.

 

I find that once they finish the 100EZ and start reading books they progree much faster!

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