Tips for Phonics Pathways

[Year Round Mom]

I am mostly a lurker and have seen lots of recommendations for PP, right alongside sighs of boredom from hs'ers teaching their 3rd, 4th, or 5,000th kid to read using this tried-and-true book. I am currently using it successfully with my 1st and 2nd graders, who are nothing like their 4th grade brother who did a page a day in 2 seconds flat, finishing the whole book by the end of 1st grade. My girls are very average and so I'm finding I have to use PP differently with them. I know most of these tips are probably in the book itself, but who has actually read those pages??? Okay, you did? (I feel sheepish, lol.)

 

I find I have to keep my girls on one or two sounds/spellings per week. So for my 2nd grader, I can only introduce one new long vowel sound a week. At one point (K year?) I thought she may be dyslexic. She has a hard time pronouncing long words; she still says "strections" for "directions". She has a hard time spelling, too. 

 

For the long "a" spelled "a_e", we went through the list with the short "a" mixed in with the long "a" and pointed out all the "magic e's". Then we went through the list again and pronounced each vowel sound, deciding first if it's short or long. Then we read across (all short vowel sounds in one row, all long vowel sounds in the second row, etc.) Next, we read down, alternating short and long vowels. Finally, I will point out a word at random and she has to read it. This is just the intro to the new sound and spelling and takes about 15, 20 min. She will then copy 5-10 words that I choose for her, and may have to circle the "magic e" and note the appropriate vowel marks.

 

The next day, we might read down the list or just do random words, depending on how well I think she remembers, then we'll read the sentences. I have her read the sentence through more than once, to help her gain confidence and speed. She will copy 2-3 sentences in her notebook.

 

We'll also do a sort of spelling test every so often. I will give her a list of 10 spelling words with no tricks in it (i.e. no proper nouns that would need to be capitalized) using only the rules/sounds that we're working on (no review words) and we'll go over the list carefully, circling important letters, for example. In the next day or so, we'll do the test. She did really well on her long a, i, and o test today. I'm very proud of her!

 

We do this, more or less, for every lesson. It's boring, but it is doing the job because she and her younger sister are progressing well!

 

What have you done to use PP differently?

[stayathomelibrarian]

I have it, but haven't started it in earnest.  We have MCP plaid phonics.  It's pretty simple, and after we've progressed a little in that book, I plan to pick up PP and use it in conjunction with ETC.  Good luck!  Thanks for the info. 

[JudoMom]

I think you're doing great.  I never did any writing/spelling with it, but I did teach all 5 of my boys to read with it.  I was boring.  I opened it up and they read as much as I thought they could read.  This might've been 6 words, it might've been 2 pages.  It depended on the boy and what we were working on.

[Year Round Mom]

Thanks, JudoMom! I contemplated a while back purchasing PAL or something else, just anything else to get my 2nd grader reading. I discovered, though, that all I had to do was augment the PP lessons for her. (Well, and I'm cheap. $30 to teach a kid how to read to a 4th grade level? I'll take it!)

 

Boring but effective! Yay for boring but effective!

 

:hurray:

 

[cjgrubbs]

For those who have used Phonics Pathways, do you think Reading Pathways would be helpful to use along with it or just too much? 

[boscopup]

For those who have used Phonics Pathways, do you think Reading Pathways would be helpful to use along with it or just too much?

My DS2 loves Reading Pathways. We do only one book per day, so if he talks me into RP, we don't bother with PP that day (his attention span for phonics work is very low).

[AimeeM]

I would love to know what others may have done to make it a bit more interesting. I'm about to toss it; it's making me want to poke my eyeballs out.

[coffeegal]

I think you're doing great.  I never did any writing/spelling with it, but I did teach all 5 of my boys to read with it.  I was boring.  I opened it up and they read as much as I thought they could read.  This might've been 6 words, it might've been 2 pages.  It depended on the boy and what we were working on.

We never did any writing or spelling with it either. I generally worked 1 page a day until the book became difficult. Then we went back to a point the book was super easy. Rinse, repeat, until the book was finished. We started when they were 4 and finished around 6. I'm currently starting my current 4yo in PP. It's not entertaining but it is effective.

 

 

For those who have used Phonics Pathways, do you think Reading Pathways would be helpful to use along with it or just too much? 

I just used Phonics Pathways with #1 and #4. It did the trick! :001_smile:

[cjgrubbs]

I would love to know what others may have done to make it a bit more interesting. I'm about to toss it; it's making me want to poke my eyeballs out.

I have had my son write the lesson in his journal using a texture under the paper - like sandpaper or the plastic lacing mat at craft stores.  for example, he would write

ba

be

bi

bo

bu

while he's saying the sounds...

Not super exciting but he likes it.

[ElizabethB]

Supplement with my game for fun review:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

 

And mix it up by doing the lesson on the white board once in a while.

 

The 10th edition has a book of games to go with it you can buy, they would most likely work with any version you have.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Phonics-Pathways-Boosters-Teaching-Jump-Start/dp/1118022440/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380947490&sr=8-2&keywords=phonics+pathways

[ShellLou]

I have used PP & although there have been times my son has rolled his eyes at it - I have found it effective.  It sounds to me like you are doing a great job & teaching to what your children need.

 

A couple of things I did, was try to match up readers that covered what we had covered in PP.  We used a large combo of readers (often borrowed from our library, which thankfully has quite a few different types) - we used Bob Books, MCP, Fitzroy (Australian), Jelly & Bean (UK - these were a huge favourite & my son has said we are never to sell them as he will use them to teach his children to read!), A Beka & others as well as anything from the library that I felt was suitable. 

Some days he would fly through pages & other days not so much.  I also did what I called review words, picked some out each day, that we had covered previously to review & it made a huge difference.  We don't do that as frequently now, but still do at times.  (I think someone above called it "rinse & repeat").

Sometimes we would play the games & other times I would make up some games - he likes to run & jump, so I might say read these 10 words then jump up the hallway & then come back & read some more!  Silly stuff, but it just added something different.  Also, sometimes just doing the book in a different room or even outside now & again just gives a mix up to the day :-)

cjgrubbs - asked about Reading Pathways - my son wanted me to get that & asked me so many times I did eventually buy it July this year.  As we are nearly at the end of PP, we are going through it quite easily, and he really likes it.  One thing though, it seems to include words in some pyramids that don't line up with what has been covered in PP at the same time.  E.G if the pyramid is based around a particular phonics sound or rule, sometimes a sound or rule that is further on in PP appears.  This hasn't been a problem for us as I said we are nearly finished PP, but if you were to use it alongside PP just watch out for those oddities.

Reading is such a journey & every child does it in their own way, but I found PP good. 

 

 

[ScoutTN]

For those who have used Phonics Pathways, do you think Reading Pathways would be helpful to use along with it or just too much? 

 

 

Yes, for those not taking to reading as a duck to water! JUst don't let your total lesson time stretch too long.

 

My dd didn't need it. she flew through the book and was reading Little house books by the end of K.

I did get RP from the library and it was boring for her. 

 

DS, on the other hand is moving slowly through the book and RP is very good reinforcement for him.

He loves the pyramids, Gus the pig and the bookworm. 

 

We are in the middle of long vowels and do 2pp. of RP most days - 1 warm up page and one pyramid.

Sometimes we sub Bob books for variety. We do 1 page of PP as our main lesson.

DS is a 6yo K'er. 

 

We do play the games and we don't do any written work with PP. 

[Year Round Mom]

I haven't tried RP. My DS didn't need any help reading. My DD7 is really enjoying the All About Reading readers. We read through the Runt Pig twice and are almost finished with our first time through Cobweb the Cat. Though she's working on long vowels in PP, there are none in the readers. But it's still helpful for her confidence to read a "real" book (apparently Bob books don't count in her mind!?!) 

 

 

[craftyerin]

For those who have used Phonics Pathways, do you think Reading Pathways would be helpful to use along with it or just too much? 

I just ordered Reading Pathways yesterday for the work on multi-syllable words.  Phonics Pathways worked super well for my 5yo twins, but they took an enormous leap forward on their own in May-June (just from reading and reading and reading everything they can get their hands on) and they can now decode anything in Phonics Pathways and look at me with intense boredom anytime I pull it out.  The only things they need work on are fluency and longer words with 4+ syllables.  I'm hoping the pyramids in the 2nd half of Reading Pathways will help.  My 6yo is just now starting to blend and read CVC words, so he ought to get some good work from the pyramids at the beginning of the book, too, even though PP is not his main reading curriculum. I use something else with him.  I'll report back! 

[knittingmama]

We've been using Reading Pathways along with Phonics Pathways for my 7yo who has really been struggling to read. We do them at different times of the day. He's doing really well with this approach and is enjoying it. I only wish that RP went along with PP better. It seems they teach things at different times.

[cjgrubbs]

I just ordered Reading Pathways yesterday for the work on multi-syllable words.  Phonics Pathways worked super well for my 5yo twins, but they took an enormous leap forward on their own in May-June (just from reading and reading and reading everything they can get their hands on) and they can now decode anything in Phonics Pathways and look at me with intense boredom anytime I pull it out.  The only things they need work on are fluency and longer words with 4+ syllables.  I'm hoping the pyramids in the 2nd half of Reading Pathways will help.  My 6yo is just now starting to blend and read CVC words, so he ought to get some good work from the pyramids at the beginning of the book, too, even though PP is not his main reading curriculum. I use something else with him.  I'll report back! 

wondering how Reading Pathways is going for you?  We finally got to the first pyramid in PP and at first my son balked but then realized he could do it!  I'm now thinking I might should add this in though he is still really working through the pages super slowly!

[MistyMountain]

I used reading pathways with my oldest when she was reading well except for multi-syllable words. I just did the last section that covered multi-syllable words. It did the trick. Once we started that she started flying through the reading levels and she made rapid progress. I tried reading pathways with my son briefly at the beginning but he wasn't ready for it at the time. I am doing AAR with my son at the moment but I'm not sure if I can afford to continue so I might try a combo of PP and RP after we finish level 1.

[Chloe]

I think you're doing great.  I never did any writing/spelling with it, but I did teach all 5 of my boys to read with it.  I was boring.  I opened it up and they read as much as I thought they could read.  This might've been 6 words, it might've been 2 pages.  It depended on the boy and what we were working on.

 

I used it similarly.  After anywhere from a 1/2 page to two pages of PP, we would read a Bob Book or I would read a chosen picture book pointing to the words as I read.  That was it for each day's reading lesson.  Now with a couple of children I did use Explode the Code workbooks on the side, but only with the children that liked them.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We use PP and RP.  For my first, I went through PP through long vowels, then switched to doing one PP lesson every few days and reading Frog and Toad type books.  In those books, I would just help him over the words he didn't know or rules we hadn't learned yet.  Then, I discovered McGuffey readers.  By the time I found those, we were ready for the second reader already. 

 

For my second, we started PP, added in the RP pyramids (she loves them) and we add in McGuffey and do those lessons until it outpaces where we are in PP.  Then we go back to PP and do some more.