Learning Language Arts Through Literature for 6 yo who can read well?

[wonderfilled]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out what to use with my six year old for next year.  His birthday is in December so I did a light 1st grade with him this year.  He is reading well.  He just finished HOD's emerging readers.  The last two he read were Bears on Hemlock Mountain and The Courage of Sarah Noble.  He read them very fluently, although he doesn't choose to read books that long on his own.  I recently tested him with Spelling Power and he ended up in 5th grade for spelling.  I'm not sure how he would do with other tests.

 

I have been tentatively planning on using CLE Reading 2 and FLL 1 and 2 for him next year.  He has not done any grammar so far.  However, I am wondering if he would like LLATL better.  Level 2 (the red level) seems too easy, though, and the 3rd level might be too hard.  Mostly because he is not a strong writer at all.  Does anyone have any advice?

 

ETA: I forgot to mention that I plan on using HOD Beyond, but I want to add a little more grammar and something a little more systematic for reading.  Thanks!

[wonderfilled]

Also, are the books listed with Language Arts Yellow meant to be used as readers, or do you read them aloud to the child?

[Susie in MS]

A lady who has used more levels of LLATL than I have once very wisely suggested that noone place their child in LLATL according to their reading abilities. The reading in there is mainly as a base for the lessons. 

 

If your child places in 5th grade level with SP then I would not depend on LLATL for that.

 

I do see where your child could benefit from the grammar and writing. But if he is not strong in writing I would not go with yellow. The Red will work nicely and he will have some intro to grammar. Have you seen the scope and sequence to see if you are comfy with what is covered for that year?

 

The readers listed for the red level are for practicing reading and the lessons. They will be above BELOW your child's reading level , but they are fun and will be part of the lesson.The books listed in the yellow level will be used in the book study lesson. They can be read aloud or independently .

[swellmomma]

I would go with red level.  You don't want to discourage the writing and grammar to be taught just by going on reading level.  ds10 is working through red right now (he has delays).  The books that go with it are only part of the program, a fairly small part.  So for example Little bear is one of the first books used.  It is easy reading for ds, but the work done before and after the reading is where he is at for writing and grammar instruction.  There is poetry through out, which they use to study grammar and spelling.  Circling and underlining nouns and verbs, -ing endings etc.  Ds really enjoys the poems he has covered, especially th 30 days hath september one.  Days of week and Months are covered in writing.  So he had to fill in blanks to complete sentences saying "my birthday is in _____" and then write 3 sentences of other friends/family, so brother's birthday is in _____ etc. At the end of that unit they have a "poetry presentation" day.  Next unit homophones are studied, narration is heavily utilized, so the readers may be easy for your child as they are to strengthen abilities of the average reader but the narration is a good skill, dictation also used at this point.  punctuation and spelling are focused on in this unit.  Nearing the end of the unit there is work on written dialogue, knowing how many are speaking and explaining quotation marks, introducing pronouns and use of the apostrophe. At this point is the 2nd student assessment (there is one at the end of every section).  

Next section works with past tense (adding -ed) to words, ecclesiastes is introduced instead of a poem. alphabetical order, writing an address on an envelope and writing a friendly letter.  Discussion of real vs make believe and creating stories orally with make believe followed by learning to write those stories down.  Introduction of the one word sentence. More work on alphabetizing this time by 2nd letter not just first, and further work on apostrophe uses.  After the next assessment is a lot of continuing work on what has previously been taught, and then learning the difference of fact vs opinion.  Antonyms are covered  as well.

 

Now when you get to the actual part three of the book they change the format to prepare the child for the yellow book. Many things in the beginning are similar to what was covered before, such as dictation, narration, etc.  adjectives are introduced and homonyms are studied further.  looking up information in encyclopedias is introduced and more friendly letters are written.   More focused poetry study is done. Reading passages of non-fiction for information is introduced along with how to find more information on that topic.  Dictionary use is introduced.  synonyms are covered.

And there is lots more I am sure I missed as I was just flipping through my teacher book to get that stuff down.  So as you can see the books are just a small part of the whole program.  Base your decision on where your child's ability lies with the content of the program not just the books.

[Susie in MS]

Brandy, what an excellent description! 

[Ruthie in MS]

I aso advise going for LLATL Red book. It's a great balance for his skill level.  If you feel he would LIKE to read more than listed then you can use the "1000 Good Books List".  The scope and sequence is definitely more gentle than more rigid curricula designed for that age but my children have loved it.  I had a HUGE mistake in pushing my middle child and it resulted in her hating learning.  I now know to work at her pace.  Afterall, it's her getting the education, not me.   

[wonderfilled]

Thanks for all the great posts.  I'll study them more in the morning.  It looks like there is a lot more in the Red book than I had thought.