3rugrats Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I need some inspiration here..... Been going over the letter sounds w/ my DS age 5 for over a year now. We started w/ ETC primer books and almost finished w/ the last one. He is not a huge starfall fan, but he's been on there too, does not really like progressive phonics. At this point he knows probably 20 out of 26 letters on a good day when we go through flashcards. When we bring out the 3 letter words though, he is very frustrated. I'm frustrated too. Any ideas of how we can approach this from a new angle? or do I just keep on reviewing the sounds? He loves being read to and the letter "sound" books, so we are going through those too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 This video is worth its weight in gold: http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Letter-Factory-Ginny-Westcott/dp/B001TKUXUC The talking words factory video is pretty good to for helping kids with CVC words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherOfBoys Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Leap Frog Letter Factory is teaching my 4yr old son for me. :leaving: He watches the Word Factory one too. I got them at a garage sale to buy me some one on one time to teach my 6yr old. If he is having trouble with blending I've read that sometimes it's just that the kid needs more time. Or a friend told me to say "Smash it" instead of "blend" because my son just didn't know what I wanted him to do to the sounds. It worked for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 This video is worth its weight in gold: http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Letter-Factory-Ginny-Westcott/dp/B001TKUXUC The talking words factory video is pretty good to for helping kids with CVC words. Leap Frog Letter Factory is teaching my 4yr old son for me. :leaving: He watches the Word Factory one too. I got them at a garage sale to buy me some one on one time to teach my 6yr old. If he is having trouble with blending I've read that sometimes it's just that the kid needs more time. Or a friend told me to say "Smash it" instead of "blend" because my son just didn't know what I wanted him to do to the sounds. It worked for us. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 My eldest learned to read at four with Bob books. She did not know all her letter sounds before starting: she just knew most of them and had good phonetic awareness. She picked up the rest as she went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaTX5 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 My current K'er could do all of the sounds, but just could not blend and had a 50/50 memory when reviewing. The LeapFrog videos did nothing for him, but he would watch them! ;-) What finally worked for him, was just waiting a year. I got so frustrated that I put him in a co-op for K to do the year over again. They have only taught 5 letter sounds there, but I started going over letter sounds with him again, and he was blending and remembering! He just needed another year in order to get it. He is my Wiggly/Creative kiddo, so I think certain things will just come a little more slowly for him. He is also good about knowing things but playing dumb. He is also picking up big brother's Latin just from listening to the songs and goes around saying "Meum praenomen est..." * Edited to add * He is also going to be 6 in a couple of weeks, so he is an older K student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Get the cute little talking frog! 1,500 reviews on Amazon, average still 5 star, here is a reason for that!! I also like these charts after outsourcing basic sounds to the frog, way easier to point to the chart than to repeat the sounds 1,097 times each. I have tutored for 20 years and finally got the charts a few years ago, I should have got them much sooner. The small charts are good for homeschool use. (Don Potter has used the charts for a long time, after years of him nagging me to get them, I finally broke down, I should have listened sooner.) https://www.phonovisual.com/products.php?c=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TX Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I would just wait a year. Some kids just aren't ready for reading at age 5. When he is ready I highly recommend Click N Kids. Susan in TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milknhoney Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Another vote for Talking Letter Factory. Worked like a charm on both of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefwife8 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 My dd hates the letter factory she refuses to watch it is bored with starfall yet she still doesn't know all letters or sounds. She is 5 and I am now just reading to her as much as I can, and do flashcards daily. I don't kniw what else to do just wait until she finally gets it I guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 He's probably just not ready yet. A lot of kids aren't at age 5, no matter how long you've been working on letters and sounds. Sometimes it's not a matter of effort but of developmental readiness. But there are other factors to reading besides letters and sounds. Here's a checklist that can help you know if a child is ready to start blending and learning to read. (It specifically relates to All About Reading but is a good checklist no matter what program you are using.) Keep reading to him and having fun with letters! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonhawk Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Super Why! from PBS was a big factor in helping get our kids reading. My 5yo is a little bored with it now, but I think it is because she has seen all of them multiple times, not because the content is actually boring. The episodes were the most help, but the kids like the games on the PBS website as well. We also had a ABC Text and Go by VTech. Kids loved it, I saw it more as a toy but it did help them with learning-without-them-knowing-it. But, it has two modes: loud and louder, so only get this if you are okay with toys that talk. 5yo no longer uses it, but again I don't know if it is because it is too simple for that age, or if they have gotten everything they can from it. Oh! And if you use apps, try Endless Alphabet. It has the kids move little monster letters into order to spell words. When they are dragging the letter, they make the letter sound. Once the word is spelled correctly, it does a little explanation of the word. The words can be big, "gargantuan" is the first one I remember, but definitely helps with letter sounds and gets some new vocab in there. It is on my iPhone and iPad, idk if it is available for anything else. 5yo still likes this even though she now knows all the words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Mine learned with the leapfrog fridge magnets. Oooh how I hated that, but it worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I had one ready at 3, one ready at 7. It really does vary. I'd actually just put it away for 3-6 months, and then start fresh with something simple like Phonics Pathways. The one who started at 7--went on to do a Great Books homeschooling approach for high school! So some just need time, and still turn out to be excellent readers. :D Just to encourage you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer2911mom Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Focusing on just the sounds and not the letter names helps, so that it isn't a two-step process to think of the letter name and then the associated sound. I used sandpaper letters and electrical tape on the floor in the shape of letters and had my dds say the sounds as they felt the letters and walked/hopped/drove cars on them (the tape on the floor and movement idea was from Heart of Dakota). Sometimes that extra movement helps cement it. You can use colored chalk on the driveway, too. And fingerpaints and pudding. The key is to have them say the sound as they trace or move over the letter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I would stop all expectations and just blend for my child - as long as he knows the letters all you are doing is teaching him to hear sounds being blended - the more he hear it the easier it will be for him when you finally ask him to do it for you. I did this with my children during normal speech - "look there is the cat - c-a-t - cat" (or c-ca-cat if you want to teach that way) and so on. Then I also blended for them when reading normal books to them - if the print was big enough I would just slide my finger under the words and blend the sounds for them. I didn't ever ask them to do it for me, but after about a month of doing this I would start pausing before saying the word and very often they would say it for me. Both of my children were blending by 3 - my youngest still needs some help and me to say the sounds a bit faster than she reads the letters so she can hear the word. You can also work on phonemic awareness at this point - can your child hear what a word starts with and what it ends with when you say the words, can he give you rhyming words and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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