Stuck with Progressive Phonics

[MrsWeasley]

My five year old has done very well with Progressive Phonics until we hit book 8. We've been reviewing the previous books, but we still struggle knowing when to use voiced versus unvoiced th and which sound of "oo" to use. We still have some letter reversal issues (mostly b versus d), beginning consonant blend issues (reading "slip" as "sip"), and reading things backwards issues (such as sounding out the sounds for "bad" and then reading it as "dab"), but these issues are much more rare and have definitely been getting a lot better compared to when we started. We do have some guessing issues, but as we've been reviewing, it's hard for me to tell how much guessing is happening at this point. Probably the biggest thing is that in book 8, many more words are supposed to be read easily, and we are still sounding most of those word out. We've done the first few Bob Books, but I rather save the rest until he's had direct instruction on those "word families" before introducing them. I see a huge jump in expectations from book seven to eight, and I'm sure my kid isn't the only one who has struggled to make this leap. If you prefer very direct phonic instruction and your kid struggled to make this leap, what did you use to help them? Are there other readers, programs, etc... I should be looking for?

[mom2bee]

When you say you've done the first few Bob Books do you mean the first few sets or the first few titles with in the first set?

[MrsWeasley]

The first few sets. We read them on Kindle, so I didn't remember that each little story is supposed to be a separate book.

[Tanikit]

There is no way to know whether to use the voiced or unvoiced sound of TH without knowing what the word is and having heard it before - and this also goes for the short and long sounds of OO. Basically you sound it out using both versions and use the word that makes sense and fits with the vocabulary you have heard. Reading is about getting sense from text - if it doesn't make sense then you have not read it correctly.

 

I think what you are seeing is normal. Because reading should make sense there is a natural tendency for some guessing. I allow it in my children when they are reading out loud to me because they tend to correct themselves when they realise it does not sound right - if they do not correct themselves then I read the sentence back to them a bit faster than they have read it, but using the same words/pronunciations that they used and then usually they hear their mistake and correct it. If not I ask: does that make sense? By having to correct things that do not make sense they usually stop guessing or realise the mistake even before getting to the end of the sentence.

 

You could also find some very early phonics readers and get your child to practice what he has already learnt - that is why when they are older they should be hearing books read aloud to them above their own reading level, should have instructional reading at their level and should have reading below their level that is just for pleasure which will reinforce what has been taught.