mathmarm Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 When young kids are zipping along mathematically, the consensus is usually to "go broad" or "sideways" by adding in non-traditional topics like X, or Y. But if you have an early reader who is zipping along phonetically, then what does going broad or "sideways" look like? With our 2 yo we do regular work with phonics (nonsense like 'janner' and 'guttle'), vocabulary, syllables and words. Jr. is decoding well and reading at an early-mid 2nd grade level. What other parts of reading can we give attention to help him reach a "stronger" level of reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Reading aloud to your toddler is the 'going broad'. You will be building the vocabulary so that when s/he is reading better, these will be familiar words. My progression at that age would be something like Beatrix Potter and then AA Milne. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 When DD started decoding well at 2, I focused on both more complex phonics and on fluency. More difficult phonics came up naturally through her reading library books. Fluency progressed more when she read books that were very easy for her; she was then able to focus on the sentences, the sound of the words all together rather than decoding each word separately. Not sure where your son is with that. For broad, we used every reading list I could find. I read aloud to her, she read aloud to me. We hit a point where "books for X graders" weren't a good fit anymore. I think that was when she hit about 2nd-3rd grade reading level and the books started revolving around school and the interpersonal relationships of older kids. I found the advice somewhere to look for lists of "books to read aloud to X year olds" and then give my child those books to read. Those are the books that often involve complex language while still having content that appeals to the age. Oh, and nonfiction. We've always had stacks and stacks of nonfiction. She loves it, and her science vocabulary might be better than mine already from it all. And when we started some light American History, I found she already had a much better grasp on it than I would have thought, having pieced it together from biographies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Reading aloud to your toddler is the 'going broad'. You will be building the vocabulary so that when s/he is reading better, these will be familiar words. My progression at that age would be something like Beatrix Potter and then AA Milne. This. ''Children's'' classics are often stealthily difficult, due to the slightly old-fashioned language and sentence structure (I say ''Children's'' because I don't actually think such good books should be cheapened by qualifiers). Choosing with an eye toward variety of vocabulary and style is an excellent strategy. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Have kids -- will travel Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 If your son is reading, just keep reading. My early reader loved the I see Sam series, and I did too -- because it was slow, gentle, and funny. Early readers with actual (logical and sensical) plot. The books are available free online. My son naturally memorized words once he sounded them out, so fluency came easily here. Not sure how you would encourage it. Some picture books with advanced vocabulary that I love are the Hairy Maclary series (Slinki Malinki is my favorite) and some Julia Donaldson books. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 My DS also began decoding at 2. We just kept reading. I didn't do any formal academics, and hadn't yet found this forum, so the words "breadth vs. depth" had not yet entered my vernacular. :lol: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I started teaching compound words, contractions, basic punctuation and how that influences how you read something (like reading louder with an exclamation mark). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kaity Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 My 3yo is our early reader, but we don't really "work" on reading (or anything academic so far). We read aloud to him, he reads to us, and he reads to himself from all different types of books, from board books that he reads to his little brother, to listening in while I read Sherlock Holmes to our oldest. He likes to reread picture books over and over, and has recently started doing the same thing with his favorite poems. We also talk a lot about what we read, and I ask questions about what he thinks a book will be about, what he thinks will happen next, why something happened, why someone did something, who his favorite character is, why he likes that character, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoes+Ships+SealingWax Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Following for ideas. DS can decode words, but the interest switched off. I'm giving it a couple months, then we'll see if he is interested in going any further. This afternoon I opened a HOP book & he was able to decode it, so I don't think he's losing any significant ground in the meantime. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Following for ideas. DS can decode words, but the interest switched off. I'm giving it a couple months, then we'll see if he is interested in going any further. This afternoon I opened a HOP book & he was able to decode it, so I don't think he's losing any significant ground in the meantime. Have you tried games? Sometimes we play a game called "Trash 'em" I put down 5 cards with text--some real words and some fake: guntah, hunger, lukety, table, resisk. If its a real word, we put it in a pile, if its a fake word then we make a big show of trashing it in a really silly way. This is a pretty good game because we get to work on both phonics and vocabulary. My boy loves reading nonsense words, he thinks that they are hilarious. I requested a book called Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye through the library because I am hoping for some inspiration to keep literacy and phonics fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoes+Ships+SealingWax Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Just last week DS told me point-blank that he wanted to learn to read, so interest has rekindled! I did end up making several games & will look into Trash Em! We have 2 games for decoding, a game for sight words, & rhyming dominoes. I also figured out his relative level & what the "next steps" would be so we are tackling diagraphs & consonant blends soon. This is our first year HSing & was only intended to be a loose practice run - clearly someone had a different idea, but I don't have any reading curricula yet! Hahaha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'm just bumping to avoid the spam. My daughter decoded for five straight years in three languages before jumping ahead, so obviously I'm not a good parent for acceleration. She's well on her way now. Maybe try Arabic? Seriously though, I'm not sure it's linear and read-alouds are the best you can do in the long run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 Following for ideas. DS can decode words, but the interest switched off. I'm giving it a couple months, then we'll see if he is interested in going any further. This afternoon I opened a HOP book & he was able to decode it, so I don't think he's losing any significant ground in the meantime. I found a couple of books that look like potentially great resources that we are going to begin using with Jr and I think that he'll love them so I figured I'd share. Making Words <-- the premise is quite simple, but I like the way that she has broken it down and provided several exercises and lists. Plus, this is ideal for doing with letter magnets or letter cards because I can pull out the letter to build, say, motorcycle and make a dozen other words for my son to read. If this works out well for us, we'll probably get the follow up book, Making Big Words and see how he likes those activities too. Jr is crazy about games and I like that she has included spelling in her lessons, so I'm hoping that this works out as a fun-phonics program for him. 365 Phonics Activities <-- This book is mostly full of ideas that someone with even a couple ounces of imagination/creativity would come up with for themselves, but I'm not a very pinteresting mom. I'm glad I got it from my library, not at full price, but it could be worth the $4.21 you'd spend on the book + shipping if you just want a simple book of activities that you can do with your little one and don't have a billion worksheets everywhere.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I've started having DD#2 do narrations. She has her own notebook, and she LOVES doing this. Knowing that I'm going to ask some questions and then she's going to do a narration that I'll write down has REALLY helped her focus on comprehending what she reads rather than just decoding it. I can see that skill developing even when she's reading something she knows she won't be narrating. (I'm using the Mensa Excellence in Reading list for K-3 and having her narrate books she reads from there. So she knows that if a book is "from the list," she'll do a narration.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Besides what Laura Corin did, we did 1grade in another language when dd hit the first grade age. By that time it was hard almost impossible to find appropiate books according to her level AND her age in Dutch. So doing 1st grade 'again' but in English now gave me more options. Also non-fiction books are easier to accelerate then fiction IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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