Reading fluency - another update update post 30

[ktgrok]

My dd is 7 (feb birthday) and finishing up 1st grade. She can sound out words slowly, but her fluency is not great. Sometimes she gets flustered as well and inserts extra letters into words. She still has LOTS of trouble with b and d. We've done AAR 1 and she's read the first I Can Read It! book (that one I had to help her with some of the words that were not taught in AAR, things like you, look, etc. 

 

I think she's frustrated with how slow she is, although the I Can Read it books seem to be helping with fluency more than the AAR readers did. Maybe because they are easier? She's finally having some words she can just read easily rather than slowly sounding them out. She likes that. She's a bit frustrated by how many words in real life she can't read as she doesn't know the long vowel rules, etc. For this reason I'm not sold on continuing with AAR2 as it would be a long time until she gets to those it seems. I did buy Seton Phonics 2, which introduces them sooner. We did some review and just started the lesson about silent E. (Seton is very similar to plaid phonics)

 

Should I -

 

a. Keep up with AAR and move to level 2

b. Do Seton Phonics and I Can Read It books

c. Just to I Can Read it Books for now and teach as we go

d. Try Dancing Bears for something different

e. go ahead and teach some sight words to help her feel more confident and then do one of the above

f. something else (OPGTR?)

 

Update: So......today she was reading to me from the I Can Read It book and read a few entire sentences without having to chop up the words!!! Little stinker, it's like she was waiting for me to worry before having a developmental leap!

 

I may still use something other than AAR 2 just cause I'm not sure I want to spend the $$$ on it...and I HAVE Seton Phonics 2, which she seems to like fine, and OPGTR, so between those I'm probably good, right? Or Dancing Bears is only $28. 

Edited June 8, 2017 by ktgrok

[forty-two]

When we were at that stage - dd's phonics skills could decode hundreds of words yet she couldn't read most readers because of all. the. blankety-blank. sight. words :mad: (also at the end of first) - I went ahead and went through ElizabethB's "teach sight words phonetically" page that summer. It was kind of frustrating (for me), because it was a lot more effort to learn 20 words with eight different phonics patterns than it was to learn one phonics pattern by going through 20 words. But it did wonders for dd's ability to read real-world stuff and her overall reading confidence. We then went back to working through our phonics book.

 

So I guess that was option e combined with option a.

[Starr]

We had good results in basic short/long vowel and letter sounds  playing Go Fish with alphabet/animal cards. We asked for the card by letter, sound , and picture. I can't remember what reading program we used as well. Oh and the 'Bob' books were a hit.

[Ellie]

My dd is 7 (feb birthday) and finishing up 1st grade. She can sound out words slowly, but her fluency is not great. Sometimes she gets flustered as well and inserts extra letters into words. She still has LOTS of trouble with b and d. We've done AAR 1 and she's read the first I Can Read It! book (that one I had to help her with some of the words that were not taught in AAR, things like you, look, etc. 

 

I think she's frustrated with how slow she is, although the I Can Read it books seem to be helping with fluency more than the AAR readers did. Maybe because they are easier? She's finally having some words she can just read easily rather than slowly sounding them out. She likes that. She's a bit frustrated by how many words in real life she can't read as she doesn't know the long vowel rules, etc. For this reason I'm not sold on continuing with AAR2 as it would be a long time until she gets to those it seems. I did buy Seton Phonics 2, which introduces them sooner. We did some review and just started the lesson about silent E. (Seton is very similar to plaid phonics)

 

Should I -

 

a. Keep up with AAR and move to level 2

b. Do Seton Phonics and I Can Read It books

c. Just to I Can Read it Books for now and teach as we go

d. Try Dancing Bears for something different

e. go ahead and teach some sight words to help her feel more confident and then do one of the above

f. something else

 

I'll go for f: do something else; you might guess that my recommendation would be Spalding. :-)

 

[Dudley]

I don't have a great recommendation, but I am also appreciating how the I Can Read It books are building fluency. The stories feel repetitive, but (duh) that's what helps, seeing same words over and over. We are taking summer as fluency building here, backed off of instructional level to build confidence.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ReadingMama1214]

I would continue on with the I Can Read books and teaching some sight words phonetically. We switched to Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading after starting with AAR. I wanted something that I could move through at our own pace without spending a ton of money. It took a while for my DD to be able to read an actual library book. But I felt like it was a lot of building of fluency and once she had a breakthrough she suddenly was a lot less frustrated and started reading for pleasure. Once she gained fluency she also started saying she could read. But I feel like she needed the time to grow as a reader. We took several breaks throughout phonics instruction and I felt that after a week or two off she would suddenly improve.

[Ausmumof3]

Are the I can read it books the ones that come in red yellow brown and maybe a black? I have used the right through with two kids now without a full phonics program. I did teach some phonics but most of the way I just read these books. Ds basically did those then the sonlight readers that came after them. He then took off reading independently and in depth.

 

My dd has done them but has never really taken off with reading alone yet. She's exactly a year older than your dd. She is capable of reading on her own but slow and usually gives up in frustration. I think I need to do some more work on sight words. I also suspect I need to limit screen time a bit more 😕

[hellen]

AAR has a sequence that doesn't match up with the majority of readers.

 

I'm using AAR on my second child. The first one really took off at some point in AAR 2. We ended up not even doing AAR 3. My current child has been struggling. She sounds a lot like your kid. In March, I wondered if she would ever be able to recognize a word. She had to sound out everything. Then something happened and she went from sounding out all words to hardly any words. Because she has been so frustrated with reading, I haven't done any new lessons for a while.

 

Level 2 does long vowels in the beginning. They start with 2 syllable words before vowel-consonant words. So the word depend is learned before bake. Both of those lessons are in the first third of the book. Level 2 is a lot harder.

[lovinmyboys]

I love AAR and am doing it with my five year old. I switched my just turned 7 to OPGTR because I think at his age he wants to move faster. I have trouble figuring out moving AAR faster. My 7yr old needs less "fun" than my five year old.

 

The other thing I did was teach him about fifty high frequency words. I know doing that is not popular on these boards, but now he can read easy readers. It gave him a lot more confidence. I am still planning to go through a whole phonics curriculum.

[ktgrok]

I do have OPGTR as well. I did one lesson with her yesterday, but wasn't sure where to jump in as it is so different than AAR. 

 

And yes, she can read "depend" or "quicksand" but not "cake" or "see". Which makes early readers kind of impossible. 

Edited May 24, 2017 by ktgrok

[ktgrok]

Ok - update. I did a lesson of OPGTR today with her, on three letter blends. And she did great. And I'm realizing that OPGTR does that, it teaches a lot of things as blends, to learn as one sound, versus AAR where each is a separate sound. It's so much faster to recognize STR as one sound, than to sound out each one separately. And OPGTR does that with a lot of two letter blends that she sees as separate things. I'm thinking I should go back and teach those blends, to help her with fluency. And OPGTR is much easier to move around with, and will give her more confidence more quickly, I think. 

 

And we'll keep doing the I Can Read It books. 

 

Oh, and she told me she didn't think reading could ever be fun, so we had a long talk about how much I love reading, to the point that my punishment as a kid was to be grounded from reading, lol. And about all the things she'll be able to read, etc. And...that means now I have to see if there are Hello Kitty books, as that was the only thing she could imagine wanting to read, lol. 

 

How a child of mine could EVER not want to read, I have no idea. Hell, I DEVOUR books! 

[ktgrok]

Ok - update. I did a lesson of OPGTR today with her, on three letter blends. And she did great. And I'm realizing that OPGTR does that, it teaches a lot of things as blends, to learn as one sound, versus AAR where each is a separate sound. It's so much faster to recognize STR as one sound, than to sound out each one separately. And OPGTR does that with a lot of two letter blends that she sees as separate things. I'm thinking I should go back and teach those blends, to help her with fluency. And OPGTR is much easier to move around with, and will give her more confidence more quickly, I think. 

 

And we'll keep doing the I Can Read It books. 

 

Oh, and she told me she didn't think reading could ever be fun, so we had a long talk about how much I love reading, to the point that my punishment as a kid was to be grounded from reading, lol. And about all the things she'll be able to read, etc. And...that means now I have to see if there are Hello Kitty books, as that was the only thing she could imagine wanting to read, lol. 

 

How a child of mine could EVER not want to read, I have no idea. Hell, I DEVOUR books! 

[ExcitedMama]

AAR does have a sequence that makes it hard to do reading outside of their readers at first. I was frustrated with that at the beginning. Somewhere in AAR2 that gets better. When DS started AAR1 he couldn't read any CVC words even though he knew all of the letter sounds but he couldn't blend at all. I'm amazed at how well he is reading now thanks to AAR so I would recommended sticking with it, especially when level 2 will introduce more phonograms that will really open up reading.

 

Have you seen MP First Start Reading? It begins with tracing and then writing words and builds up to reading comprehension of short passages. Similar to AAR there is an order that it introduces concepts and the lessons are sequential but I think it's more conventional, like I think it introduced silent e before AAR did. When DS was having trouble with blending I added FSR and it was really helpful for him. I think writing helped the concepts to click. Plus he gained confidence by reading the short passages and never noticed or complained as they got longer. The workbooks are cheap and you don't need the TM. Writing might help her with the B/D confusion. What about ETC to help with phonics and the letter reversals?

 

Hooked on Phonics has an app that periodically is given away for free. It has levels so like AAR it introduces a concept, then has games to work on them and then reading little stories. For DS in the beginning we did a lot of things like that and The I See Sam books to build up his confidence and fluency. Usborne also has a great set of books that are meant to be read together. I think I dropped the extras after he finished FSR and somewhere in AAR2 when he was really clicking. You might be very pleasantly surprised how reading starts to take off with AAR2.

[ReadingMama1214]

Ok - update. I did a lesson of OPGTR today with her, on three letter blends. And she did great. And I'm realizing that OPGTR does that, it teaches a lot of things as blends, to learn as one sound, versus AAR where each is a separate sound. It's so much faster to recognize STR as one sound, than to sound out each one separately. And OPGTR does that with a lot of two letter blends that she sees as separate things. I'm thinking I should go back and teach those blends, to help her with fluency. And OPGTR is much easier to move around with, and will give her more confidence more quickly, I think. 

 

And we'll keep doing the I Can Read It books. 

 

Oh, and she told me she didn't think reading could ever be fun, so we had a long talk about how much I love reading, to the point that my punishment as a kid was to be grounded from reading, lol. And about all the things she'll be able to read, etc. And...that means now I have to see if there are Hello Kitty books, as that was the only thing she could imagine wanting to read, lol. 

 

How a child of mine could EVER not want to read, I have no idea. Hell, I DEVOUR books! 

 

I bet she will love books once fluency is there. My daughter was the same and she would say "I don't like reading", but once she leaped in fluency she suddenly loved it. She was asking to do 2 lessons a day in OPGTR when we got closer to the end. We now do Wise Owl Polysyllables for practice and I think the similar style to OPGTR appeals to her. I also liked the pace of OPGTR. I felt like it got her reading, but also reinforced concepts.  I do find that my DD has a solid grasp on blends. Even when looking at the alphabet written out she will recognize blends that she sees such as "st" Our fluency really increased around lesson 130-150. It took a while, but she did get there and it almost seemed overnight.

 

There are Hello Kitty books. We had some that my dd got in a set from Costco. I got rid of them because i felt like they were just taking up shelf space, but there is definitely a time and a place for character books. If they get her reading I would get any I could find from the library! 

 

Also, my DD loves this game. I edited the PDF to add whatever concept we were covering in OPGTR. It really helped with fluency. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pop-a-long-vowel-silent-e-nonsense-word-game-502457

[RootAnn]

It sounds like you have enough resources & can move around as needed to get this to work. 

 

I just wanted to post to give you some encouragement.

Oh, and she told me she didn't think reading could ever be fun, so we had a long talk about how much I love reading, to the point that my punishment as a kid was to be grounded from reading, lol. And about all the things she'll be able to read, etc. And...that means now I have to see if there are Hello Kitty books, as that was the only thing she could imagine wanting to read, lol. 

 

How a child of mine could EVER not want to read, I have no idea. Hell, I DEVOUR books! 

 

DH & I both love to read & do it a lot. I was a late bloomer & so are most of my kids. Learning to read is very painful for us in this house. My oldest HATED learning to read, and she asked me how I could ever like reading. Fast forward - SHE is a kid whose punishment for awhile was taking away her books. She LOVES reading. I had trouble with her staying up with her light on too late because she was reading. (This still happens sometimes.) Her love is languages & math, but she tests very well in English/Reading - thanks, in some part, to all those books. So, don't lose hope. I agree with a PP that once the fluency is there, as long as you don't make the whole process really painful, she'll probably love to read.

 

Each kid has taken a different time to get to fluency. Keep fighting the good fight. 

[ktgrok]

Thinking maybe I'll make some flash cards of the two letter blends that OPGTR uses, and see if that helps her. 

[ReadingMama1214]

Thinking maybe I'll make some flash cards of the two letter blends that OPGTR uses, and see if that helps her.

I definitely would. I made flash cards for every blend and phonogram and it helps I believe

[ElizabethB]

If you use my one page reference chart, it makes learning the sounds faster and you can look up sounds you have not yet learned:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/Resources/40LChartsCombined.pdf

 

I would not do readers with sight words or teach sight words--I have had too many students with problems and who hated reading and were poor readers because of sight words.

 

If you want decodable readers, teach ee and do the I See Sam readers or do the Blend Phonics readers.

 

http://donpotter.net/pdf/blend_phonics_stories.pdf

 

You can also use my phonics concentration game to build fluency in a fun way:

 

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

 

If you drill the sounds on my chart daily and use them for reference, you should start to see a lot of progress.

 

And here is my how and why to only teach sight words with phonics:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

 

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by ElizabethB

[FO4UR]

Dancing Bears

 

Happy Phonics

 

 

No other LA seatwork except for pulling words from HP for spelling practice and/or copywork.

[ktgrok]

Dancing Bears

 

Happy Phonics

 

 

No other LA seatwork except for pulling words from HP for spelling practice and/or copywork.

 

Anything in particular about those programs you think will be helpful?

[ktgrok]

I feel like I should clarify, she knows the sounds. She just sounds out each letter individually, which means it takes forever to get through. She's starting to recognize some words more quickly, but wants to be better/faster. So that's the main concern. She'd also like to be able to read more phonograms...so getting to long vowels, etc. 

[ktgrok]

Found this http://www.righttrackreading.com/blending.html

[ElizabethB]

Found this http://www.righttrackreading.com/blending.html

I have both her books and like them, the word lists are good. Word lists build fluency much faster than stories. It takes some students longer than others. My daughter was reading fluently much earlier than my son when you compare them grade wise--but he also is outperforming her in math and science when you look at them at the same grade.

 

My son went through several phonics programs before he was reading fluently. He got a bit faster every few months, then when he hit the latter part of 2nd grade finally hit 30 WPM and rapidly progressed from there. It takes time and repetition. It went quicker once he had to look up the sounds himself on the chart. (For things learned later like oi, oe, ay, etc.)

 

The word lists in Blend Phonics are also good and free to print.

[LMD]

I just spend lots and lots of time practicing! I have one at about the same stage now actually, he'll be 7 in Aug.

Around this stage we pick a short novel to read together - this takes months! At first, child can only do a sentence or I read and stop at words she knows. After a while, they can do a paragraph, and I just help with tricky words and reiterate the rules. We're about 1/3 through 'Folk of the Faraway Tree' and he can usually do 4 or so paragraphs, and I read some too. It helps them to feel like they're reading a real book and enjoy a good story! Each of my older children were reading more or less fluently after doing this. My oldest did it with James and the Giant Peach, my second oldest with My Father's Dragon. We continue with LA as normal, including phonics review, this is added.

[WoolC]

Dancing Bears has helped here because there is a focus on fluency and mastery before progressing. The program uses several techniques that you could probably apply to any program. DB uses a notched cursor card to help improve tracking across the page. If the child is struggling to decode a word you just tell them what it is so that reading does not become a struggle, you move on to the next word and then you flashback to the missed word so that they can be successful in reading it. At the end of every line (usually 4 words are on a line) you give the child a check mark if they decoded each word correctly on their own, that visual sign of progress is huge to my ds who struggles. If they didn't get the line correctly you just keep moving and the next day you begin at the first line without a check mark. Everyday you drill phonogram flash cards, only adding a new card when the cards you have up to that point are totally mastered. Finally, when beginning the DB program you only work for 10 minutes a day, this was critical for son who shuts down at the sight of pages upon pages of words. I would set a timer for ten minutes and he was able to work knowing that he didn't have to get through a set amount of pages as long as he worked diligently.

[ktgrok]

Update: So......today she was reading to me from the I Can Read It book and read a few entire sentences without having to chop up the words!!! Little stinker, it's like she was waiting for me to worry before having a developmental leap!

 

I may still use something other than AAR 2 just cause I'm not sure I want to spend the $$$ on it...and I HAVE Seton Phonics 2, which she seems to like fine, and OPGTR, so between those I'm probably good, right? Or Dancing Bears is only $28. 

[ReadingMama1214]

Update: So......today she was reading to me from the I Can Read It book and read a few entire sentences without having to chop up the words!!! Little stinker, it's like she was waiting for me to worry before having a developmental leap!

I may still use something other than AAR 2 just cause I'm not sure I want to spend the $$$ on it...and I HAVE Seton Phonics 2, which she seems to like fine, and OPGTR, so between those I'm probably good, right? Or Dancing Bears is only $28.

That's great! It's crazy how quickly they can make a leap. I think you'll be fine with what you have on hand. We used only OPGTR. I did find some free printables on teacherspayteachers.com and Pinterest that I would use occasionally to add some fun, but other than that we just opened the book and did our lesson. It goes to a 4th grade decoding ability so I think you'd be fine with just using your resources on hand.

[Ellie]

Update: So......today she was reading to me from the I Can Read It book and read a few entire sentences without having to chop up the words!!! Little stinker, it's like she was waiting for me to worry before having a developmental leap!

 

I may still use something other than AAR 2 just cause I'm not sure I want to spend the $$$ on it...and I HAVE Seton Phonics 2, which she seems to like fine, and OPGTR, so between those I'm probably good, right? Or Dancing Bears is only $28. 

 

:party:

 

OPGTR is a stronger phonics method than Seton Phonics, so that would be my recommendation. :-)

[MerryAtHope]

Yay! Glad for the update! I'd try what you have first, and then consider getting something if you need more help/reinforcement down the road.

[ktgrok]

So, she LOVES Dancing Bears. Loves the flashcards, loves getting the check marks in the book. She still gets frustrated and angry with herself, etc but that's just her. It's VERY similar to when I was teaching her to ride a bike...lots of frustration and anger but also kept wanting to try again. And she's made HUGE improvements in just a week. Huge. 

 

And she asks to do extra! I stop her when I see her fatiguing..I can usually tell because she starts mixing up b and d again. But after a break she wants to go back to it. She's seeing progress, and it excites her. Just thought I'd give an update. 

 

(I wouldn't START with this as a reading program I don't think, as it doesn't teach any real rules, but it's working great)