You've already gotten some really good feedback so I am just posting to commiserate with you. If it's of any help to you. We are in a similar position in our family with my 3rd child who is in 1st grade. I pretty much let it go with my older two but decided to speak up with my 3rd. I did ask about reading groups with my older two, was always told reading groups were held regularly, but they weren't. This year my daughter is being assessed way below her reading level. I've talked with the teacher about it but really we're not making much headway. My daughter sounds a lot like yours, very good reader and student and also very compliant. If talking to the teacher has done anything, it's just to make her more aware that while the assessment the school's using has assessed on a certain level, her reading skills are likely higher and the teacher seems to be spending some time with her in small group in the classroom now. Whereas before during reading time (Daily 5 where we live), she was pretty much working on her own. I keep asking myself what would my graduate professors do in this situation (I ask myself that question because they would sometimes share personal stories in class and I'd think, wow you said that to a teacher)? I think they'd ask for conferences with the reading specialist and then the principal. But I just don't see what good in the end that's going to do. I have seen before on the boards here that others with children in public school seem to be in a similar situation. It's baffling to me because where I taught and how I was trained as a reading teacher, I was expected to assess all my students to their top ability in reading (I always ran out of time for the above grade level readers but I did get them assessed to above grade level). I also taught regular reading groups, more often with below and on grade level readers and about 2-3 times a week for the above grade level readers. I wasn't perfect but I did meet with all my students every week. At this point and as I told the teacher, I would just like my daughter to be exposed to higher level books in the classroom for her independent reading time etc. My daughter is so compliant, at school that is, when I suggested to her to take a book from home to school she said, I don't know if I'm allowed to. Also, she wasn't aware of where a lot of the chapter books in the classroom were. So just by talking with the teacher, at least we got it cleared up, yes you can bring a book from home, and the teacher pointed out some book boxes in the classroom with higher level books that my daughter hadn't seen. For whatever reason, my older two had ready access to higher level books for independent reading time in their 1st grade classrooms.

Wow, I have to completely disagree with you. Even GT educators will tell you, one test is just a snapshot of a child on that one particular day. I put my opinion out there (even though I knew I'd get flack for it) so that other parents could hear a different viewpoint and make a decision that works for them and their children. I've done a lot of research on this topic myself. I've even spoken with the head of cognitive testing at a local university as well as the head of our county's accelerated program (not in relation to my own children, but just in general). Their viewpoints align closely with mine -- bar, screw the iq tests. In fact, one of them told me a few children who don't initially qualify for the program just need the chance to be exposed to the program and they thrive and flourish academically. If a parent, after serious consideration, truly thought their child would benefit from an advanced program, I do think they should pursue all avenues. See how the child does. By the way, "test prepping" is not a moral issue. Homeschoolers call it teaching critical thinking skills. I attended a presentation last spring by a woman who works for the Critical Thinking Skills company. As she was explaining the benefits of some of their materials to the homeschoolers in the group, I raised my hand and asked aren't these the same materials CTS recommends for preparing for gt type tests. She said , yes exactly. But (some) homeschoolers believe in teaching these skills directly for the sake of the value of the skill. Not for gt test prep. I specifically taught certain skills to my oldest and I continue to see a benefit in his visual perception skills, among others, that is an asset to him in life, not just for a test. For those interested, you can hop over to the Critical Thinking Skills company website for more info on their various materials. They're a pretty well known company.

These tests are not the end all and be all of life. I learned the hard way. Advocate for your child if you think necessary. Do what needs to be done if necessary (including, gasp, test prep). I did this on the later end. My kids are thriving in an advanced program. Yes, even the "borderline" kid. Screw IQ tests.

It has been great for us. I do tweak some things here and there but overall I have learned so much as I've taught Foundations and Essentials. Actually, using the Foundations materials (we've done A, B, and half of C so far) with my daughter taught me how to help my youngest learn to talk. He was on the later end and needed to be taught how to form certain sounds physically with his mouth. The phonemic awareness activities in Foundations gave me the knowledge to do this.

For reading, have you looked at Logic of English's materials? I would look at their Foundations curriculum and see if you think that might be a fit for your daughter. It is an Orton-Gillingham based program. It is also active and fun. You can find more info at their website, you might be interested in the pages regarding struggling readers and also dyslexia. They also offer free online training videos if you are interested in learning more about Orton-Gillingham based programs and multi-sensory systematic phonics instruction. I watched those before I used the program with three of my children. I've used Essentials with my older two and Foundations with my third child.

PS--I don't think you will have to entice your daughter to do the lessons. Wait and see how your time goes before promising extra time after lessons. Because Foundations' lesson are already very active and include many games. I personally need a break sometimes after teaching the lessons. Maybe that's just me. Put your time into doing the lessons in A as often as you can. A will really help her with her blending. Get her reading the right way as fast as you can so she doesn't get confused by how her school is teaching reading. I didn't move fast enough with A and I had to undo some things my daughter's school was doing as they taught her reading in Kindergarten. I was able to get her into B by spring of Kindergarten and then it didn't matter so much how the school taught reading (ie, patterned text, sight words, looking at pictures to guess words) because she truly knew how to read words. And this is coming from someone who was trained to teach reading in my master's program the way my daughter's school was teaching her last year. :)

I have used Level A. Level A's lessons didn't take as long, maybe 20-30min. Level B's lessons took longer than A. A good plan would be to push through A as quickly as you can, meaning schedule time for it as often as you can. I think I went too slow through A since I was afterschooling, I only made time for it 2-3x a week at the most. I think A works better if you teach more lessons in a week, 4-5 if you can. Then B is fine for 2-3 lessons a week. Those lessons are longer. If you have any questions about A or B, I'd be happy to try to answer them. We are halfway through level C but to be honest, we are taking a break from Foundations lessons right now. My daughter's reading really took off halfway through level B so I have just been reading books with her or giving her books to read on her own this fall.

My problem with figuring out MCT is I can't get my hands on the materials unless I buy the whole set from MCT. With something that expensive, I like to look at it at a homeschooling conference first before buying if I can (imagine the shipping on a full MCT return!). Or in the case of All About Spelling which I was also very interested in earlier this year, I was able to find some used copies at a local homeschooling group for a good price. Sometimes I just need to have the books in hand and flip through them to understand the material better. I was able to get a used copy of Grammar Town and Building Language teacher and student books on the classifieds here last May so that is why I even have some little idea how the MCT teacher's manuals look compared to the student editions. All the posts here were really helpful to me too!

I also don't know if the MCT sequence is different for those using MCT in homeschooling/afterschooling versus public school use. My sons' school uses Building Language and Grammar Island in 3rd grade and Caesar's English I and Grammar Town in 4th. For 5th grade, Caesars English II and Grammar Voyage.

Mom2, I am listening in on this post because I also find MCT confusing. In fact, I printed out this thread earlier so I could "study" it. Not presuming to be able to answer your question but I will try. Didn't you say you have all the Teacher's Manual editions? Then likely you will have the answers printed in them. I don't think the student editions do but I am still working on figuring MCT out. I took a break from figuring it out last May when I learned my older boys would get MCT materials in their new school this year but I think I need to go back and look at them again. My oldest missed 3rd and 4th grade at this school so didn't get to use whatever MCT materials they use those years. I'd like to go back and do those with him. It is funny though. I wouldn't have even known what MCT was at the orientation if not for this forum. So I was excited to see those materials on my kids' program lists at the orientation in May.

I have ETC books 1, 2 and 3 for my daughter.

I taught in a Title 1 school for 6 years. Do you remember what the O-G based phonics instruction was? I mean, did the teachers use a specific curriculum, resources? Receive special training? Our go-to for struggling readers was Reading Recovery, which was not successful for all children. I am very interested in this topic...you are the first person I've seen who's mentioned O-G based instruction in all classes at a public school, not just special ed. I had never heard of O-G based instruction until I was teaching my oldest son how to spell (great reader, abysmal speller) and then I used LOE Essentials with him and his brother for spelling and have used LOE's Foundations with my daughter. I would love to know more about how your school taught O-G based phonics in the classroom. Thanks!

I think CTC Mathematical Reasoning is cheaper because you buy only one book, whereas with Singapore Math you buy the textbook and workbook, part A and part B plus if the teacher's guide if you want that. It was someone I met who sells CTC and is a longtime homeschooler who referred to Math Reasoning as Singapore on steroids. I like both MR and Singapore. As an afterschooler though, I am having trouble working through all of the books in a timely manner. So I am thinking for next summer, I am just going to buy some Math Mammoth topic books. I love Math Mammoth, love the way Maria teaches math. I only switched to Singapore because I was teaching one child at home last year and trying to find a curriculum that aligned closely with his K12 math. That ended up being Singapore Standards edition. Then I heard a talk by the above lady who sells CTC and couldn't resist trying CTC Math Reasoning. It's a spiral curriculum. But I think we will go back to Math Mammoth next summer for topic workbooks so we can finish them in the summer and not having this huge workbook hanging over our heads. I find a complete math curriculum to be useful for my younger children, say K-2, but a little too much for my older ones.

I would have suggested All About Spelling for you since it separates the teaching of spelling from reading. I have used Logic of English's Foundations program levels A-C with my 1st grade daughter (still in level C) but it teaches reading and spelling concurrently. There is a wide disparity between her reading and spelling levels though. She is a good speller for her grade level but much higher for reading. You could look at Explode the Code workbooks for spelling (not O-G but solid phonics). I like the first three workbooks especially. Or look at the How to Teach Spelling series which is O-G based but I think you have to do some teaching with those workbooks (there is an instructor's manual), I don't think those are as open and go as Explode the Code. You can look at some samples at Rainbow Resource I think.

Laura, very good points. I think every school handles how high they test for reading level differently. I have very much internalized how the school where I taught expected reading assessments to be handled (so I forget sometimes that not all schools do this) - I was expected to test my readers to their highest reading level instructionally. A few kids who were several grade levels above, I couldn't top out because of time issues. Each reading test consisted of taking a running record of the child reading a selection aloud, plus oral and written questions and each reading level had a fiction and nonfiction selection. I think where my kids went/go to school K-2 only tests to on grade level. I get different answers about this from different teachers.

Quote "Unfortunately, this is the every-day-truth in many classrooms! Every year I have had to let the teachers know that, yes, in fact, the twins can read AND comprehend. After testing (in November!) finally verifies that fact, I am usually told a random reason why they still have to read leveled readers. This is the first year that one of my boys has a teacher who had him figured out the first DAY of school! She is phenomenal! But unfortunately she is anything but the norm. " This has happened to our family year after year. I thought I must have slept through my grad reading classes after all since my view of my children's reading was vastly different from the school's. This year my older two switched to a full time advanced acad. program at a different school; the 3rd grader tested 6-7th grade level for reading and the 5th grader post high school for comprehension. I don't know what's going on at some schools... I am still trying to figure that out. I am not saying every single teacher, but more than not, my kids were assessed on grade level but then given infrequent small group reading instruction. I can very clearly remember the ones who actually met with my children for small group reading instruction. But they always tell me they will meet with the higher readers or act surprised when I mention if a child got very little of that the previous year (usually I bring this up as nonconfrontationally as possible at fall conferences). Yet at the new school, they are definitely getting small group instruction and are coming home very excited about the new books they've been exposed to. I think to people who have a base school like my older two's new school, it is surprising to hear about the other kinds of schools.

I also think it is really important for kids in public schools to get the phonemic awareness component as it is presented in Orton-Gillingham materials. Do you have Denise Eide's Uncovering the Logic of English or even her Essentials program? Her chapter on phonemic awareness instruction in Essentials is the best I've ever read and really taught me so much. Denise is the one who taught me what a vowel really is (a sound made with the mouth open, no parts blocking, you can sing it) and a consonant (a sound made with a part of the mouth blocking). If you don't have a copy of Denise's Uncovering, I can send you one. I do some volunteer work for her company and I have some extra copies. I give them out whenever I can. I think you can PM me.

Someone mentioned using phonogram cards...you may already have them but if not, there are free printable ones over at the Barefoot Meanderings website, along with some other free resources that might be useful to you. Go to Kathy Jo's Freebies section and then to free items on her lulu storefront. One idea for working in phonogram work with public school students is to mix it with handwriting practice. Perhaps these 3rd or 4th graders could use a review of how to write in cursive (I know my older two needed the review this summer!). They could briefly practice handwriting while learning the phonograms or spelling patterns you want them to learn under the guise of handwriting practice. You would have to figure out how you'd want to sequence this instruction. But just starting with the regular alphabet to review letter formation in cursive would give you the consonants and vowels and that some letters stand for more than one sound and vowels have 1st sound, 2nd sound, etc. You'd have handwriting practice and o-g work rolled into one. I can't think of the articles right now, but I've seen more than one this year (and not just from homeschooler's perspective but in national newspapers) of the important link between children learning letter-sound relationships at the same time as learning letter formation. That they need the physical experience of writing letters to imprint this information in the brain solidly. One way to do this for older children is to teach them cursive and use that as review time for the earlier phonics they have missed.

I've taught in public school, I've gotten my master's in reading education, I've continued to study while at home with my kids learning more about methods homeschoolers use, how reading is taught in Montessori, how Orton-Gillingham programs work. I had to do so much "unlearning" before I could even begin to understand how Jessie Wise advocates teaching reading in OPGTR. And phonics is a word that means so many different things in different circles. I now truly understand what phonics is but as a public school teacher, I did not. I don't think being confrontational is a strategy that works well in public schools or will benefit the students. I like Ashley's suggestion of having warm up time and using some materials you like during this time. I know some people might struggle morally with using less than optimal materials with students but think of it this way, with your background knowledge of the importance of phonics or Orton-Gillingham methods, aren't those students so much better off having you teach them using less than optimal materials and tweaking here and there on the fly than having someone without your background knowledge go in and just teach the script given to them? I've spent a lot of time (and probably too much money) studying and using with my own kids various reading materials since being home, always with an eye to returning to the classroom as a reading teacher and how on earth I am going to get this important information to the kids within the framework of whatever is current best practice (best practice as considered by the schools/principals etc). That is my personal project. If you go with Ashley's suggestion of a warm up, I'd go with something that has the backing of Common Core or a state approved resource. For example, while OPGTR is a very thorough phonics program, you might think about using Phonics Pathways instead. I can't remember now but when I was researching it a little while ago, I think it's actually approved for use in the public schools in California. It's also a book readily available in the library.

I haven't used it myself but I have heard good things about DORA at letsgolearn.com. It costs $20 per child but I have seen it for 15 at homeschool buyers coop before. Some public schools use it too.

Wow, Tanaqui gave you (and me) some really good ideas. She is right on about that handwriting. Not only did I not know how to teach handwriting when I was a teacher in the classroom (I was not given materials to use or training) but I was unsure of how best to teach my oldest when he was in preschool. His preschool's version of handwriting was to put an uppercase letter up on the board and say write this with no mention made of strokes or how to form the letters . More like drawing than handwriting. Well fast forward to my 2nd child who had a K teacher who actually used the Zaner Bloser handwriting book with her students in Kindergarten and my 3rd child whom I taught at home before and during Kindergarten using Logic of English's Foundations which had very clear and explicit instructions on letter formation. Their handwriting is vastly superior to my oldest's whom I still have to remind about how to form certain letters. I am piping in here because I just read a book that goes into how all those activities in Tanaqui's 3rd paragraph are sequenced in a Montessori classroom to lead to correct pencil grip and then onto handwriting. It's called Help Your Preschooler Build a Better Brain by John Bowman. I don't think you can get it in the library. The author has an e-book on his website or you can buy an abridged paper copy of his ebook on Amazon. Before, I sort of understood how all those activities Tanaqui mentioned helped to build fine motor skills but I didn't understand how in Montessori they are sequenced in a very specific way. You might enjoy reading the book.

I have used A and B with my daughter and we are currently working through C at a very slow pace. She is in 1st grade in public school. It's been great but it is a money and time investment. We worked through A starting in late preschool so she had already learned her letter names thoroughly and I just said as someone mentioned above, this is letter a and it has the sounds a, ay, ah. Sorry can't write the phonetic pronunciation here. By spring of kindergarten, we had worked through about half of B and her reading skyrocketed. Literally, in the space of one month she went from a solid understanding of short vowel cvc words to reading early chapter books on about a 2nd grade level. I have heard that this has happened for other children too at about that place in level B. She ended up having quite a bit of disparity between her reading level at that point and her spelling level. I can see why All About Reading and All About Spelling advocates teaching them separately, Marie has a great article on that somewhere on her blog (Marie is the creator of AAS/AAR). I read it earlier this year. If you are planning to do Essentials with her anyway, I would do Foundations instead and just go at the pace you like. I have taught Essentials as well (spelling, phonemic awareness and vocab portions only) to my older two sons. It can get pretty dry. Fantastic, amazing information but lots of direct teaching. Foundations is much more active and fun. I am a reading teacher by profession (at home til my youngest is in K) so I get a professional benefit from using these materials with my children. It allows me to master the material so much better and this is definitely not the way I was taught to teach reading in graduate school! Actually, at this point, I think my daughter would do just as well with us just reading together and working on her spelling at some future point (it's already pretty good for a 1st grader) but we are working through level C so I make sure I don't miss anything. I would like to say one thing Foundations and Essentials have that is absolutely amazing and I don't know if the other Orton-Gillingham based programs have is all the phonemic awareness activities. Actually physically teaching what is a vowel (a sound you sing) versus a consonant (sound is blocked by a part of the mouth). That's just one of the PA activities. Essentials has a lengthy introduction on the importance of phonemic awareness and how to teach it. That chapter is worth the whole price of the book but maybe that is because I am a teacher and I plan to take this all back to my classroom in some form or another. If you have any other questions, I'd be glad to try to answer them. I am not always on the forums but I will try to check back more frequently to see if you have any other questions I can help with.

Okay, thanks! I couldn't figure out where the break would be syllabically but I guess you all are saying a person might pronounce it short o first, break, -range. Whereas I break the first syllable after or- and then second syllable -ange. I guess it's where you break the word orange into syllables that makes the difference. I was sitting here trying to figure out was there another pronunciation for the OR combination I wasn't aware of. Thanks for your input!

I just found some really great resources (free printable articles) for reading/synthetic phonics at DSF Literacy Resources. They have some great charts for the 44 sounds of English with spelling patterns and pictures. The only problem is the short o picture is an orange. Can anyone tell me how this is pronounced in Australia? I looked up DSF and they seem to be located in Western Australia. For reference, I live in Virginia and I pronounce "orange" as /or/ /schwa sound/ /n//j/ This is not earth-shatteringly important, I am just curious. Because when in the US, I see a picture of an orange used in various alphabet games/toys, that usually signifies a poor phonics approach. But I can see DSF has some good information on their website so I wonder how is "orange" pronounced in Australia? Thanks for any insight.

If anyone is interested, I found some nice retelling cards at thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com. Search for the retelling anchor charts. When you click on the pictures near the bottom of the blog post, you will get a pdf of retelling cards that are Wizard of Oz themed. I printed them a few to a page (instead of full sized) and laminated them and now have retelling cards to use with my 1st grader every now and again. It worked out great for us because we read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this summer so I related the cards to the book and then she retold me parts of a story she'd read for school. Of course the shoes are red in the pictures but that is okay. We talked about differences between the book and the movie too. We did watch the movie after we read the book this summer too. With an older child, you could have them read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on their own and then use the retelling cards afterwards. The book is so much better than the movie! I never bothered to read it until it was being used in a homeschooling curriculum I was exploring. My oldest child went on to read the rest of the books in the Oz series on his own. PS - I guess it'd be more accurate to call these story elements cards.