kalanamak Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I have discovered I put all my push into basic reading. We chewed through ETC and Plaid Phonics, started Phonics Pathways and SWR, learning the phonograms and starting the "rules". Etc. Well, reading has taken off, but still has weak points, like a pesky b/d reversal (he always gets b right but d only about half the time). We are gaining speed. We did the sight vs. phonics words test ElizabethB has mentioned and kiddo did the simple phonetical words at 50 wpm. I'm thrilled, BUT, aside from lots of practice, I'm not sure what the next step is. I am planning to resume SWR (we are taking a list break as he has gone so fast, and I want to have the extra time just having him read to me), and we are going back and getting faster on the Phonics Pathways book, but I have lost direction. I'm used to "knowing" first I do A and then I do B even if I sometimes change. Now, aside from practice, I'm not sure what else I should be doing to "teach" him. What did you use to work with the moving from Level 2 readers to levels 3 and 4 readers child? I'm not pushing reading silently, but he does go over and pour over his Henry and Mudge books for long stretches. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 :lurk5: I'm interested too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I did a TON of read aloud time w/ my 2d ds. It took a few years to get him thru that phase. I bought a set of dinosaur books at the thrift store [he fell in love w/ such a huge stack! each book a different dino] and I started reading those to him. i read VERY slowly, with a bookmark underlining the sentence and a pointer following each syllable. When i could sense his mood to be cooperative and light, I would encourage him to read the last word of the sentence, progress to reading the next full sentence, until we were taking turns reading sentences, then paragraphs. By the fifth book he was reading it to ME. Have you re-read the actual SWR guide? from the beginning? Each time i read it I find yet another nugget that I had missed or forgotten. I am trying to pay more attention to speech and sounds now than i did w/ 2d ds. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I'm definitely not an expert here, but wanted to offer my experience. A year ago dd5 was at a high first/low second grade reading level, now she's at a high third grade reading level. She just recently became comfortable reading chapter books on her own. In fact, a couple weeks ago I bought her three new chapter books, each 70 pages long, and she read them all within a 24 hour period. This was a huge breakthrough for her! When she first started reading she would occasionally do a b/d reversal, but I found that with practice, and as her fluency increased, she stopped. She still does it occasionally in her writing though. Anyway, I'm not sure what advice to give you except to tell you what we've been doing the last year, because I'm honestly not sure if I had anything to do with it. :lol: So, here is what reading looks like around here: 1. We have quiet time after lunch every day. Dd3 takes a nap, and dd5 has one hour of quiet time. She can either play quietly in the playroom, or she can stay out in the living area with me while I get some things done IF she is on the couch with her books. I would guess that 80% of the time she chooses to read. What she reads during her quiet time is her choice. She reads a lot, and I think that is probably what is helping her with fluency more than anything else. She probably reads for 1.5 to 2 hours a day. 2. We have a large assortment of books. I probably have 150-200 early readers. And we have a lot of picture books too. She has read all of them multiple times. There are books for her to read in just about every room in the house, and I keep a basket of them next to her in the car. I also keep a basket of library books in our living room. So she has a lot of reading options. 3. I choose read-alouds that are as close to her reading level as I can get to practice reading with her. I read a page, then she reads a page. Sometimes she gets tired of reading, so I finish. But she always follows along with me in the book. I think that getting her to the point where she could read a whole page in a book without pictures helped a lot with her ability to move on from the early readers. And I think that having her follow along, and letting her hear how the words are pronounced along with looking at them has helped a lot too. 4. We went through ETC 3 and 4 this year. I'm not sure where you are in this program or if you're still using it, but I think that these two books helped her a lot. She was having problems with silent e words (which we worked on in ETC 3), and would often just give up on multi-syllable words and guess at them rather than try sounding them out (which we worked on in ETC 4). So I do think that using ETC was helpful to her and contributed to the leap in her reading. I haven't used any other phonics programs except Hooked on Phonics (which was what I used to teach her to read). So, that's what our year has looked like as she made the jump to chapter books. I hope something in there was helpful....and that you get some feedback from people that actually know what they are doing and have some real advice to offer. :D For us, I think that a LOT of practice was the most important part. Enjoy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Webster's Speller! You can do the syllabary, then you can go directly to the 2 syllable words. I would alternate between 2 syllable words and review of the 1 syllable words with some spelling added in. My daughter really learned things well when she was able to spell the words as well as read them, it takes the learning to another level when you can both decode and encode the word. You can also do a few 3 and 4 syllable words every day for fun and motivation. You also need to do a bit of the syllabary every day. 50 WPM is good! Many of my remedial students in 4th and 5th grade are not to that speed with the phonetic words yet. (However, I do want them to slow down at first, for remedial students an initial slowdown to improve accuracy is a good thing.) Here's my B/D reversal tips page: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html I spent an entire year working in uppercase only in part to help prevent the b/d reversal problem. (Also, I started young with my daughter and my uppercase is less hard to read than my lowercase, for a young student especially, they have an easier time discriminating uppercase than lowercase.) I took a drafting class in high school and it taught me how to write a very neat, easy to discriminate uppercase print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 For us it has just been reading, reading and more reading. We used 100EZ and some of Websters and ETC 1 and 2 (DD hated ETC). DD started the process not knowing any of the letter sounds, she ended reading on a 3rd grade level. Since finishing that she has read hundreds of books and is now reading on about a 6th grade level. We are using AAS now. I don't see that she really needs any further phonics instruction beyond spelling because she is reading so well, although i wouldn't hesitate to start back up with more Websters if she was making similar errors over and over. Most error words for her are ones she has never encountered written or spoken. Reading, reading and more reading will help. Some kids brains just need more time to chew over all the information you have input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 Webster's Speller! You can do the syllabary, I have a question about the syllabary. How do you pronounce the vowels? I ran through it and some I automatically made short ("ex") but others I made long ("spy" or "slo"). Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 listen to the online phonics lessons at The Phonics Page and that will give you all the correct pronunciations. The vowels should make the long sound in ba, be etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 3. I choose read-alouds that are as close to her reading level as I can get to practice reading with her. I read a page, then she reads a page. Sometimes she gets tired of reading, so I finish. But she always follows along with me in the book. I think that getting her to the point where she could read a whole page in a book without pictures helped a lot with her ability to move on from the early readers. And I think that having her follow along, and letting her hear how the words are pronounced along with looking at them has helped a lot too. Enjoy!! Thanks for the tip! I'm reading this thread with interest as ds (5) read at a 3.4 grade level a month or two ago (now I don't know!) and he's doing better and better by just reading, reading and more reading. I like that idea about reading close to his reading level. I got books to read aloud to him, and he read them to himself! :) Indeed, we also have quiet time here, lots of books (not that many readers, though -- we borrow them from the library) and a box full of library books. We also have a "library" (the front room of the house with the many bookshelves) with a comfy recliner chair ds reclines and reads either to himself or his little sister. We also let him read before bed, which he does for an hour! I strive to get the best books. I request books from Books Children Love and Honey for a Child's Heart. I really like the selections from Books Children Love. Ds has laughed and cried with these books, been angry, grappled with some issues at his level.. in short, living books. I never used a formal reading program with him, just a free online Tanglewood's Really Reading program and a Phonics workbook. I read aloud to him (even though he enjoys reading himself better now its seems) and he reads, reads, reads. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I request books from Books Children Love and Honey for a Child's Heart. I really like the selections from Books Children Love. Ds has laughed and cried with these books, been angry, grappled with some issues at his level.. in short, living books. I have Honey for a Child's Heart, but not Books Children Love. I'm going to look into this one, thank you! I can never have too many book lists. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I have a question about the syllabary. How do you pronounce the vowels? I ran through it and some I automatically made short ("ex") but others I made long ("spy" or "slo"). Thanks. Search the tags for Webster's Speller, there are explanations there and at my Webster link below. Also my moving thread on the General board has all the hood Speller links. Ends with a consonant, short, ab eb ib ob ub, ends with a vowel, long, ba be bi bo bu pronounced bay be bigh boe bew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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