Reading Advice Please

[cmarango]

My little one just turned two a few months ago. Before her birthday she became obsessed with the alphabet and so I got her the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD. Now she knows her letters and the sounds and she goes around saying the names of the letters in just about all the signs that she sees. She does not usually try to sound out the letters. I am not certain, but she may also recognize a few words in some of her favorite books or she may just be remembering what I read to her on that particular page.

 

Question: When (and if) do I need to think about phonics instruction?

 

Thanks,

Christina

[skaterbabs]

You could start now when you read to her. Leave simple books where she can get to them freely, and when you're reading point out each word as you read it. She already understands that these symbols stand for particular sounds. Blending (the act of sounding out words as one reads) is largely a developmental thing, but www.starfall.com and the PBS show "Between The Lions" helped my daughter figure it out.

[KristenS]

There's also a Talking Words Factory DVD. :)

 

Don't worry if phonics comes slowly though ... mine had their letter sounds memorized between two and three (and they weren't talkers at two at all!) but it still took a LOOOONG time for blending and reading words to click for them. My boy went to reading sight words at that point for a little while ... mostly words from his favorite books. We started more formal (but still gentle) phonics around 4ish, but it clicked better at 5.

[HeatherInWI]

I don't know if they still make the LeapFrog Phonics Bus or something like that, but it taught my ds his letter names and sounds before age two. I didn't realize it until he started to try to sound things out. When he was 2.5, we started using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He was reading pretty fluently at three and about ten years later, we haven't regretted it. With my younger child, we used some of the other LeapFrog products (Little Leap and some kind of box with phonics cards) to help teach blending -- the trickiest part of learning to read. You might see what all they have available these days.

[kmacnchs]

Mine did the same so I started her on OPG...why not, you know?

 

She just turned 3 (end of May) and is on a 1st grade reading level...around lesson 100 we took a break from learning and just read, read, read so the things she learned could really solidify in her mind. We just got back to OPG (lesson 120) from our break and she LOVES reading!

 

I know many say just "let them be kids" but if they are ready, who are we to say no? and why would you want to?

 

Have fun! (get bob books from your library!)

[Donna]

My little one just turned two a few months ago. Before her birthday she became obsessed with the alphabet and so I got her the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD. Now she knows her letters and the sounds and she goes around saying the names of the letters in just about all the signs that she sees. She does not usually try to sound out the letters. I am not certain, but she may also recognize a few words in some of her favorite books or she may just be remembering what I read to her on that particular page.

 

Question: When (and if) do I need to think about phonics instruction?

 

My youngest was similar. She memorized books word for word beginning at 11 months. By 18 months she had lots and lots of books memorized and knew all her letters by sound (from Leap Frog Letter Factory as well LOL). Around 2 she had a fairly good list of sight words just from me reading to her and pointing out words on signs and such.

 

I purchased a couple packages of letters for the bathtub and some magnetic letters. We played games like spelling a word then changing the first letter or last letter or vowel, etc... Just fun and games for her. She could sound out simple CVC type words around 2yo then seemed to stall and lose interest for awhile. Sometime around 3.5yo she picked up a Little House book and read it fluently.

 

Every child is different. If you feel like your dd would do better with a phonics program, go for it. If you feel that she would do better playing games, you can follow a phonics program while you make up the games if you're worried about missing anything. Just keep everything playful and fun at this point.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

This was my oldest, too. She picked up CVC words right away after watching the first 2 LeapFrog videos a lot, and when I brought home the first Dick & Jane book, she sat down and started reading it. I was floored! She was 3-1/2 at the time. We started her on Calvert kindergarten, and by the middle of the course she was bored to tears so we started McRuffy 1st grade. Just don't push her, but if she is ready, let her take the reins and lead the way.

 

And I second Starfall. We used that, too, and I think that's where she actually learned to read. It certainly wasn't anything I did.

 

As far as phonics, if your daughter truely has a word/language reasoning talent, like my daughter, she may just "get" reading and not need it. I actually feel silly teaching phonics concepts to my daughter because she's just always been able to read all of the different sounds without knowing them.

 

Good luck on your decision making and remember to enjoy the ride!

[EKS]

You could start now. My son learned all the letter sounds at that age and was able to read words by sounding them out before he turned three.

[cmarango]

Thanks for all of the replies. I certainly don't want to push my dd, but part of me is worried that she may just begin sight reading which could be a larger headache down the road. She is currently working on mastering the lower case letters (almost done) and when I read Hop on Pop or other super easy books we sound out the short words. I think I will get the second Leap Frog video and then see where we go from there.

 

I also don't know what to do about the fact that she is being raised bilingually (spanish is her other language). This is my dh's department, but he doesn't have as much time with her because of work. I'm not sure if I should begin teaching her to read in spanish concurrently or just focus on english for now. I can handle basic spanish, but I'm not sure if I should bend our one parent-one language setup.

 

Why, oh why, don't children come with instruction manuals/road maps? :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks again,

Christina

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

 

Why, oh why, don't children come with instruction manuals/road maps? :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks again,

Christina

 

 

That is an excellent question!.

[zaichiki]

Christina,

 

Many bilingual families start teaching reading in the dominant language. Then, when reading in that language is fluent (approx a 3rd grade level?), reading in the second language is started.

 

My kids used to be more balanced bilinguals. This is what we did at the time. Ds started to learn to read in Russian after he was fluently reading in English. Alas, we had some experiences in our lives which resulted in much of our Russian language (conversation, reading, writing) being left out for a long time. Ds no longer reads well in Russian. This is something we will pick up again.

[ElizabethB]

Thanks for all of the replies. I certainly don't want to push my dd, but part of me is worried that she may just begin sight reading which could be a larger headache down the road. She is currently working on mastering the lower case letters (almost done) and when I read Hop on Pop or other super easy books we sound out the short words. I think I will get the second Leap Frog video and then see where we go from there.

 

I also don't know what to do about the fact that she is being raised bilingually (spanish is her other language). This is my dh's department, but he doesn't have as much time with her because of work. I'm not sure if I should begin teaching her to read in spanish concurrently or just focus on english for now. I can handle basic spanish, but I'm not sure if I should bend our one parent-one language setup.

 

Why, oh why, don't children come with instruction manuals/road maps? :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks again,

Christina

 

I would teach to read in Spanish first, it will be much easier because it is phonetically regular. I recommend "La Pata Pita." You can teach her to sound out the words even if you don't understand them.

 

They used to teach Latin first with syllables then switch to English with syllables. La Pata Pita teaches Spanish with syllables. Webster's Speller teaches English with syllables.

 

Blending is sometimes hard to teach, if you're doing it in a phonetically regular language, it's much easier. Then, once she gets the concept, she should speed through learning to read in English.

[cmarango]

I recommend "La Pata Pita." You can teach her to sound out the words even if you don't understand them.

 

 

I had tried to find this book before, but it appears to be an exercise in frustration. Do you happen to know of any other books?

 

Thanks,

Christina

 

Actually, I just checked Amazon again and there appears to be some used copies now.

[alexfam]

My ds did the very same thing at the same age with that same video. Go get "Word Factory" and "Word Factory 2" both from LeapFrog. These are the 2nd and 3rd video's in that set. After watching this 3 videos my ds at 2.5 was reading cvc words and then read his 1st book right at 3.