Question for those using/have used OPGTR...

[HarbourLights]

I have been going thru OPGTR with my boys for just 3 weeks now. We are reviewing/completing a new lesson each day M-Th, and reviewing all we have covered every Friday. We follow up with our BOB books after each lesson. The boys are attentive while doing the lesson, but I would not say that it is very challenging for them yet, as they have known their letters and most of the phonics associated with each letter for some time now. My plan was/is to start from the beginning to fill any gaps they may have and to instill a "feel good" approach to school (so they don't encounter frustration too early... I want them to look forward to reading and learning). I guess my main question is this... Do I keep going forward with this approach? My goal is not to rush, but I don't want to stagnate them with covering what they already know over and over.

 

Also I guess this also folds over into their Singapore EB lessons... so far they have not been terribly challenged by that as well. I just don't want to miss a potential gap that will cause them to flounder later and so I'm a bit nervous about "skipping' ahead. Thanks in advance!

[lionfamily1999]

Could you just try to make it go faster? Do more than one letter a day, especially if they already know them... or maybe, look through the weeks worth of lessons and do the review Monday, before you teach and if they get it all right, move on.

 

I really don't like skipping either, even when it seems merited. For ds I just speed things up until we hit a plateau.

[Chris in VA]

Yes, I agree with the pp--I'd speed it up, if you know they truly are at a mastery level with what you are teaching. I'd also add in some games to "test" discreetly--do the beachball game (write the letters in each area of the ball, toss, then they say the sound of the letter that their right hand covers), play bingo, hide letters around the room, etc. Do that for review instead of reviewing the book stuff.

Or, skip the weekly review and just do another lesson. I used PP, not OPGtR, but I know they are similar. Once you get in to real words, it's much easier for the fun stuff to happen!

 

Oh, and as far as gaps go, it's good to make sure, but remember that sometimes gaps can be filled in later w/o a problem. (Not so much with letters and sounds, tho--)

[meldamo]

My daughter knew all her letter sounds, so we skipped past that part of the book. I never noticed a problem from doing that.

 

I was always paranoid about skipping math books, even though they were easy for my son. We just went through them really quickly. We started with Singapore Primary Math, though. I think EB would have been a waste. He had no problem starting with 1A in kindergarten.

 

You know best what your children know and what they can handle.

[Radish4ever]

for letter sounds, we went through multiple lessons a day since DD knew them already, but I wanted her to gain confidence and get the review.... we also do some ETC to review what she's learning. We did all of the "Get Set for the Code" book but then she got very bored, so now we do 1 page of ETC 1 1/2 each day instead. ;) It's been working well so far!

[HarbourLights]

Thanks so much for the responses! I think I will combine a few letters per lesson... I definately think they could do two or even three lessons rolled into one without issue. I'll play around with it next week and see how they respond. As far as the Singapore EB, I think I will hang with it for now and continue to supplement with games around the house and the normal "math" games we do. For some reason I'm more nervous about skipping ahead in math (most likely because of my history with that subject!!). Love the game ideas as well! Thanks!!

[ElizabethB]

If you skip ahead, you can always go back and check to make sure you've covered all the sounds with Blend Phonics, it's laid out simply so you can easily skip around with it.

 

Here's a fun free game you can play.