I need a phonics/ spelling recommendation

[mommycheryl]

Hi,

I just found these boards and they are so helpful. My kids are in PS, but I am particularly concerned about my sons reading and want to do some afterschool work with him. He is in 2nd grade. He has struggled with reading and writing. Over the summer he worked with his 1st grade teacher, mostly on writing, and discovered at the end of the summer that he was having such problems with "inventive spelling" b/c he didn't know his vowels! Good to know. So we have worked a lot on those short vowel sounds.

But I am noticing that when he reads new words, he is not decoding. With his spelling words, he still has to seperate out the vowel and think about which one it is. He has a vision tracking problem we just discovered and next week we start vision therapy, which should make a huge difference in his reading.

So, I don't know what to do with him. I feel like I need to start over with phonics, in a sense. He knows his letter sounds, but he doesn't know the phonics rules to build words with. A phonics curriculum seems too easy, but I am not sure what to get to systemically work him through those sounds and rules. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Cheryl

[Sara R]

A phonics curriculum seems too easy, but I am not sure what to get to systemically work him through those sounds and rules. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Cheryl

 

What do you mean, "seems too easy"?

 

Have you already taught him phonics before? I wouldn't assume that he learned much phonics in school. "Balanced literacy" is whole language (including teaching the children to guess at words based on the picture, first/last letter, etc.) with a teeny bit of elementary phonics tacked on, taught in a haphazard way.

 

Until you have solid evidence that there is a real problem, I'd treat it just as if he hadn't been taught properly. Elizabeth B's Phonics Page is a terrific free resource. She links to Don Potter's page, which provides Blend Phonics. In that program, the teacher uses a white board and presents just one letter at a time while the children are learning to blend. That way they can't look at the whole word and mix up the sounds. I've used Phonics Pathways with all 3 of my kids, and that works well.

[Shay]

Hi there,

I am a big fan of the decodable readers from http://www.3rsplus.com/

There is a new spelling program they've added that coordinates with the books. Alternately, the books are sold at iseesam.com . They are cheaper from 3Rsplus. Also , you can find placement tests there and see sample pages from each of the 8 sets. There is a yahoo group that is helpful, too. If you are interested, I can send you the link.

My ds had problems with reading initially (none of my others had this, so it was sort of a shock to me) and we were able to work it out with these products. I also use Apples & Pears for afterschooling spelling. This helps my ds a great deal, too. So, for afterschooling he reads one story a night and we are less consistent on the spelling as we do it on summer break and other breaks.

One thing that the books ( referenced above) do is "spread out" the introduction of similar sounding/looking letters. So, you will not have /i/ and /e/ introduced closely to cut down on confusion. Same thing with /f/ and /v/ and /b/ and /d/. Those things don't matter to a lot of kids, but for strugglers, they matter a great deal (I've found).

I'm sure you'll get lots of great suggestions. If your child was taught to read via the typical ps "balanced literacy" (whole language) scheme, he is most likely confused and needs code-based teaching, IMHO

 

Shay

[Ritsumei]

With this being an after school thing, he may be more willing to work with a game-based system, rather than something that looks like more work. Good luck!

[Katrina J]

I agree, these boards are so helpful. I can sit here for hours in the evening reading and learning.

 

I use the BRI/ARI books with my dd7 and ds4 afterschool and think they are great. As Sara R said above, Elizabeth B's website is full of useful information and resources too and I like to do some games with my kids when I have time, but haven't tried Happy Phonics. I've also bought a reading/spelling/writing program you can find at www.phonicsinternational.com. The handbook is free and tells you everything you need to know to teach a child to read.

 

The Phonics International website also has some free tests you can download to find out more precisely what your son does and doesn't already know so you know where to start.

[lgm]

We used the el cheapo off-the-book-store-shelf Spectrum Phonics and checked out a lot of beginning reader books from the library to keep it fun rather than have it viewed as remedial. Also, in discussion I realized that his K teacher had denied ds's observation that some letters had more than one sound. This was extremely confusing to him and it took about 3 years for ds to forget that his first teacher had lied to him on purpose, in front of the whole class (his words). Hopefully your child hasn't had a similar experience.

 

Also, have you done a hearing check? Children that are prone to fluid in the ears won't hear clearly at times, even though they are hearing.

[Sweetbabe]

:bigear:

[Carmen_and_Company]

I work part-time as a tutor for a company contracted with the school district where I live. I have a waiting list of parents wanting me to tutor their children in reading.

 

Phonics is not too easy if your child struggles with reading. Also, "inventive spelling" is just that, inventive. You need to teach proper spelling of words, as inventive spelling causes the storing of misspelled words into long-term memory, and resulting in a poor speller. Until your child reads fluently, put spelling as a separate subject on the back burner. As you teach true reading via phonics, your child learns to spell, too.

 

Since you're helping your own child with reading, why not use The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading by SWB's mother, Jessie Wise & co-author, Sarah Buffington?

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/the-ordinary-parents-guide-to-teaching-reading/

 

 

I use several resources depending on ability and age:

 

 

• Phonics Pathways--can purchase from Amazon or Barnes & Noble
  
• Explode the Code--can order from most hs vendors
  
• McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading A-E combined volume--available from several hs vendors
  

 

 

Free, downloadable texts reviewed by Don Potter, http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/:

 

 

 

• The Mastery of Words by Sarah Louise Arnold
  
• Blend Phonics by Hazel Lorrig
  
• Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades, by Florence Akin
  
• The Spelling Book: consisting of Words in Columns & Sentences for Oral and Written Exercises. . .by William Swan
  
• A Measuring Scale For Ability in Spelling by Leonard P. Ayres
  

 

 

Readers:

 

 

• School Zone Phonetic Readers--out of print but a library may have them--these are the ones published in the 1980's
  
• SRA Basic Reading Series A-M--can find used on EBAY, Amazon.com
  
• Step Into Reading series
  
• Now I'm Reading sets by Nora Gaydos
  
• My Book House series, out of print
  
• Collier The New Junior Classics, out of print, but worth finding
  
• Readers & one- syllable books from Mainlesson.org- The Baldwin Project.--I use by grade level
  

 

[StillStanding]

SpellingCity.com

 

It is free and you can use their list or use your own list of words.

[samba2nite]

:iagree:here to second spellingcity.com My kids LOVE it and like to play their phonics and spelling games. I love that it is free!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I personally have not tried it, but alot of people on here highly recommend all about spelling. They say that is based on phonics.

 

We use Spelling Power . Spelling Power bases its lists on the rules, so as they learn the words, they also learn the rules to the list they are on! It works AMAZING for my dc! The website says for grades 3 and up :confused: but I see no reason why a 1st or 2nd grader could not start. I started my dd at the end of 1st grade. The words in level A and B are certainly appropriate for a child in those grades.

Edited April 20, 2010 by wy_kid_wrangler04

[mommycheryl]

We use Spelling Power . Spelling Power bases its lists on the rules, so as they learn the words, they also learn the rules to the list they are on! It works AMAZING for my dc! The website says for grades 3 and up :confused: but I see no reason why a 1st or 2nd grader could not start. I started my dd at the end of 1st grade. The words in level A and B are certainly appropriate for a child in those grades.

 

Thanks, I will look into Spelling Power. I think if we have something that tells him the rules, not just groups of ways to make long A sounds, for example, it might work better for him.

[kmacnchs]

I second Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading!

 

It is straight phonics, no grade or age level, move as quickly or slowly as you like, and it goes from the alphabet to 4th grade level in one book!

 

Have him read a passage you think he should know and move from there!

 

It's SOO easy to do!

 

If he doesn't like reading out of the book (too busy), write the stories on a white board. There is no writing, as there is in many phonics program (I would think that would be a waste of time for him) and it is not babyish - no color, pics, or anything.

[Guest sapphiremum]

My son had similar problems though for different reasons. I used a mix of resources from Don Potter

 

Blend Phonics by Hazel Lorrig

Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades, by Florence Akin

and Mona McNee's Step by Step (British spelling but lots of game ideas you can adapt)

 

Also very good (and free) is Stairway to Reading, which has plenty of games to engage a child.

 

Once you more to the more complex phonics, On Track Reading is great (it also has loads of information on vision therapy).

 

My usual approach to afterschooling is eclectic and borrows many elements of unschooling, but, for this once, my son and I did school at home to go through the phonics program I debised out of these resources in a systematic manner. We did it for just over one month and a half and you know what? It worked wonders. My son is now a fluent reader and rather good speller.

 

Hope this helps

Sapphiremum

[TAKlinda]

Decoding word lists are the best way to teach a child to read fluently. Have them highlight the small sound units within the word. This trains them to see the parts of the word rather than reading the word letter by letter. To help your son when writing paragraphs, give him a formula which will act like a tool. Ask your son to give you some facts about the topic he is working on. Then give him this very simple formula: an introductory sentence, 3 to 5 fact-based sentences, and a concluding sentence that refers back to the introductory sentence. Essays are just a series of these paragraphs strung together with the final sentence in the essay referring back to the first sentence in the essay.

 

Linda.

[Lovedtodeath]

Did you look at All About Spelling? It teaches phonics and spelling and does it in the best way. These types of programs (Orton-Gillingham) were developed to combat the whole word teaching that was proceeded by many more children being diagnosed as dyslexic or having some other type of learning disability having to do with reading. They also have readers to go with the program now.