ChristusG Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I am beginning to work on reading with my 5 year old DD. We've learned the sounds of all the consonants and we're beginning to learn vowels and blending sounds together. I can already tell it is not clicking with her just yet. For instance, yesterday I put up the word MAT. She could say mmmm-aaaa-t. She knew all the sounds seperately and put them together quickly. But she could not go from mmmm-aaaa-t to mat. Will it just suddenly click? Or can I do something to help her along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yslek Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 From my experience, there will be a point when it "clicks". So far, I haven't been able to force that with my dc. D (who is currently learning to read) has known her letter sounds for over a year, and has been at the stage you describe for a while. In spite of all of my efforts to get her to understand how to blend, she just couldn't do it until very recently (right around her 6th birthday.) B & T were both able to do this at age 5, so I was expecting her to get it, too. I tried numerous learn-to-read resources with her, and modeled how to blend over and over, but ultimately I think it was just readiness. (I had actually put learn-to-read stuff aside for a month or two, just because we were getting nowhere and were both becoming frustrated.) HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 From my experience, there will be a point when it "clicks" :iagree: My oldest 2 learned very easily, very early. My current 1st grader (will be 7 in Feb) is JUST starting to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 No matter what you may hear otherwise, five is very young for reading. Yes, continue to teach her to read. At this stage reading aloud to her is probably the most important lesson. You'll be teaching her that reading IS fun and IS worth the hard work to learn. One day it will "click". It never really clicked for any of my children before age 7 or 8. And one child did not really begin to read until age 9 because of a undx vision problem. There is a VERY wide age range considered NORMAL for learning to read. Spoken from 20/20 hind-site, Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Oh, I agree, five is young. And we are just starting out. I was just wondering if I should be teaching it some other way, or if it will just happen one day. She wants to read so bad though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 At her age, I would consider not doing formal phonics lessons for a little while so to speak:) I heartedly recommend Between The Lions on PBS daily, if not twice a day. I taped the shows for my ds and had him watch them with me 1-2 times/day from 3-6ish -7:) It is a great reading program and is fun, fun, fun. It is also available on DVD often from the library and also online at pbs.org. Of course, I also recommend reading multiple books daily with her. I used to occasionally sound out words for my son and had a couple of phonics type reading books that we read together as well. I also had him play with starfall.com. Lastly, I turned on the closed captioning which helped as well IMHO. Although, my son's cyber school uses K12 and they taught phonics in K and 1st grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Oh, I agree, five is young. And we are just starting out. I was just wondering if I should be teaching it some other way, or if it will just happen one day. She wants to read so bad though. I've found that it will just click. I've found the time waiting for it to click to cause me to want to :banghead:, but that might just be me, expecially when you've got one that wants to learn and won't let you drop phonics for awhile (I've promised my just turned 4 year old that I'll start teaching him to read after Christmas, and he's not one to let it drop, so I understand). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Exposure mixed with practice over and over and over and over and over..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
az_momy Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I have been through this stage with 5 children so far. Yes, it will click. When? Could be today. Could be much later... My first born daughter and my 5th child figured it out early (age 5). They put up a finger for each sound mmmm (pointer), aaaaa (middle finger), tttttt (ring finger), then made a fist and pulled it all together towards their body (imagine the motion of pulling your elbow back behind your body like you're saying YES! My team just won!). My current 5 yos shouted out the word everytime he glued it together, because it was so exciting to accomplish the task of making a word. He did that for about a month. Now he can read a full sentence very slowly, but the words are words, not broken sounds. Two of my boys would sound out each letter then clap to "glue" the sounds together. My slowest learner (he was 7 or 8 when the light came on) required extensive tutoring to read. The first thing the tutor did was help him "glue the sounds together quickly before they fell apart." She made lists of words that he could sound out and would use 2-minute timer to have him beat the clock saying all the words as fast as he could. There were 5 columns across the page with 10 words down each column (one page would have all short /a/ words or short /o/ or short /u/...). That challenged him to say the whole word, not just the sounds. That was the turning point for him. You will see quickly if any of these techniques frustrate your daughter. If so, stop using them. Many will agree that if reading isn't fun, and exasperates the child, it will be a painful process for both of you. Blessings to you in this endeavor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I would spend some time working on oral blending games away from her phonics lessons. Instead of putting the letters in front of her, play a game while you're driving around town or waiting in line or stirring the brownie batter, etc. "Hey, Munchkin, let's play a guessing game. I'm going to say a word verrrrrrrry sloooooowly, and then you say it fast to guess what it is. Okay? mmmmmmm-[pause 1 second]-aaaaaaaaa-[pause]-nnnnnn. Can you say it fast? Okay, let me say it for you one more time. Listen carefully. mmmmm- -aaaaaa- -nnnnnn .... Hey, you got it! Great job!" If she can't get these, start with whole chunks of compound words, then progress to syllables before breaking words into phonetic chunks (if you do words with digraphs, just leave the digraph complete: sh- -iii- -p, etc). Be careful that you say "b-", not "buh", etc. (Cccc-aaa-t' sounds a lot different than cuh-aa-tuh -- cuh-aa-tuh just blends to cuh-aa-tuh, and I don't know what a cuh-aa-tuh is either...) ;) Once she can blend orally, she'll be a lot more likely to be able to blend as part of her phonics lessons. Once she can do that, she may or may not take off quickly. But you'll be a whole lot closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 She would get so frustrated and upset that she couldn't read yet. Then, one day it did indeed click. She went from reading early readers to Boxcar Children within 6 months. It was amazing! So, yes, sometimes it does just need to click. (DD was about 6.5 when she finally got it. There was no rushing her.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 You've gotten some great advice and encouragement already, but I wanted to add to it because I remember teaching my first one to read, and I was so uncertain. I'm currently teaching my fourth child to read. She's five. Every time I teach a kid to read I realize I've forgotten how frustrating those first months can be. We spend a short time everyday on phonics--10 minutes unless she's really getting frustrated, and then we quit sooner. I'm using 100 easy lessons to teach her to blend. I love that program for teaching a child to blend sounds. After she hits around lesson 50, we will switch to OPGTR where she can get a more complete phonics program. I use magnet letters and help her spell 3 letter words for a change of pace. Just keep plugging away at it, read aloud a lot, and one day, you'll have a child whose reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMDRAD Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I am beginning to work on reading with my 5 year old DD. We've learned the sounds of all the consonants and we're beginning to learn vowels and blending sounds together. I can already tell it is not clicking with her just yet. For instance, yesterday I put up the word MAT. She could say mmmm-aaaa-t. She knew all the sounds seperately and put them together quickly. But she could not go from mmmm-aaaa-t to mat. Will it just suddenly click? Or can I do something to help her along? I had the same problem with my dd. Suddenly, it clicked for her and she was reading rather than sounding each letter out. I just kept working with her and modeling how to sound the word out and put it together. It was frustrating though! Hang in there. She'll get the hang of it:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 It "clicked" for us at some point. You can also try reinforcing the concept through spelling: say a cvc word, ask her what it starts with, then what letter comes next, then what the last letter is, etc. Starfall.com also has some exercises where they build words by sounding out the letters slowly and then bringing them together to form a word. I would just keep gently reinforcing the concept and she will eventually get it. It took my dd a couple months from being at the point where your dd is at to start reading cvc words through blending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Yes, it will just click one day, if you are patient and consistent. You know leading the horse to water? Well, you keep leading them to it, and then one day they just drink! It is very exciting to watch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 One more thing: Don't be afraid to teach "sight" words. They can read real books much faster with a few sight words under their belts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Thanks so much for your advice everyone!!! Looks like the best thing to do is just be patient. :D And I'll keep working with her and try some of your suggestions. She really wants to read so I'm hoping it will click sooner rather than later, for her sake. She wnats to read books to her little sister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttercup Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 For the past two years I had been trying to get my dd to blend words. When she was 4, she already knew her letters and sounds so I thought I'd try then. I tried for a couple of days, then packed the books up to try another time. About 6 months later, I tried again, she still was not ready. When she turned 5, about 6 months later, I tried again for about a day or so. Still, she did not get it. To make a long story short it was not until she turned 6 that it finally clicked in her mind. I have not read the other posts, but I would encourage you not to push it too much. Try teaching her to blend, if she doesn't seem to get it, pack it up and try again, maybe in a couple of weeks or maybe in a few months. There will come a time when she will finally be able to blend. In the meantime though I would not frustrate you or your child by trying to make them do it before they are ready. Believe me, I have done that with my dc and it is not worth it. My dd now is progressing very fast in just a matter of about 2-3 months. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I am beginning to work on reading with my 5 year old DD. We've learned the sounds of all the consonants and we're beginning to learn vowels and blending sounds together. I can already tell it is not clicking with her just yet. For instance, yesterday I put up the word MAT. She could say mmmm-aaaa-t. She knew all the sounds seperately and put them together quickly. But she could not go from mmmm-aaaa-t to mat. Will it just suddenly click? Or can I do something to help her along? One day it will click. My ds5 is right where your dd is now. He can say the sounds like your dd, but doesn't get how it makes a word. So, we are working on hearing the beginning sounds of words, the middle sounds in a word, and putting just two sounds together eg: ma (with short 'a' sound), le (short 'e' sound) etc. It's kind of an inbetween step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Both my children have learned to spell before they learned to blend, and that's the way phonics used to be taught with things like Webster's Speller--teaching phonics and spelling at the same time. It also starts with 2 letter blends, it's easier to start with 2 letters than 3. in, on, up, at, go, no, be, me, re The easiest letters to blend are r, m, l, n, and vowels, especially long vowels, but l and r after vowels are confusing and change the sound of the vowel. Some children take longer than others, and some can learn it earlier than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I am beginning to work on reading with my 5 year old DD. We've learned the sounds of all the consonants and we're beginning to learn vowels and blending sounds together. I can already tell it is not clicking with her just yet. For instance, yesterday I put up the word MAT. She could say mmmm-aaaa-t. She knew all the sounds seperately and put them together quickly. But she could not go from mmmm-aaaa-t to mat. Will it just suddenly click? Or can I do something to help her along? I think there is just a point where they get it. My older two were reading WELL by 5. My youngest dd is 6 1/2 and we're finally making progress. She doesn't have problems. She gets the sounds, the idea of words, reading across the page. It has just been that blending wasn't there. It is getting there and we're jumping ahead. It has definately been a humbling experience for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 In my experience, yes it will just click. It's unpredictable when that will happen, however. Calvin started blending about 2 1/2 years after learning his letter sounds. With Hobbes, the gap was only about six months, I think. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 One more thing:Don't be afraid to teach "sight" words. They can read real books much faster with a few sight words under their belts! I agree! There are just some words you NEED to be able to know. Of course, dd didn't remember sight words very well until about the same time the blending clicked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 It will eventually click. Every child is different. My youngest child took FOREVER. I got so tired of listening to her read and sounding out every single word, that we took a break and learned some sight words. It seemed to click after that. In the meantime, I thought I was going to scream every day listening to her read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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