Phonics Road - teaching reading

[mbw0817]

I have been lurking for ages and have been drooling over Phonics Road, but I still can't get a feel for how it is WRT teaching reading. In previous threads, some have discouraged it, suggesting that it's easier to teach reading with other programs. Then in 1st grade, starting PR1.

 

My son is 4yo. I have attempted to teach him to blend sounds, as in Phonics Pathways, but it hasn't clicked for him. He has known the sounds of his letters for ages, but he hasn't been able to make the leap from b-a-t to bat. I'm totally fine with stalling for awhile - I'm mainly pondering what to do in K5. Continue with PP or start PR1 and move slowly?

 

Thanks!

 

Michele

 

ds (4yo)

^dd entered heaven @ 37 wks, Oct 2007^

dd (1yo)

expecting #4, Jan 2011

[mbw0817]

bump :blush:

[mbw0817]

I'll bump again just for kicks. :)

[johnandtinagilbert]

PR1 uses OG methods to teach reading. If you'll wait until the end of the day, I'll have posted our first "Letter of the Week" for my K5er. It will explain how PR teaches reading. Good stuff!

[Ellie]

I would expect a 4yo to have "trouble" blending sounds, regardless of what you're using to teach him. :-)

 

Thousands of dc have learned to read with Phonics Road and Spalding and Spell to Write and Read--all methods which teach children to read by teaching them to spell. Thousands of dc have learned to read by *not* learning to spell. It's all good.

 

If Phonics Road appeals to you, then try it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it with a 4yo.

[LoveBaby]

I was hoping Tina would jump in! She's the resident expert on PR and full of wisdom!

 

Personally, and this is coming from a CM/better late than early mama, is to just hold off for a bit. Especially for boys. Read to him, read to him and then read to him some more. As you read through his favorite books start to point out letters and the different sounds they make and how they blend together to make words, but I wouldn't do a formal program with such a young one. There will be plenty of time for all of that soon enough. If he's not "getting" it then he's not ready and it won't matter what program you use, IMO.

 

I'm going to be doing PR1 with a 6yo this fall, but only the first part of it. I'm not planning on getting into the bulk of the program until he turns seven in 1st grade.

[StephanieF]

I wouldn't do it with such a young child. By all means buy it now if you intend to use it later so you can understand how it works but my ds at 4 couldn't have done it. He was just not ready to blend and sounded out every single word even if he had just read it!

Stephanie

[mbw0817]

I would expect a 4yo to have "trouble" blending sounds, regardless of what you're using to teach him. :-)

 

Thousands of dc have learned to read with Phonics Road and Spalding and Spell to Write and Read--all methods which teach children to read by teaching them to spell. Thousands of dc have learned to read by *not* learning to spell. It's all good.

 

If Phonics Road appeals to you, then try it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it with a 4yo.

 

I definitely don't want to try it with a 4yo since I know it picks up the pace quit a bit. My plan was to wait until he was 5 *if* I were going to use PR instead of Phonics Pathways to teach him to read. Since so many people (like SWB in the WTM) encourage kids to learn to read at age 4, I thought I'd give it a shot, especially since he is a bright kid. But...I'm realizing now that just b/c he is bright in terms of solving puzzles, figuring how things work, etc., it doesn't mean he's ready to blend sounds. :o

[mbw0817]

PR1 uses OG methods to teach reading. If you'll wait until the end of the day, I'll have posted our first "Letter of the Week" for my K5er. It will explain how PR teaches reading. Good stuff!

 

Thank you! I've read just about all your posts on PR, lol....super helpful! It seems so many people use it once the kids are already reading...I'm willing to do that, but I wasn't sure if it was particularly necessary.

 

Thanks,

Michele

[Ellie]

But...I'm realizing now that just b/c he is bright in terms of solving puzzles, figuring how things work, etc., it doesn't mean he's ready to blend sounds. :o

:thumbup: You got it.:party:

[mbw0817]

Personally, and this is coming from a CM/better late than early mama, is to just hold off for a bit. Especially for boys. Read to him, read to him and then read to him some more. As you read through his favorite books start to point out letters and the different sounds they make and how they blend together to make words, but I wouldn't do a formal program with such a young one. There will be plenty of time for all of that soon enough. If he's not "getting" it then he's not ready and it won't matter what program you use, IMO.

 

Good advice, thanks. This is actually why I liked PP - there is no script and no workbook, so it can be really informal. During dd's nap time, I would just hang out with my son for 5-10 min, he would write the letters on his little white board, play the PP games, etc. (He's actually better at spelling than reading, so if I dictated "cat", he could spell it on the white board.)

 

That being said, I don't think he loves it. Mainly b/c it's hard (just like swim lessons, which he hates, lol!). I've set it aside for now, but I hope he doesn't think he's won a battle by whining about it. :tongue_smilie:

[myfatherslily]

Sort of a separate thought here... my daughter started blending when I stopped focusing on three letter words and make some cards with two letter words. We just went through them a few times a week and it was much easier for her to comprehend A-T than C-A-T. at, it, up, on, in....

 

Do take your time, though, I'm not trying to say that he should be blending;) Just sharing what helped my dd!

[mbw0817]

Sort of a separate thought here... my daughter started blending when I stopped focusing on three letter words and make some cards with two letter words. We just went through them a few times a week and it was much easier for her to comprehend A-T than C-A-T. at, it, up, on, in....

 

Do take your time, though, I'm not trying to say that he should be blending;) Just sharing what helped my dd!

 

Great idea. See, PP does the beginning blends, not ends, like OPGTR. And I thought that would be easier. But b-a doesn't mean anything to him. Adding a "t" at the end does. I really like your idea, thanks.

 

He also likes watching The Talking Word Factory, which does word families (cat, bat, sat...), unlike PP. So I'm sure it is confusing for the poor kid. ;)

[Snowfall]

Since so many people (like SWB in the WTM) encourage kids to learn to read at age 4, I thought I'd give it a shot, especially since he is a bright kid. But...I'm realizing now that just b/c he is bright in terms of solving puzzles, figuring how things work, etc., it doesn't mean he's ready to blend sounds. :o

 

I know exactly how you feel. My DD, who turned 6 last month, is very smart. I know I'm biased, but really, objectively, she's a really smart kid. When she's with my nieces, who are 6 months and 19 months older than her, I'm always amazed at how much they don't know as compared to her, how many connections they can't make, etc., and they're both in the gifted program at their public school, so I know it's not that they're below average or anything. I always just assumed they were a little slow or something (that sounds mean, but I don't mean it that way <blush>) until they both got into their school's gifted program. Then I realized maybe DD was just really smart. Reading is not her thing, though. She's not really interested in reading and she's not advanced in it at all. I just assumed it would come really easily to her, but it hasn't. She recently had her vision tested and it's all normal. She just wasn't ready to read until very recently. Even now, she's not taking off or anything, but she's finally blending easily, after over a year of practice.

 

Kids can just be smart in so many different ways, I guess. :) My DD stores information well, retrieves it well, and applies it to new situations well. I'm very proud of what she is good at, as I'm sure you are proud of what your son is good at. :D

[johnandtinagilbert]

 

Here it is. This pretty much lays out the method. It will expand as we move along, but you'll get the idea. The order I'm using comes from Traub's book and covers the 1st 31 phonemes. I'll pick up w. PR1 after and finish the 70+ from there.

[johnandtinagilbert]

We'll start blending after learning our 1st 9 sounds. This will get laid out on the blog.

 

If you're planning on moving forward in something, then I'd start with PR IF you think you're going to end up there. You simply take the first 4 weeks, which is phonics instruction, and go super slow...a sound a week....

 

I wouldn't begin PR1 in full force until the physical ability to sit and write on paper or a white board will not be an issue.

 

At the current age, I might do a sound a week, 3 days a week and play phonics related games for the other 2 days.

 

Anyways, hope the blog post helps.

[mbw0817]

Kids can just be smart in so many different ways, I guess. :) My DD stores information well, retrieves it well, and applies it to new situations well. I'm very proud of what she is good at, as I'm sure you are proud of what your son is good at. :D

 

Yes, I am learning a lot with my first, lol. I can see him becoming an engineer just like his dad...I am often amazed at the types of questions he asks, the stories he makes up, and his obsession with nature, space exploration, etc. He loves when I read to him, and he has known the sounds of his letters since age 2 (I have no idea how...letter magnets, maybe?). But he just doesn't care about learning to read. Maybe in your dd's case, that's part of it too. I will hold off another year and see how things go.

 

Here it is. This pretty much lays out the method. It will expand as we move along, but you'll get the idea. The order I'm using comes from Traub's book and covers the 1st 31 phonemes. I'll pick up w. PR1 after and finish the 70+ from there.

 

This is great, thank you! He really likes writing letters on paper and on a white board (his fine motor skills are great), but he also likes craft stuff, so I love your ideas. And he already knows the sounds of his letters, but I need to reinforce the concept that many consonants have more than one sound. I emailed Mrs. Beers awhile back about starting PR1 in kindy, and she said it sounds like he's ready since he can write w/o getting discouraged. But I got the impression from here that it's easier to wait.

 

So, after learning all the letter sounds, does PR1 go into blending 2 letters, like b-a, b-e, b-i, etc? (It would be so much easier to just buy the darn thing and look at it in person instead of bugging you!)

 

ETA: sorry, ignore my last question. You answered it in the other post. Thanks!

Edited June 14, 2010 by mbw0817

[Lovedtodeath]

Have you taught your DC to read with Phonics Road?

 

Phonics Road Level 1 with PreK

[sbgrace]

I would keep your long term goals in mind. Your long term goals aren't to have a four (or even five) year old reading. Your long term goals I imagine are to have a good reader who enjoys reading. Instruction before he's ready or that he finds unpleasant runs the risk of turning him off to reading or negatively affecting the way he views himself as a reader/learner. So if I were in your place I'd just relax and enjoy reading great books together. The research shows it is play rather than early academics that build brains and long term outcomes.

 

 

If you end up starting again while he's still young (or even when he's older if you're not ready for or want to work on reading ahead of PR1) I'd look into the I See Sam books. You can search around this site about them but they are gentle, solid phonics, and very fun to read. They would be enjoyable for him.

 

If you want to start working on PR type stuff I would do the phonemes in a multi-sensory way as I suspect Tina is doing on her link. I think Recipe for Reading (Traub) works through almost all of the ones used in PR1 in a multi-sensory way and it's inexpensive. I can also link you to lessons that do this though for older kids so they'd need some adaption.

 

As much as it might be tempting I think I'd just enjoy reading with him right now and then start up something fun like that for K. You'll end up in the same place at 6 or so anyway likely. It's just that you'll cover things faster when you start older. Whatever you do keep your long term goals in mind and make sure it's both enjoyable and making him successful!

 

edited to add: Yes, what I have is exactly like Tina is describing--what a cool resource you're making Tina! Another reason to love your blog...

Edited June 15, 2010 by sbgrace

[Lovedtodeath]

 

Here it is. This pretty much lays out the method. It will expand as we move along, but you'll get the idea. The order I'm using comes from Traub's book and covers the 1st 31 phonemes. I'll pick up w. PR1 after and finish the 70+ from there.

Wow Tina, that is great! Thanks for sharing.

[Tenaj]

Here it is. This pretty much lays out the method. It will expand as we move along, but you'll get the idea. The order I'm using comes from Traub's book and covers the 1st 31 phonemes. I'll pick up w. PR1 after and finish the 70+ from there.

 

Tina - I just had to jump in here and thank you so much for posting all this information on your blog. I'm using PR1 with my third and first graders (just starting and going through it at an accelerated pace). I was concerned about how to use it with my up and coming k'er and now I have a much clearer vision! Thank you so much!!!!

[redheadeddaughter]

Tina - I just had to jump in here and thank you so much for posting all this information on your blog. I'm using PR1 with my third and first graders (just starting and going through it at an accelerated pace). I was concerned about how to use it with my up and coming k'er and now I have a much clearer vision! Thank you so much!!!!

 

:iagree:I feel the same way. Thank you Tina! We'll be following along with my kinder girl. She is going to love it.

[johnandtinagilbert]

You're all so welcome. It' exciting for me to share b/c it provides some accountability, and also b/c we can share the journey together. Even though I have some close local friends, its interesting to enjoy the journey with my virtual friends, too. :) Glad it's helping ya'll too!