lotsofpumpkins Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 It's bugging me that our Phonics/Reading sequence jumps around. I want to simplify things for my current K'er. I am trying to convince myself that he doesn't HAVE to follow the same path as his older siblings! Here's what the oldest two did: K: ETC Book 1 (just something to do until starting R&S, basically) 1st: R&S 1st grade Phonics and Reading (very thorough but quite a heavy workload for that age, IMO) 2nd: R&S 2nd grade Phonics. For Reading- HOD's Emerging Reader's Schedule (read "real books" aloud and discuss). 3rd: Read "real books" It seems backwards to me that a 1st grader has such a heavy workload for phonics and reading, while my 2nd and 3rd graders just get to read and discuss their books, without having to do workbooks (although they are also doing R&S English and Spelling starting in 2nd grade). My current K'er did the ETC primers for Prek, and he's currently in ETC 1 plus working his way through Phonics Pathways. I'm seriously considering keeping my current K'er in ETC/PP until he's done with phonics, and just skipping the R&S phonics/reading. I would need to add in some easy readers though; we have the first set of Bob Books but it seems like he is just memorizing them based on the pictures. Any other suggestions? Does my plan sound like a good one? I'm kind of scared to make changes, because R&S worked for my oldest two! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 It's bugging me that our Phonics/Reading sequence jumps around. I want to simplify things for my current K'er. I am trying to convince myself that he doesn't HAVE to follow the same path as his older siblings! Here's what the oldest two did: K: ETC Book 1 (just something to do until starting R&S, basically) 1st: R&S 1st grade Phonics and Reading (very thorough but quite a heavy workload for that age, IMO) 2nd: R&S 2nd grade Phonics. For Reading- HOD's Emerging Reader's Schedule (read "real books" aloud and discuss). 3rd: Read "real books" It seems backwards to me that a 1st grader has such a heavy workload for phonics and reading, while my 2nd and 3rd graders just get to read and discuss their books, without having to do workbooks (although they are also doing R&S English and Spelling starting in 2nd grade). My current K'er did the ETC primers for Prek, and he's currently in ETC 1 plus working his way through Phonics Pathways. I'm seriously considering keeping my current K'er in ETC/PP until he's done with phonics, and just skipping the R&S phonics/reading. I would need to add in some easy readers though; we have the first set of Bob Books but it seems like he is just memorizing them based on the pictures. Any other suggestions? Does my plan sound like a good one? I'm kind of scared to make changes, because R&S worked for my oldest two! The reason the first graders have such a "heavy load" is that they are actually learning how to read. After that, they just...read. :-) My vote would be Phonics Pathways alone (plus some of its peripherals, maybe). Or ETC alone. You should be able to go to the library and find the easiest books there for your ds to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 I agree with Ellie completely. I found PP to be plenty, supplemented with more reading opportunities (we used the below suggestions and also some Montessori activities, particularly the Command Game and Object Boxes). As for reading material, several suggestions--Write your own little notes to your darling, write little stories and have him illustrate or make a cover, use the Primary Phonics readers for some extra material (many libraries have these and Bob books). We also liked the books like Hop On Pop, Put Me in The Zoo, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacnchs Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Are you opposed to OPG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsofpumpkins Posted August 8, 2010 Author Share Posted August 8, 2010 The reason the first graders have such a "heavy load" is that they are actually learning how to read. After that, they just...read. :-) The heavy load I'm referring to is all the written work in the R&S workbooks. Plus my dc would read the daily list of words in the phonics workbook and have a speed drill on the previous day's list. Last year my ds often spent an hour or more just on phonics each day. Then the reading was another 30-45 minutes by the time he read the story from the reader (aloud to me) and then did the workbook pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsofpumpkins Posted August 8, 2010 Author Share Posted August 8, 2010 Are you opposed to OPG? I already own Phonics Pathways and have been using it with my 5yo and 3yo, so I'm not wanting to switch to OPG. Just wondering if I should stick with PP for 1st grade instead of switching to R&S like we usually do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathkath Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 I'm in favor of a daily phonics drill--it does not need to be pencil/paper. Small whiteboards or magnetic letters can do the task in a less threatening way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Keep it simple! You've got a lot on your plate, and R&S eats a huge chunk of your teacher-time. Especially if he can do ETC somewhat independently while you work with your other dc, just go for it. PP is enough for most dc to take off in reading...which is your goal. Can he read the R&S readers even though he doesn't do the whole thing??? I wouldn't worry at all about time-tables (as in M could read this story in Nov, so why can't he....). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsofpumpkins Posted August 8, 2010 Author Share Posted August 8, 2010 (edited) Keep it simple! You've got a lot on your plate, and R&S eats a huge chunk of your teacher-time. Especially if he can do ETC somewhat independently while you work with your other dc, just go for it. PP is enough for most dc to take off in reading...which is your goal. Can he read the R&S readers even though he doesn't do the whole thing??? I wouldn't worry at all about time-tables (as in M could read this story in Nov, so why can't he....). Yeah, I'm thinking about letting him read the R&S readers without the workbooks, since I already own them anyway. He's doing great with PP and is able to sound out CVC words pretty quickly now. I'm not even worried about time-tables (as far as comparing him to the others). Just trying to get all this figured out since he'll be 6 in Dec and will likely be past the CVC stage at that point. I had originally thought that I'd start him in R&S 1st after the New Year, but now I'm thinking we'll just stick with what we are doing, and get the next couple of ETC books when he's ready for them. ETA: I wonder if my 2nd grader will be jealous, after all that time he spent on R&S 1st grade last year... Edited August 8, 2010 by lotsofpumpkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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