MotherGoose Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I have been working with my dd4 on OPGTR and we are into the CVC words. We've been reading some of the "BOB" books. However, she resists reading them--too boring for her taste--but will get some of the "Easy Reader" type books and ask for help with them. Obviously, she's not able to sound out all the words but I tell her how to sound out ones she's not familiar with or just tell her what they say. I don't encourage her to memorize them or anything, don't want to do a whole word thing--although memorizing "said" will probably be a good thing. What do you all think about this? I hate to limit her to boring phonics stuff--there's only so much you can do with cat, pet, pan etc--and she's too young to see the value of drill. Any recommendations for early readers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2J112903 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 J does not like the readers that came with his phonic curricula either. We read the Level1 and Level2 books instead :) He is progressing *very* nicely with his reading, to the point that we really don't do a formal phonics lesson with him. I have looked thru the curricula and when I come to a phonics rule he does not know, we do that lesson. Give my child a phonics rule, and he runs with it. :) *I* see nothing wrong with letting a child choose which books to read when they are learning to read. If they do not read something like they, reading will become something they do not enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Have you looked at the Nora Gaydos books? How about Starfall.com? We use a combination of Bob, Nora Gaydos, Starfall books and HOP books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyCrazyMama Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Have you seen Usborne's new Very First Reading Set? I think these are great because the stories are more interesting, the parent/teacher reads the more difficult words (left page) and the the child the beginner words(right page) because of that the story writer was not limited to only using certain sounds in the books. I haven't got a set yet but they are on my wishlist.:) In the interest of full discloser I do sell Usborne Books and these links do direct you to my site but you can buy them from anyone if you google Usborne Books you get a ton of consultant's sites. These were released this month, so I am not sure if any of the curriculum sellers have them yet. I think they are very cool for beginning readers and I thought you might want to know about them. http://www.veryfirstreading.com/ http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/VeryFirstReading.asp?sid=H3012&gid=96867345&emkt=192 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESSICAinMD Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 My dd is the same way. She had the will to read actual books but didn't have the ability yet. I started to use Progressive Phonics. They have printable lessons for free. The child read the read portions and the adult reads the black until the child is reading more and more. There are more interesting stories if you don't have to use words that rhyme with mat or net. http://www.progressivephonics.com/~suzettew/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debbielong Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 ...so I would read Charlotte's Web or Chronicles of Narnia (or whatever) aloud to them and when I came to a word I thought they could sound out, I had them read that word. None of them minded the interruption. They were motivated to know what the next word was, because the story was so compelling. I never did use any phonics programs. Well, I never used any phonics programs WITH THEM. **I** used the phonics programs to guide me on what sounds to work on next. But, the kids never knew I was going in a particular order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 My 4 *almost* 5 y/o is enjoying Margaret Hillert books. They are pretty simple. They aren't limited to cvc words, but they are pretty simple. He now reads most of them independently... I was amazed that he could figure out some of the words he hadn't even learned yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I'm using a mix of phonetically controlled books (BOB Books and HOP Readers) and helping DS with regular "easy reader" type books. With those, I'll either tell him the more advanced phoneme (i.e. ___ says "___") and let him sound out the word or just tell him what the word is. We alternate between the more interesting real books and the phonetically controlled ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Have you looked at the Nora Gaydos books? How about Starfall.com? :iagree: This is what we used. The Nora Gaydos books come with incentive stickers. And they are very colorful and have more of a real plot. We also found a lot of Pre-reader books at the library that she was able to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I had a similar situation when my daughter was that age. She certainly didn't consider the phonics drill "real" reading. "Real" reading was what we had been doing with her since birth :) and the language in those books was a lot more interesting than the Bob books. We tried Phonics Pathways and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but both were horrible fits for us. I ended up using a combo of Explode the Code, Bob Books, stories that I wrote for her using words she could read plus names of friends/pets/family members and (gasp) Dick and Jane books and basic sight word flashcards. I know the latter two are heresy for some folks, but they allowed her to actually enjoy reading much earlier and gave her the confidence to read aloud. We also went to the library and looked at tons of the easy readers there. For the stories I wrote, if she could read the page I let her illustrate it, so that she wasn't depending on picture clues to figure it out. I will tell you that encouraging her to memorize some basic high frequency sight words (and here I'm talking about things like said, the, he, she, mother, father, etc) at the beginning, before they would be introduced in the phonics program, has not led to disaster ;). She has not become dyslexic, she did not stop being able to read in 2nd grade, does extremely well with spelling (easily held her own with the 6th grade excellent spellers for quite a while as a 4th grader last year in the spelling bee), etc. She tests at high school level on spelling, reading comprehension and reading in 5th grade (now, what she *wants* to read can be a different story;)). We used a pack of sight word flashcards from the education store and made a game of it. If she could read the word she could keep the card. If not, I kept it. To me, it's no different than helping her memorize how to read her name before she would get to those phonics rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Animal Antics worked well for us when DD was 3.5 years old. There are different levels and each one has about 10 booklets with colorful pictures and short, fun stories for a young reader. We didn't use all the levels since just a couple of these levels got her to reading Owl Moon one day. There are many great level 1 and level 2 books at the library, as someone else mentioned. We used those for a very short time but DD preferred picture books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 My kids (and I) enjoy the McGuffey readers. I alternate them with graded readers (Frog and Toad, Amelia Bedelia, etc.). You can download them for free at the gutenberg.org site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 We had the same problem when dd was just starting to read. I kept a list of books that we used, maybe your library will have some of these - Early Step Into Reading, level 1 6 Sticks Big Egg Cat Traps Ducks in Muck Hot Dog I Like Bugs I Like Stars Jack and Jill and Big Dog Bill See the Yak Yak The Berenstain Bears Big Bear, Small Bear The Berenstain Bears go In and Out The Berenstain Bears go Up and Down Real Kids Readers Level 1 Big Ben Dress Up Hop, Skip, Run I am Mad! I Like Mess I Like to Win! Mud! My Pal Al No New Pants! Spots The Big Box The New Kid The Pet Vet Wash Day Green Light Readers, level 1 Dot and Bob Rick is Sick Sam and Jack Jack and Rick A New Home Jan has a Doll Down on the Farm The Van Just Clowning Around What I See Popcorn Todd's Box Get up, Rick! These books are long but words are generally short - Hop on Pop Go, Dog, Go The Foot Book Old Hat, New Hat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted August 18, 2010 Author Share Posted August 18, 2010 Thanks all. It seems that as in many things, extreme adherence to one side or the other may not be the best solution. I don't want my daughter to think that reading is about reading boring books, but that it's about reading Peter Pan, which we are listening to on CD on car trips lately, or Little House books, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling Hannah Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 We used the Bob Books too. I just had to reward my son, because like you said they are not that interesting. The reward system worked for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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