is it too early?

[mrs.m]

DS5 has gone through the alphabet portion of OPG. We have been stuck on the short /a/ lessons for about a week now.

 

He can say the sounds of each letter and most of the time figures out what the word is but he is still having difficulty with blending. And then he also doesn't recall the word so when he reads the sentence he is sounding out each letter. I tried having him use playdough or a rubberband for words that require more stretching like "an" & "am". I won't repeat what happened. :lol: I decided to stay on these chapters until he gets it. And I tried working on the driveway with chalk today just to break it up a bit.

 

But I'm starting to wonder if he really isn't ready yet. I'm not in a hurry, I just don't know what to do for school now since he knows his letter sounds but can't figure out this word thing.

 

Any ideas?

[ElizabethB]

Try some long vowel words. It is easier to blend long vowels.

 

Me, he, we

 

Go no so Mo

 

Hi pi

 

You can also try some syllables, that is what I am doing, you can use my plan:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208407

[imhim]

My boy turned 5 in AUg.

We do Phonics pathway with reading a page from Handbook for Reading every time.

What they do a lot is endless blending - these ladders with la le li lo lu, ba be bi, bo bu, and then combine ke, la, mu, ne, etc etc etc - they try to teach them to read these 2 together, so I will be easy to say lo lo-t lot,

Ma, ma-p, map.

 

Anyway, he can read words like that, and mill, mess (double consonant). I am doing a page each day from these 2 books, plus some extra for blending.

[kim.4dogs]

I remember being frustrated when my oldest knew all the letter sounds but could not put them together to sound out words. At some point it just clicked for her, and it worked. My youngest is now kindergarten age, and we're almost finished with the letters and sounds at the start of OPGTR. I'm fairly sure that we'll have to take a break for awhile once we finish the letters. I don't think he'll be able to sound out words yet. I plan to play with phonics games and wait until he's a bit older. But who knows? Maybe he'll surprise me and be able to do it!

[regentrude]

I just don't know what to do for school now since he knows his letter sounds but can't figure out this word thing.

 

 

Read a lot of books with him. Let him look at the pages. Point out easy words. Do lots of nursery rhymes - good for phonetic awareness.

Have him tell stories, listen to audiobooks - even a non-reader can build vocabulary.

 

If it is this hard for him, I'd say he's not ready. In many countries they do not start to teach reading until age 6 or even 7 - it becomes much easier if you wait a while longer.

[Hedgehog]

In many countries they do not start to teach reading until age 6 or even 7

 

- like Finland. According to an article I read recently, there is no pressure for Finnish children to begin to learn to read until they enter school at 7yrs old; they leave for work or university 10yrs later.

 

My personal experience is that children learn to read when they are ready. Dd10 was reading well by the time she was 7; dd9 by 8yrs old. Ds5 is not really interested in letters, never mind reading for himself. He does however love to be read to, and I'm happy to do this for a while yet. We can do a lot of things without him writing.

[mrs.m]

Thank you for your replies!

 

Elizabeth, I really appreciate everything on your phonics pages! You have really helped me with DS8 who had some strange reading habits, I believe from too many sight words in K. We went through your phonics videos and they were very helpful. We play the concentration game a lot too! He's better at sounding out words rather than guessing and has stopped skipping words when reading.

 

I'll have to see if the sylables will work for DS5. It's worth a try.

 

This is very frustrating! He doesn't care about reading but he really wants to write. And he will sound out words are figure out how to write them he just can't work that backwards for reading yet. I usually write his stories for him and read them back word for word. They are treasurers because he is very creative!!!

 

I also like the idea of working on Nursery Rhymes. Maybe a few Aesop's tales too.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

My ds6 is just now LTR with LTR. He has problems with an and am. He can do the other blends easily. I think it is because an and am dont really sound out exactly. You have to sort of round the "a" off to make it fit.