SWR help please!

[Cricket]

With my oldest I used 100 Easy Lessons to get him started. Then we purchased SWR and switched to that. My second one started on SWR in 1st grade but was already reading. I really didn't have to teach him. He just sort of caught on by himself. I'm struggling with my 6 yo dd now (she will be 7 tomorrow). She has the single letter phonograms down and she is learning the multi-letter phonograms. She still struggles with reading though. She will read CVC words fine one day and then just stare at them the next day, saying she can't do it. She will say, "I forgot." I keep trying to tell her that she doesn't have to memorize the word. All she has to do is say the sounds that are written on the paper. Do I stop having her read separately from the SWR lesson and only use the spelling aspect until she is more confident? I guess I just haven't used SWR to actually teach reading yet so I'm wondering if I am going about it the right way. I was thinking of doing some flashcards of words but then I read the heated debate about sightwords v. phonics. :001_smile:

 

Any advice would be appreciated! Is it a matter of hanging in there until it clicks?

[siloam]

If it were me I would back off the reading.

 

HiddenJewel isn't on these forms much but it using SWR as a learn to read program, you might e-mail her. I know for a fact she doesn't mind being e-mailed as she told me so, just tell her Siloam sent you her way.

 

There is also a SWR yahoo group on which Wanda, the author will often respond.

 

Heather

[FO4UR]

Sanseri says to wait until you've completed Section I before reading outside of SWR lessons. Notice all of the starred (*) enrichments and do all of those with her. Go ahead and make those flashcards and use those to build sentences & compound words, and the other enrichments. That's not "sight word" reading. It's using spelling words over and over and over again.

 

My oldest could spell (with the fingerspelling & dictation of SWR) young but couldn't read. He had/has visual perception problems. I noticed when he could read "children" in huge isolated print, but couldn't read "cat" in small print on a busy page. He is 7.5yo and is truly making strides every week, but it just didn't come spontaneously like Sanseri promised.;) I actually used Recipe for Reading and did those lessons (up through the chapter on the syllables) with an SWR style dictation. Those lesson go MUCH slower, but it was needed for him. In fact, I liked the progress so well that I decided to do that same for my youngers starting in Kindy (RfR 1st up through the syllables, and then switch to SWR). We'll see how this goes...my dd5 is doing RfR now.

 

Anyway...that was just a bunch of rambling...but ...

[Amy Jo]

I am only having my oldest read the spelling words (each on half a 3x5, as he can't read his handwriting quickly). When we get to section I (just a few weeks!) I have the McGuffey Readers, and I plan to do repeat readings with them.

 

The only "reading" he is doing is Elizabeth's Phonics Concentration Game (nonsense words), with his younger brother. And they really enjoy that.

 

My fingers are crossed anyway. I think this will work.

 

Amy

 

PS - Consider a timer. Both my kids LOVE using the timer and are much happier with it ticking. /shrug

[Cricket]

Thank you! This at least gives me some direction. I probably should re-read my guide as well. Thanks for telling me about HiddenJewel. I might email her too. I'll hold off on extra reading. We didn't do any today and it was nice not to have the frustration (both her and me!).

[Dinsfamily]

My oldest learned to read with SWR. We only read his spelling words from index cards or the learning log until he got to List I. We didn't use any phonetically controlled readers. One key for us was to have him read his words several times a week. He was slow with sounding out each word at first but got better with practice. We also did the sarred enrichments that the other poster me tioned using our index cards. Once he got to list I and had been taught all of the phonograms (not necessarily mastered them), he started reading Dr. Seuss. With practice he went from a 1st grade to 4th grade level in a few months. It seemed like all the information was in his brain from all of the weeks of spelling and finally ready to be used.

 

It might also be worth noting that this was for Kindy and we only did 10 words/week. Our progress was slow and steady.

 

My middle guy is a whole different ballgame since he was a self-taught early reader. I'm still using SWR with him but the process is a bit different since he's reading fluently well before we're ready to start the spelling instruction. I think my oldest is more typical.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Dinsfamily

[PeterPan]

SWR says to put their spelling words onto flashcards and have them read them. I kept them in an index box, labeled by lesson (A, B, etc.), so she could easily just go pull her B words or C words when we had a couple minutes. We had a lot of starts and stops and did a lot of backtracking in the lists, but all in all it worked out very well for us. My dd reads VERY fast now, unbelievably fast. Make sure you're reading the enrichments sections to see what things you can do with pre-readers.

[kalanamak]

She still struggles with reading though. She will read CVC words fine one day and then just stare at them the next day, saying she can't do it. She will say, "I forgot." I?

 

I combined SWR and PP to teach reading and there is nice drill in PP for the ma de su fe wa bi sounds. Then he liked the pyramids so much, we continued. Our next drill book, after PP and then Reading Pathways, was The Victory Drill.

[Dinsfamily]

SWR says to put their spelling words onto flashcards and have them read them. I kept them in an index box, labeled by lesson (A, B, etc.), so she could easily just go pull her B words or C words when we had a couple minutes. We had a lot of starts and stops and did a lot of backtracking in the lists, but all in all it worked out very well for us. My dd reads VERY fast now, unbelievably fast. Make sure you're reading the enrichments sections to see what things you can do with pre-readers.

 

We also have a spelling word box. It is one of my ds's favorite activities. The cards are useful and it is another opportunity for him to write his words during the week. We took all the cards out of the box at the end of last year and are redoing it this year.