Teaching reading to a very active boy....

[springmama]

My son cannot sit still to save his life. He also has a wild imagination and tries to pretend to read with his eyes closed, draws inventions on the paper in front of him while I'm teaching, and interrupts me to tell me his latest and greatest idea. He just can't seem to focus. I'm interested in learning which phonics curriculum works well for a child like this and also any tips, tricks or games that might help.

Edited December 7, 2010 by springmama

[mothergooseof4]

My ds8 is like this. I have had a hard time teaching him to read and get very frustrated because I will be in the middle of teaching and he will find anything to fidget with or interrupt me to tell me something totally off the wall.

 

I did CLE Learning to Read with him and it is a great program. But, he had a hard time sitting still for the lessons and they seemed to take FOREVER. I know it was not just the curriculum because my dd could do them much quicker. It was simply a matter of focus.

 

We started Phonics Road a few weeks ago and he can do it if I break it up into small chunks. We do phonograms, then some math, then a break & I work with his sister. Then when I call him back we do some reading, then some of the spelling list, then a break. You get the picture. I also have realized this last week or two that he even does better if I move him around physically. As in, we do math at the school table, then reading in the floor, spelling list back at the table, work on phonograms with him at the whiteboard or do a game. Sometimes I will stop and have him run around th house or do some jumping jacks to get that movement out for a few minutes. Also, make sure there is nothing in reach to play with. This can be a problem because my ds will then just fidget with his clothing or something. Phonics Road is working, but I am not sure if it would have worked for my ds at your son's age.

 

I just added in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. This may be a good option for you. It only takes 5-10 minutes to do a lesson. I skipped much of the first part to get to a point that I wanted to start reviewing with him. It is fast and effective. If I had it to do over again, I would probably start this book in K. I would focus on the phonics/reading aspect. I would teach letter formation and handwriting as you go through each new letter. Then once they are ready, pick a sentence or two from the lesson each day and have them copy it for handwriting practice. I would break this all up and not try to do everything in one sitting. Since the lesson are short, I would probably do a short review later in the day.

 

I am probably doing overkill with PR and OPGTR, but my ds is getting upset about his lack of reading skills and the OPG only takes a few minutes per day. If I was starting over with this ds in K, I would do OPGTR as I stated above and add in other LA when he had matured a bit.

 

And, pray. My ds gets frustrated as well because he cannot read as well as his peers. But, that doesn't mean he has the patience for the lessons. He has come a long way in the last few weeks since we made these changes though and today he read 34 pages of Sammy the Seal to me. I asked him several times if he was ready to stop and he said he wanted to finish the book. This was after doing two lessons from OPGTR with no complaints. WooHoo!

Edited December 7, 2010 by mothergooseofthree

[Ann.without.an.e]

He sounds really smart and super fun, but maybe not ready yet.

Sometimes boys aren't ready at first. My son was not ready at all when I was ready to teach him. I remember putting it away and giving up. We continued to study and review phonics some. A few months later he picked up a book and read The Frog Jumped Over The Log perfectly. He is 4th grade now and reads on an 8th grade level.

Let him him have fun, Kindergarten is too early for school anyway, isn't it :D

[2squared]

The best solution for my first ds was to wait. At 6.5 things finally started falling into place for him.

 

One of his favorite reading lessons is for me to hold up a flashcard with a letter on it. If he tells me the right sound, I throw a football to him, he catches it, and he makes a diving catch into the bathroom to score a touchdown. He keeps track of his scores by skip counting. Reading, spelling, math & PE all-in-one!

[redsquirrel]

I am sorry. How did my son get over there?

 

Nibbled to death by ducks.

 

Our reading lessons are no longer than 5 mins. I use ETC and we do no more than two pages with NO handwriting. If I give him a writing instrument he will just not pay attention. If I want him to 'write' I put rice or flour on a cookie sheet and let him write with his finger.

 

ahem... I also line up one chocolate chip for every answer. That keeps him plenty focused. But, even with that, 5 mins on average and 7 min at max. I also do stuff like toss a ball, march, pretend to shoot him with a 'ray gun' (his idea) etc, etc.

[JESSICAinMD]

My oldest was pretty had a hard time sitting still, so any time she could move around I let her. For example, when we did lesson in OPGTR we would march around saying the phonics rule. I made "spy cards" with messages on index cards for my little spy to read. They each had commands like "find a black hat." I tried to use words from the lesson for the day. When she did have to sit and read a passage, I would let her do a lap around the room at the end of each section. We literally skip counted. I made a big number line using a roll of easel paper. I wrote the numbers on them and she skipped by twos and threes, and took big steps to reach the fives. We sat in the porch swing for read alouds. I tried not to fight against the wiggles.

[3lilreds in NC]

You might take a look at Happy Phonics, over at Love to Learn. I haven't used it, but it was developed for another wiggly boy. I've thought Schmooey might do well with it, but we're not starting phonics with him yet so I haven't purchased it. You can also get it as an ebook if you want to do the printing yourself.

[SquirrellyMama]

I am sorry. How did my son get over there?

 

 

 

:lol: I was going to say the same thing.

 

 

Our reading lessons are no longer than 5 mins. I use ETC and we do no more than two pages with NO handwriting. If I give him a writing instrument he will just not pay attention. If I want him to 'write' I put rice or flour on a cookie sheet and let him write with his finger.

 

ahem... I also line up one chocolate chip for every answer. That keeps him plenty focused. But, even with that, 5 mins on average and 7 min at max. I also do stuff like toss a ball, march, pretend to shoot him with a 'ray gun' (his idea) etc, etc.

 

We are using OPG and try to keep our phonics lessons to 10 minutes. I don't do any of the handwriting stuff. I started phonics with him in K. Did about half a year in 1st. We had to put it away for awhile because he was having trouble remember the rules. We were using Saxon phonics at that time.

 

I bought OPGTR for this year and it is going well. Very short. When we did use Saxon Phonics I would do karate kicks, running, jumping, etc... when it called for reciting something.

 

Kelly

[boscopup]

OPG with a white board and markers and or magnetic phonogram tiles (I got the AAS set). My wiggly 4 year old cannot look at the page very long, but loves using the white board! And definitely keep lessons short. I can tell when it's been too long. DS starts looking every which way except the word.

 

And the funny thing is that my wiggly guy insists on writing everything even though I had no intention of teaching writing yet. So I write on the white board, then he copies it, then he reads it. Whatever works, right? I make games a lot too, and make silly stories.

[Celia]

One book I'd take a look at is

How to Get your Child Off the Refridgerator and on to Learning.

 

I think that's the name of it, or something similar anyways! It has some great suggestions.

[LittleIzumi]

Mine love Elizabeth B's phonics game (cut out the word pieces and build words) but I don't have the link....

[julikins]

My dd8 now reads but it's taken awhile, and she had severe case of the wiggles.

 

I found Phonics Pathways because it's for remedial reading and in 2nd grade wasn't reading well. It was one page a day, max five minutes and after just a few months, something clicked and she took off.

 

But I learned to only show her one word at a time (cut out a litte hole for the word in a 3x5 card) or to write one word at a time on the white board. She seemed overwhelmed by the busyness on the page. I also couldn't let her have anything in her hands (to this day) or she can't concentrate.

 

And to this day, between every lesson (between math, la and Bible, etc.) every day she runs around the house or does jumping jacks or runs outside and does some cartwheels. She needs the physical exercise. I also have her shake her hands and feet out every few minutes and that seems to help her concentrate. The promise, "you'll be able to run around as soon as your done with that" has really helped her stay focused.

 

I don't know if this is normal, especially in a girl, but this is how we've dealt with it. And now she's even read a few chapter books on her own and enjoying them. It's still a long way to go with her, but she's doing much better now than before.

[kalanamak]

Will he sit still to write a word? I started with SWR. Kiddo did the flash cards, starting at late 4, while tearing around the room. After he could get through A-F in SWR (not letter, but word lists) we added in Phonics Pathways.

 

HTH.

[Ritsumei]

We're using Happy Phonics to good effect here. And some of the games are ones that you can take "on the road" so to speak: the other day we did their "reading house" game while my son jumped on our mini-tramp. He was a happy boy because he was jumping (currently, the most desirable activity in the house) and I was a happy Mama, cuz he was reading. Sometimes I'll grab a wordlist and we'll race the clock to see how many he can do in x minutes. Today it was 10, but it should have been fewer.

 

If you do go with HP, I suggest getting OPGTR for your reference if you're not already pretty comfortable with teaching phonics. Monkey never actually sees OPGTR, but it sure helps me to have that for reference! Plus, I've been making OPGTR's reading sections into books & adding simple illustrations for him to practice with. Think Bob Books, for the level of "illustration." Monkey likes that too, and it's a cheap way to add more reading practice.

[ElizabethB]

My phonics concentration game (my 5 year old boy likes it!)

 

Several free games in CAT phonics by Mona McGee (most lessons have games, it's all online to print.) She's great, she's 87 and just e-mailed me about her new website!

 

You can also play games with magnetic letters. Get at least 6 sets, they are about $1 at most discount stores. I like uppercase letters for young students. You give them 6 to 8 consonants and a vowel or 2 and see how many words they can make in a minute, alone or against you with a handicap of you have less consonants. You can also do relay races with the letters, put them across the room in small boxes and race back and forth to get letters for a minute, then see how many words you can build.

 

With my son, I've started playing a version of Scrabble with words he knows. Right now, he is making CVC words and CV words like he, me, we, go, no.

 

We each get 8 tiles at a time. You build words anywhere on the board, they do not have to connect. I help him make words if he is stuck, but he has to pick out the tiles and put them on. (This causes him to sound it out while he puts them down!) You play until all the tiles run out, whoever has the least tiles left at the end when the tiles run out wins.

 

Also, we work for 5 to 10 minutes a day on the whiteboard. Webster's Speller is actually working great for us! He writes fine (not terrible neatly, but OK and it doesn't tire him too much). But, if writing was difficult for him, I would let him "write" with magnetic letters. Spelling the words get the words in the brain much better than just reading them and helps engage him in the process. The whiteboard is great for boys and all young students. (Actually, even my older remedial girls like the whiteboard, but it is key for holding the attention of boys and young children.)

 

Here is my thread showing our Webster schedule and our progress. I need to update it, I'm a few weeks behind!

 

I also occasionally let him play the iPod app ABC pocket phonics, Starfall.com (the first 2 sections, the last 2 are not good until after a student has learned to read), and Read, Write, Type, a phonics/typing program that I like.

[springmama]

Thanks so much for all of this wonderful advice! I need to drink my coffee then look over all of your suggestions. I feel so much better now knowing my son isn't the only one, and that there are things that may help.