Gearing up for reading?

[FortWorthCookes]

My 4-year-old is begging me to "teach her to read." She can recognize her letters on paper and knows their sounds, but as far as where to go from here, I'm a little lost.

 

I'm considering combining Sound Beginnings with AlphaPhonics as my mom has done for many of us, but am wondering if there's anything else out there that might help.

 

I saw that the "100 Easy Lessons" software is free through the end of the month, but the massive amount of space it needs on the computer concerned me a little - is it worth the space on my drive and the long download time?

[krisandpaula]

We started with the Leapfrog Letter Factory and Talking Word Factory DVD's. Then we used BOB Books and Modern Curriculum Press Readers. That combination has worked well for us!

[Chris in VA]

WTM has two wonderful recommendations--Phonics Pathways, which we used, and the newer Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, written by Jessie Wise. Both are inexpensive options that get your child up and going quickly without resorting to sight words.

Can't answer your other questions, except to say I did not like 100 Easy Lessons when I looked at it years ago in the library, largely because of the practice of putting sounds in a different script.

 

You are in a fun place--it's so exciting to see a child make the connections and learn to read!

[Gratia271]

Phonics Pathways or the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading are simple and highly effective.

[Momling]

You might also check out Explode the Code 1 or even the books before it called 'Get ready/set/go for the code'. It worked well for us. Getting a hold of some Bob books would also be a good starting place.

[kmacnchs]

if she knows her letters & sounds, the only other thing I made sure mine knew before I started teaching them to read was lower case letters - that actually took awhile (as they knew their uppercase only).

 

Once all of that is mastered, I agree w/others - we use OPGTR and LOVE it! It is scripted & THOROUGH!

[NancyNellen]

:iagree:

 

PP or Ordinary Guide are simple, straightforward choices.

[Amy Jo]

Well this is what I'm working on with my DS4. I hope to get through step 1 and part of step 2 as K4, then start Webster's in K. I might overlap 2 and 3 like Beechick does.

 

1. Go through the sounds only - I want to make sure he can produce the sound /th/ for example. (I'm using Pure Phonics as a guide.) We'll work on the ABCs (names) as well using only capital letters (as suggested in SWR).

2. Learn the first 26 phonograms from SWR, "write" them in cursive using only large motor activities. (Forming the letter seems to help the kids remember the sounds. I'm starting with cursive due to Don Potter's persuasive arguments.)

3. Start working through Webster's speller, if he can't blend I'll just let him spell, otherwise we will both blend and spell the syllables then words. I'll add more of SWR's phonograms as needed, if he doesn't pick them up when his brothers review. I'll be following Elizabeth's model with her son - 4 days a week, about 10 min a day.

 

After this, I don't know. If he is doing well, I will probably do Blend Phonics Syllables with him, plus have him read 10m/day X his grade level. If he is having troubles, we'll do a Spalding program. I just don't have the time to use something like Spalding with all of them unless it's needed - KWIM?